Serge Wolkonsky
Serge Wolkonsky | |
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Born | Lääne-Harju Parish, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire | May 4, 1860
Died | August 25, 1937 Virginia, United States | (aged 77)
Prince Serge Wolkonsky (also referred to as Sergei Mikhailovitch Volkonsky;
Biography
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Wolkonsky was born on the
Princess Volkonskaya profoundly influenced her son Serge, defining many of his interests, including his Orthodox religious views; among her friends was the well-known Russian philosopher, theologian and poet
Wolkonsky graduated from the philological faculty of
During the reign of Tsar
In 1910, he trained in and taught
After the October Revolution he taught acting technique in Moscow for a time, but in the spring of 1919 he contracted typhus (as a result of which a premature obituary was published), and in August he was arrested by the Cheka. He was released and continued teaching and giving lectures, working for a time with Proletkult and Proletcult Theatre, but eventually he emigrated.
From February 1926, he lived in Paris, where he became a leading theatrical critic; he also continued teaching and giving lectures. "During this period of his life in Paris Wolkonsky became one of the most brilliant members of the Russian Emigration".[6] He became the first director of established in 1931 Conservatoire Rachmaninoff in Paris. During this time he became "a close friend and associate of the poet Marina Tsvetaeva (who dedicated to him her cycle of poems 'The Disciple' and wrote an essay about his memoirs)."[7]
In 1936, he was invited by the Kurt Jooss ballet school in London, after which he taught in the ballet company of Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin. In London, he met his future wife, Mary Walker Fearn, daughter of United States diplomat J. Walker Fearn and, by her first marriage, a sister-in-law of the former Mrs. Elsie French Vanderbilt. After the marriage, Prince and Princess Wolkonsky went to the United States, where, in Hot Springs, Virginia, he died after a brief illness. "His health had been undermined by four years of teaching in Bolshevik schools."[8] On 31 October, a requiem was held in a Catholic church, and "besides relatives there was all Russian Paris."[9] He was buried in Richmond, Virginia.
Works
- Pictures of Russian History and Russian Literature. Boston, NY, London; Lamson, Wolffe & Co. 1st ed. 1897; Pictures…, (Lowell lectures), 1898
- Impressions: sketches of American life as observed by a Russian. Chicago, 1893
- My reminiscences (translated by A.E. Chamot). London: Hutchinson & Co, 2 vols, 1924
- "The Decembrists. The first Russian revolutionists," Thought, v.3, 1928
(For a full list please see Russian article.)
See also
Bibliography
- R.C.Beachem, "Appia, Jaques-Dalcroze and Hellerau," NTQ, v.1, N 2-3, 1985
- C.Bommeli, "Vera Griner," Le Rythme, Geneve, bull. 8-9, 1990—1991, p. 24-25
- Arnold L. Haskell. Diaghileff. His artistic and private life. — NY, 1935
- Matilda Kshessinskaya. Dancing in Petersburg — London, 1960, 1973; Souvenirs de la Kshessinskaya. — Paris, 1960.
- Mary Trofimov, "The Last Days of Prince Serge Wolkonsky)," Theatrical Life, Moscow, N 20, 1991, p. 31 (in Russian)
(For a full list please see Russian article.)
References
- ^ Simon Karlinsky (ed.), Dear Bunny, Dear Volodya (U. of California Press, rev. ed., 2001), p. 47.
- ^ Cornell Alumni News, Vol. 14, No. 23 (13 March 1912), p. 3.
- ^ The Harvard Crimson, 24 February 1896.
- ^ Lee, James W. (August 2003). "Dalcroze by any other name: Eurhythmics in early modern theatre and dance".
- .
- ^ Marija Trofimova, "Prince Serge M. Wolkonsky – theatrical critic of Poslednie Novosti" ("Knyaz Sergei Volkonsky – teatralny kritik gazety Poslednie Novosti") (in Russian), Rev. Etud. Slaves, Paris, LXIV/4, 1992, p.735.
- ^ Karlinsky (ed.), Dear Bunny, Dear Volodya, p. 48.
- ^ The New York Times, 26 October 1937, p. 17.
- ^ F. Requiem on Prince Serge Wolkonsky, Poslednie Novosti, 1937, 1 November, N 6064, p. 3 (in Russian).