Kukolnik, Nestor Vasilyevich

Born in St. Petersburg in the family of a scientist and teacher V. G. Kukolnik , Rusyna ^[2] from Subcarpathian Rus , invited to Russia. His father was engaged in many sciences - physics, chemistry, law, wrote a textbook on agronomy. In 1821 he entered the Nizhyn High School of Higher Sciences of Prince Bezborodko , which he graduated in 1829 . He was released from the gymnasium without a certificate as one of the main defendants in the "case of freethinking", which was launched on a denunciation shortly after the December events of 1825 . The second known accused was Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol . In the course of this case, students were accused of reading freethinking books. At the gymnasium, he first began to engage in literary activity, but his first literary experiments did not survive, as they were seized during the investigation of the “case of free-thinking”. Literary experiments were continued in Vilna , where, since 1825, his older brother Pavel Kukolnik served as a university professor. In Vilna, Nestor Kukolnik in 1829-1831 taught Russian literature at the Vilna Grammar School and published a practical course in Russian grammar in Polish .

But the heyday of literary activity falls on St. Petersburg , where he moved in 1831 , fleeing the Polish uprising . He gained fame in 1834 , when “The Hand of the Most High Fatherland Saved ” was put on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in the benefit performance of V. Karatygin. The drama was approved by Emperor Nicholas I. At the end of March 1834, Kukolnik and Pushkin met each other, as Alexander Sergeyevich mentioned in his diary ^[3] .

The creativity of N. Puppeteer is vast and multifaceted. Along with dramaturgy, he successfully tries his hand in the genre of adventure novel, historical novel, artistic criticism, poetry and even in music . Since 1838 he has been publishing a number of periodicals of an art history character. The dramaturgy of N. Kukolnik should be seen as a kind of buffer between the Russian historical drama of the first third of the 19th century and the second half of the 19th century. The writer is at the forefront of the genre of dramatic poem . He was the first to use and introduce tricks and motives, which later will be reflected in the works of A.K. Tolstoy , L.A. May , M.I. Tsvetaeva and others. Modern scholars justifiably point out parallels between the individual works of N. Kukolnik and the dramatic cycle of Romance by M. I. Tsvetaeva . N. Kukolnik was also the first in Russian literature to introduce a new type of historical novel genre, which later found a brilliant embodiment in the West in the novels of A. Dumas , his contemporary. One of the first in Russian literature N. Kukolnik began to develop a love-adventure genre in the spirit of Eugene Sue , Paul de Coca . His literary searches for subjects from foreign history can rightly be regarded as the forerunner of the historical and biographical genre, which later developed in the novels by D. S. Merezhkovsky , Yu. N. Tynyanov , and Olga Forsh .

During the period of the greatest creative take-off, N. Kukolnik is close to composer M. Glinka and artist K. Bryullov . His participation in the fate of such writers and poets as T. G. Shevchenko , M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and I. S. Nikitin is universally recognized. One of the co-authors of the poems of the libretto of the operas Ivan Susanin ( Life for the Tsar ) and Ruslan and Lyudmila . The music of 27 composers was written on his poems, including M. Glinka (he wrote the classic songs “The Lark” and “The Associated Song”, A. Varlamov, S. Monyushko .

Since 1843 he entered the service of the Chancellery of the Ministry of War, which is the reason for his numerous and sometimes lengthy business trips practically throughout the European part of Russia, from Chisinau to Astrakhan . And although he does not leave literary activity, he devotes a lot of time and effort to official affairs. Among these cases, it is especially worth noting such as a study of the state of the mining industry in the Donbass region. The results of this work then very significantly influenced the economic development of the western Donbass , especially after the construction of the Kursk - Kharkov - Taganrog railway, the rationale for which was successfully carried out by N. Kukolnik together with the industrial brothers Polyakov.

In 1843, Nestor Kukolnik married his common-law wife Sophia Amalia von Friesen, a German Lutheran faith.

Until the end of her life, she shared all the hardships of his service, including long business trips. Before his marriage, N. Kukolnik experienced two love tragedies.

The first love for Catherine Timofeevna Fan der Flit ended unexpectedly for lovers. By the decision of her father, T.F. Fan-der-Flit , Catherine married M.P. Lazarev . This caused a number of lyric poems, where N. Kukolnik hides his beloved under the name Lenora (Eleanor), which caused ridicule among writers and critics who accused N. Kukolnik of artificiality and far-fetchedness. I.I. Panaev was especially acrid, whose assessments are still laid by domestic literary criticism as the basis for evaluating the entire poetry of N. Kukolnik.

The second love for Countess Maria Fyodorovna Tolstoy also ceased, but judging by the poetic experiences (mostly unfinished) also caused serious mental trauma. Tolstaya herself admitted that “the Puppeteer took the first step back”, she “out of female pride, stepped back ten steps” ^[4] .

Events of the Crimean War of 1853 - 1856 they catch N. Kukolnik in Novocherkassk , where he was seconded to the headquarters of the Donskoy Army (Ataman M. Khomutov), ​​N. Kukolnik is supplying the army and his efforts in this post are highly appreciated. In 1857, he retired with the rank of State Councilor and settled in Taganrog . The last ten years he lived in Taganrog. Here he continues his literary work. However, the basis in this period is social activity. Contrary to the established opinion, N. Kukolnik was not a vowel of the City Duma , but carried out individual instructions of the Taganrog City Society. Part of the work he completed on his own initiative on a voluntary basis. The results of these works, including negative ones, seriously affected the fate of Taganrog as an urban education center in southern Russia .

Here is just a short list of all these citywide undertakings. N. Kukolnik first put forward and substantiated the need for university education in the Don and in the Sea of ​​Azov . Although his proposal to open a university in Taganrog did not lead to success, it served as one of the grounds for the opening of the Novorossiysk University in 1865 . N. Kukolnik substantiated the need for a city newspaper in Taganrog, which ultimately served as one of the reasons for opening newspapers not only in Taganrog, but also in Odessa and Rostov-on-Don . Starting in 1865, N. Kukolnik headed the working group on the justification and selection of the railway route from Kharkov to Taganrog. This work was successful, and in 1868, Alexander II approved the relevant construction contracts. Repeatedly, N. Kukolnik poses the government the question of the need for appropriate measures for environmental protection of the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov . N. Kukolnik raises the question of changing the administrative-territorial structure of the Priazovsky Territory by creating the Petrovsky (Taganrog) province. Here he meets with strong opposition from the leadership of the Don Don Region , which ultimately led to a negative result. N. Kukolnik contributed to the opening of the District Court during the judicial reform in Taganrog, which happened after his death in 1869 . These and similar public undertakings of N. Puppeteer caused a great deal of discontent among the provincial nobility, which he ridiculed in his last drama “Hoff Junker,” which was banned practically at the direction of Alexander II .

N. Kukolnik died suddenly, in December 1868 , going to the theater. He was buried in Taganrog in his estate near the Dubka grove .

• 1836 - the house of Gavrilova - embankment of the Moika River, 70;
• 1836-1837 - embankment of the Moika River, 78;
• 1837-1843 - apartment building - Italian street, 31.

“Farewell to Petersburg” (M. Glinka's vocal cycle to verses by Nestor Kukolnik)

• Kukolnik N.V. Selected works on the history of fine art and architecture; Domenichino: tragedy / comp., Ed. intro. and note. N. S. Belyaev; scientific ed. G.V. Bakhareva; BAN. - SPb .: BAN, 2013 .-- 464 p .: ill.
• Nikolaenko A.I. Taganrozhets Nestor Vasilievich Kukolnik
• Kukolnik N. Azov Seat (in DjVu format)
• From the memoirs of N.V. Kukolnik // Historical Bulletin, 1891. - V. 45. - No. 7. - P. 79-99.
• Kukolnik N.V. On the history of theatrical censorship. The most authentic letter of Nestor Puppeteer. November 1864 // Russian Antiquity . - 1897. - T. 91. - No. 8. - S. 255—256.
• Karpova S. P. Kukolnik N. “Sea holiday in Sevastopol”
• Kukolnik N.V. Story of N.V. Kukolnik about the death of M.I. Glinka // Russian Antiquity. - 1870. - T. 2. - Ed. 3rd - St. Petersburg, 1875 - S. 435-436.
• Svetlana Kazakova. Karl Bryullov and Nestor Kukolnik: the story of two illustrations // "Tretyakov Gallery". - No. 4. - 2008
• Mironova, Lyudmila. Puppeteer and Pushkin // Nestor Puppeteer . - Date of appeal: 11.2018.
• Lyudmila Mironova. The Tale of Nestor the Puppeteer “The Hand of the Most High”