Fyodor Tyutchev
Fyodor Tyutchev | |
---|---|
Born | 5 December [O.S. 23 November] 1803 Ovstug near Bryansk, Oryol Governorate, Russian Empire |
Died | 27 July [O.S. 15 July] 1873 (aged 69) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire |
Spouse(s) | Eleonore Peterson Ernestine von Pfeffel |
Issue | Anna Tyutcheva Daria Tyutcheva Ekaterina Tyutcheva Maria Tyutcheva Dimitri Tyutchev Ivan Tyutchev Elena Tyutcheva Fydor Tyutchev Nikolai Tyutchev Nikolai Lapp-Mikhailov Dmitry Lapp |
Occupation | Poet |
Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (Russian: Фёдор Ива́нович Тю́тчев, IPA: [ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪt͡ɕ ˈtʲʉt͡ɕːɪf];[a] December 5 [O.S. November 23] 1803 – July 27 [O.S. July 15] 1873) was a Russian poet and diplomat.
Life
Tyutchev was born into a
Most of his childhood years were spent in Moscow, where he joined the literary circle of Professor Merzlyakov at the age of 13. His first printed work was a translation of
His family tutor was
In Munich he fell in love with Amalie von Lerchenfeld, the illegitimate half-sister of a young Bavarian diplomat, Count Maximilian Joseph von Lerchenfeld. Tyutchev's poem Tears or Slyozy (Liubliu, druz'ya, laskat' ochami...) coincides with one of their meetings, and is most likely dedicated to Amalie (or Amélie, as she was usually known). Among other poems inspired by her are K. N., and Ia pomniu vremia zolotoe… Published extracts from the letters and diaries of Maximilian von Lerchenfeld illuminate the first years of Tyutchev as a diplomat in Munich (1822–1826), giving details of his frustrated love affair for Amélie, nearly involving a duel (probably with his colleague, Baron Alexander von Krüdener), in January 1825. Amélie was coerced by her relatives into marrying the much older Krüdener, but she and Tyutchev continued to be friends and frequented the same diplomatic society in Munich. A late poem of 1870 with the title K.B. (Ia vstretil vas — i vsio biloe), long accepted on dubious evidence as addressed to Amélie, is now thought much more likely to refer to Tyutchev's sister-in-law Clotilde (or Klothilde) von Bothmer.[8] Tyutchev's last meeting with Amélie took place on March 31, 1873 (OS) when she visited him on his deathbed. The next day, Tyutchev wrote to his daughter Daria:
Yesterday I felt a moment of burning emotion due to my meeting with... my dear Amalie Krüdener who wished to see me for the last time in this world and came to take her leave of me. In her person my past and the best years of my life came to give me a farewell kiss.[9]
In Munich, he came under the influence of the German Romantic movement, and this is reflected in his poetry. Among the figures, he knew personally were the poet
In 1836, a young former colleague at the Munich legation, Prince Ivan Gagarin, obtained Tyutchev's permission to publish his selected poems in
In 1837, Tyutchev was transferred from Munich to the Russian legation in
Tyutchev loved to travel, often volunteering for diplomatic courier missions as a way of combining business with pleasure. One of his lengthiest and most significant missions was to newly independent Greece in the autumn of 1833. During his years abroad there were visits home on leave, and after settling in Russia in 1844, he would sometimes spend short periods on the family estate at Ovstug. Tours undertaken in a private capacity took him to many parts of continental Europe, including Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He was particularly drawn to the Swiss lakes and mountains. Many of his best poems were inspired by such journeys.
As a poet, Tyutchev was little known during his lifetime. His 400 or so short poems were the only pieces he ever wrote in Russian. Tyutchev regarded his poems as bagatelles, not worthy of publication. He generally did not care to write them down and, if he did, he would often lose papers they were scribbled upon. Nikolay Nekrasov, when listing Russian poets in 1850, praised Tyutchev as one of the most talented among "minor poets". It was only in 1854 that his first volume of verse was printed, which was prepared by Ivan Turgenev and others without any help from the author.
In 1850, he began an illicit affair with Elena Denisyeva, over twenty years his junior. She remained his mistress until her death from tuberculosis in 1864; they had three children. The affair produced a body of lyrics rightly considered among the finest love poems in the language. Permeated with a sublime feeling of subdued despair, the so-called "Denisyeva Cycle" has been variously described by critics as "a novel in verse", "a human document, shattering in the force of its emotion", and "a few songs without comparison in Russian, perhaps even in world poetry".[10] One of the poems, Last Love, is often cited as emblematic of the whole cycle.
In the early 1870s, the deaths of his brother, son and daughter left Tyutchev deeply depressed. (Depression was something from which he suffered at intervals throughout his life.) Following a series of strokes, he died in Tsarskoye Selo in 1873 and was interred at Novodevichy Monastery in St. Petersburg. Ernestine survived him by 21 years.
Issue
Children by his first wife Countess Eleonora Fyodorovna Tyutcheva are (1800-1838):[11]
- Anna Fedorovna Tyutcheva (1829-1889) maid of honour and memoirist, married Ivan Aksakov.[12]
- Daria Fedorovna Tyutcheva (1834-1903) maid of honor, never married.[13]
- Ekaterina Fedorovna Tyutcheva (1835-1882), maid of honour, never married.[14]
Children by his second wife Baroness Ernestine Pfeffel are:[15]
- Maria Fedorovna Tyutcheva (1840-1873) married Nikolai Alekseevich Birilev (1829-1882), had issue.[16]
- Dmitry Fedorovich Tyutchev (1841-1870) married Olga Aleksandrovna Melnikova (1830-1913), had issue.[17]
- Ivan Fedorovich Tyutchev (1846-1909) married Olga Petrovna Putyata (1840-1920), had issue.
Children by his mistress of 14 years Elena Alexandrovna Denisyeva (1826-1864) are:[18]
- Elena Fedorovna Tyutcheva (1851-1865)[19]
- Fedor Fedorovich Tyutchev (1860-1916)[20]
- Nikolai Fedorovich Tyutchev (1864-1865)[19]
Children by his mistress Hortense Lapp are:[21][22]
- Nikolai Lapp-Mikhailov (-1877)
- Dmitry Lapp (-c.1877)
Political views
Tyutchev was a militant Pan-Slavist, who never needed a particular reason to berate the Western powers, Vatican, Ottoman Empire or Poland, the latter perceived by him as a Judas in the Slavic fold. The failure of the Crimean War made him look critically at the Russian government as well.
On domestic matters, he held broadly liberal views. He warmly welcomed most of the reforms of
His fairly sizeable output of verse on political subjects is largely forgotten. One exception is a short poem which has become something of a popular maxim in Russia:
- Who would grasp Russia with the mind?
- For her no yardstick was created:
- Her soul is of a special kind,
- By faith alone appreciated.
- (translated by John Dewey)
Poetry
Tyutchev is one of the most memorized and quoted Russian poets. Occasional pieces, translations and political poems constitute about a half of his overall poetical output.
The 200 or so lyric pieces which represent the core of his poetic genius, whether describing a scene of nature or passions of love, put a premium on metaphysics. Tyutchev's world is bipolar -- he commonly operates with such categories as night and day, north and south, dream and reality, cosmos and chaos, still world of winter and spring teeming with life. Each of these images is imbued with specific meaning. Tyutchev's idea of night, for example, was defined by critics as "the poetic image often covering economically and simply the vast notions of time and space as they affect man in his struggle through life".
Sample of verse
Silentium! is an archetypal poem by Tyutchev. Written in 1830, it is remarkable for its rhythm crafted so as to make reading in
- Speak not, lie hidden, and conceal
- the way you dream, the things you feel.
- Deep in your spirit let them rise
- akin to stars in crystal skies
- that set before the night is blurred:
- delight in them and speak no word.
- How can a heart expression find?
- How should another know your mind?
- Will he discern what quickens you?
- A thought, once uttered, is untrue.
- Dimmed is the fountainhead when stirred:
- drink at the source and speak no word.
- Live in your inner self alone
- within your soul a world has grown,
- the magic of veiled thoughts that might
- be blinded by the outer light,
- drowned in the noise of day, unheard...
- take in their song and speak no word.
- (trans. by Vladimir Nabokov
In Classical Music
Incidentally, this poem inspired an early-20th-century composer,
See also
Notes
- ^ Pre-Reform orthography: Ѳедоръ Ивановичъ Тютчевъ
References
- ^ ISBN 5212008271
- ^ ISBN 5-89577-044-4
- ^ History. Founding Mother at the official Anosin Monastery website (in Russian)
- ISBN 9004336168
- ^ The Tyutchevs article from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian)
- ^ Tyutchev coat of arms by All-Russian Armorials of Noble Houses of the Russian Empire. Part 6, June 23, 1801 (in Russian)
- ^ Rimsky-Korsakov coat of arms by All-Russian Armorials of Noble Houses of the Russian Empire. Part 2, June 30, 1798 (in Russian)
- ^ Nikolayev, A.A., 'Zagadka "K.B."', Neva, 1988, No. 2, pp. 190-196.
- ^ F.I. Tyutchev, Polnoe sobranie sochineniy i pis'ma, 6 vols., Moscow, 2002-2005. VI, p. 416.
- ^ I.V. Petrova; K.V. Pigarev; D.S. Merezhkovsky. Quoted in John Dewey, Mirror of the Soul. A Life of the Poet Fyodor Tyutchev, Shaftesbury (Brimstone Press), 2010, p. 325.
- ^ "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Элеонора Петерсон (Ботмер)". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Анна Федоровна Тютчева". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Дарья Федоровна Тютчева". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Екатерина Федоровна Тютчева". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Эрнестина Дёрнберг (Пфеффель)". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Мария Федоровна Тютчева". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Дмитрий Федорович Тютчев". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Иван Федорович Тютчев". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ a b "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Николай Федорович". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ "Генеалогическое древо Ф.И. Тютчева: Федор Федорович Тютчев". www.ruthenia.ru. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
- ^ Ekshkut S. Tyutchev: Privy Councilor and Chamberlain. M., Young Guard, 2013
- ^ Чулков Г. И. Последняя любовь Тютчева (Елена Александровна Денисьева). М.: Изд-во Сабашниковых, 1928. С. 30—34.
- ^ Jude, F. (2000). The Complete Poems of Tyutchev In An English Translation.
- ISBN 978-0-9617485-1-7.
- ^ "Valentin Sylvesrov". ECM. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ Lucjan, Magdalena (2023). Recording of The Night Sea by Cochran/Tyutchev, soprano - Magdalena Lucjan, piano - Andrzej Wierciński.
- ^ "Sheet music for Night Scenes (soprano and piano) by Cochran/Tyutchev". Robert Bremner Publishing. 2022.
External links
- Fyodor Tyutchev, Selected Poems, translated by John Dewey, Brimstone Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-906385-43-9 e-book.
- Dewey, John (2010), Mirror of the Soul: A Life of the Poet Fyodor Tyutchev, Brimstone Press, ISBN 978-1-906385-23-1. e-book
- English translations of all of his poems at the Wayback Machine (archived February 27, 2008)
- English translations of some poems
- (in Russian) Web-site about him
- Philology in Runet. A special search through the works devoted to F. I. Tyutchev.
- (in Russian) The ancestors Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev
- English translations of 6 poems by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky, 1921
- English translations of 5 miniature poems
- Works by Fyodor Tyutchev at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)