Poet, diplomat and musician. 220 anniversary of the birth of Alexander Griboedov
Alexander Griboyedov was born on January 4 1795 in the family of a retired second major. The father of the future poet Sergei Ivanovich and mother Anastasia Fedorovna came from the same genus, but from different branches - the father from Vladimir, and the mother from Smolensk. The genus Griboyedov itself is mentioned for the first time in documents of the early seventeenth century. According to family legend, it was founded by the Polish gentry Grzybowski, who arrived in Muscovy together with False Dmitry I, and then quickly Russified. The Smolensk Griboedovs turned out to be much luckier than their relatives from Vladimir, to whom the epithet “seedy” quite fit. Griboyedov’s grandfather on the maternal line, Fedor Alekseevich, was promoted to brigadier rank and was the owner of the rich estate of Khmelit, located not far from Vyazma. And his only son, Aleksey Fedorovich, lived a very important gentleman. Marriage of Alexander's parents could not be called successful. Sergei Ivanovich was a real moto, an avid gambler and, in general, an absolutely dissolute man. Marrying Anastasia Fyodorovna, he was seduced by her 400 souls of serfs. Sergei Ivanovich took no part in the upbringing of his children - Maria (born in 1792) and Alexander.
In 1794, Nastasya Fyodorovna acquired the village Timirevo in Vladimir Province, in which Alexander Sergeyevich spent his childhood years. There was nothing to move to Moscow for, and only at the beginning of the new century Aleksey Fyodorovich presented his sister with a house “near Novinsky”. Since then, Anastasia Fedorovna and her children spent the winter in the ancient capital of Russia, and in the summer they came to Khmelita, where Aleksey Fyodorovich kept a serf theater. Attended Griboedov and Moscow theaters, mainly Petrovsky, in which his mother took the box for the whole season. Also, one of the most vivid impressions of childhood was the annual Podnovinsky festivities, which took place at Holy Week a few steps from the Griboyedovs' house.
Like many noble children of that time, Alexander began to speak French almost earlier than in Russian. Griboedov began to study officially at the age of seven, after a tutor, a German by the name of Petrozilius, was assigned to him. Following his sister Masha, who showed exceptional success in playing the piano, the boy became interested in music. The dance was taught by the famous dance teacher Peter Iogel. In the autumn of 1803, Anastasia Fyodorovna sent her son to the Noble Guest House, which operated at Moscow University, but Alexander studied there for only half a year, having managed to get a number of music awards during that time. Further visits to the pension were prevented by poor health - the boy was again transferred to home schooling. Griboedov became a singing student (ie, students at their own expense) at Moscow University in 1806. After only two years, a thirteen-year-old teenager has successfully passed an exam for the degree of candidate of literature. It was still too early for him to enter the service, and the family decided that Alexander should continue his studies at the university, but at the ethical and political department.
By that time, Aleksandr Sergeevich had firmly made friends with the brothers Peter and Mikhail Chaadaev. All three were inveterate theater-goers, and preferred to spend evenings in theaters. Like Onegin, they were “liberty breathing” walking “between the seats on the legs”, suggesting a double lorgnette “on the lodges of unfamiliar women”, bowing and dissatisfied. By the way, in the then theater the voices of the actors were not always heard because of the noise. The theater of those times resembled a modern club, where people met, wentssip, started up novels, discussed news... The theater was entertainment, it became a “temple” much later, when a serious repertoire appeared, capable of educating people and changing life for the better. At the time of Griboedov’s youth, on the stage, as a rule, only “gadgets” were shown — redrawing French plays. There was no psychological theater, and the drama performances were a series of recitations by actors who changed their learned poses from time to time. The first literary experiments of Griboyedov also belong to this period of time. However, so far these were only "jokes". On the plot of university life in the spring of 1812, Alexander Sergeevich composed the tragedy “Dmitry Dryanskaya”, which was a parody of “Dmitry Donskoy” Vladislav Ozerov.
The atmosphere in the country, meanwhile, heated up - everyone was preparing for war with Napoleon. The Chaadaev brothers joined the army in the spring of 1812. The future playwright rushed after them, but his mother got in his way, categorically - due to the growing danger - who did not want an officer's path for her son. Nobody wanted to quarrel with her, and only after the beginning of the Patriotic War, Alexander Sergeyevich secretly from Anastasia Fyodorovna came to Count Peter Saltykov, who received an order to form a hussar regiment in the capital. In this regiment, the young Griboedov was immediately credited with the rank of Cornet. The “amateur” regiment looked very little on a regular combat unit and looked more like a Cossack freemen. This confirmed his “journey” to the east. In the city of Pokrov, hussars, deprived of competent leadership, and, in fact, not familiar with military discipline, in the course of the wild booze committed a uniform pogrom. The young officers, having escaped the “will” from the custody of their parents, took the march solely as a fun “adventure.” Damage inflicted on the city and the county amounted to over 21 thousands of rubles, which was a huge amount at the time. In the units of the regular army, such a savage trick of the Moscow hussars did not at all contribute to the growth of their “rating”. Grief-warriors were sent to serve in Kazan, Griboedov, having caught a bad cold, remained to be treated in Vladimir, where his relatives lived. The disease turned out to be quite serious - only in the spring, not without the help of local healers, he finally recovered.
By that time, the Moscow Hussars had been united with the Irkutsk Dragoon Regiment, which had suffered terrible losses and gained great fame in the Battle of Smolensk. The new regiment was included in the reserve army formed in Poland, from where the French had already been driven. Griboyedov also went to the western borders of the Russian Empire. On the way, he visited the Moscow conflagration. He did not find his native home or university - everything disappeared in the fire. Then the cornet visited Hmelita, where he heard a story that Napoleon himself lived in the Griboyedov estate (in fact, it was Marshal Joachim Murat). He found his regiment, now called the Irkutsk Hussars, in the city of Kobryn in June 1813. At this point, Griboedov did not stay up long - he had several letters for General Andrei Kologrivov, commanding cavalry in the reserve army. The headquarters of the general was located in Brest-Litovsk, and soon there was a young officer there. He did not find the general here, but he became friends with the brothers Stepan and Dmitry Begichev. The first served as an adjutant of Kologrivov, and the second - the governor of the office. Thanks to their participation, Griboedov was credited to the headquarters - the general needed intelligent officers who knew Polish.
At the headquarters, Alexander Sergeevich performed the duties of a “negotiator” with local residents, who were extremely unfriendly to Russian soldiers, and showed himself in this field from the best side. But in his spare time, Griboedov led a rather scattered life - he played music, hanged himself, participated in officers' parties. Some of his “exploits” went beyond what was permitted, for example, once he and Stepan Begichev entered the hall where a ball was held (on the second floor!) On a horse. On another occasion, Alexander Sergeevich, having expelled the church organist, performed on the organ during the Catholic service "Kamarinskaya". However, Kologrivov valued him, and Griboyedov got away. In Poland, he continued his literary tests - he began to compose the comedy “Young Spouses” and published twice in the “European Herald” - with the article “On the Cavalry Reserves” and the poetic and prosaic “Letter from Brest-Litovsk”, which presented the report on the celebration of the victory over By Napoleon.
After the war, the service did not bother Alexander Sergeyevich quickly bored. In December, 1814, having received a vacation, went to St. Petersburg, where he lived for three months, plunging headlong into theatrical life. At that time, he became friends with Prince Alexander Shakhovsky, who led all Petersburg theaters. After returning to Brest-Litovsk, Griboedov finished his “Young Spouses” and sent the comedy to Shakhovsky. Alexander Alexandrovich came to the delight of the work and invited the author to Petersburg to take part in the play of the play. Having knocked out a new vacation - now for a year, but without saving his salary - in June Griboedov 1815 rushed to the northern capital. His financial affairs, by the way, were very bad. In 1814, the father passed away, leaving only debts. Mother, avoiding extra payments, persuaded her son to give her share of the inheritance to her sister. Uncle Alexey Fyodorovich had already managed to go bankrupt by that time and also could not help his beloved nephew. The only joy was that the public accepted the “Young Spouses” favorably, although without much enthusiasm. And in December, 1815 Alexander Sergeevich filed a petition for leaving the civil service. Despite the efforts of Kologrivov to raise his protégé, 25 in March 1816 cornet Griboedov was dismissed "to determine the status of the former civil ruling civil."
In St. Petersburg, Griboyedov lived with his old friend Stepan Begichev. Life he led, as before, scattered - he visited the grand salons, became his behind theatrical scenes, met with old Moscow friends, and also got new ones. Among them it is worth noting the war heroes Alexander Alyabyev and Peter Katenin. By the summer of 1817, the efforts of Griboedov’s mother were crowned with success, and he was taken to serve in the College of Foreign Affairs — by the way, at the same time, with graduates of Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum Alexander Pushkin and Wilhelm Kuchelbecker. The newly-minted official did not leave drama, but was still content with “gadgets”. He spent the summer of 1817 in the Katenin's country house, where, together with his master, he composed the comedy “The Student”. And since August, he began to visit Alexander Shakhovsky more often. In addition came a creative crisis, and Griboedov was one of his critics. Desperate, the prince invited him to show himself how to write, of course, within the framework of the plot prepared. Alexander Sergeevich, without thinking twice, composed five scenes that Shakhovskaya, having corrected, later included in the comedy “The Married Bride”. It was in these scenes that Griboyedov first found the language that glorified him in “Woe from Wit”.
In the fall of 1817 the poet got into a disagreeable history. It all started with the fact that the ballet dancer Avdotya Istomina, who lived with Vasily Sheremetev, left her lover. Sheremetev's father, alarmed by his son’s feelings for the “actor,” asked Begichev and Griboedov to “scout” the case. After the next performance, Alexander Sergeevich met a ballerina and took her to Count Zavadovsky, who was living at that time to discuss the situation. Unfortunately, the jealous Sheremetev found them there. There was a challenge. Everything would have ended in reconciliation if Alexander Yakubovich, a famous daredevil and sneaker, did not intervene in the matter. As a result, a quadruple duel, unprecedented in our country, took place. 12 November 1817 fired Zavadovsky and Sheremetev, and Yakubovich and Griboedov were to converge. However, Sheremetev was mortally wounded in the stomach and died the next day. The second duel was postponed. Alexander I, at the request of Sheremetev’s father, forgave Griboyedov and Zavadovsky, and the guard Yakubovich, thanks to whom the incident had turned into a death case, went to serve in the Caucasus. Society also condemned all the participants of the fight. Zavadovsky left for England, leaving Griboyedov alone in the capital which was not very comfortable for him.
At that time, the dual power reigned in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia - Karl Nesselrode, who was in charge of the Foreign Affairs College, was in charge of the West, and Count John Kapodistrias was in charge of the East. Griboedov, not satisfied with the insignificant position in the College, expressed a desire to use his diplomatic skills in Greece, where the liberation struggle with the Turkish invaders was about to begin. To this end, he even began to study the Greek language, but everything turned out differently. Kapodistrias, who did not approve of the policy of the emperor for rapprochement with Austria, fell into disfavor. In April, 1818 Alexander Sergeevich was offered a choice - either go to a distant America, or to Persia on a newly formed Russian mission. The first option was absolutely unpromising, but the second one did not look brilliant. Nesselrode - his immediate superior - when talking with Griboyedov, sweetened the pill: the poet was transferred to the next class and was given a decent salary. There was nowhere to go - in June Alexander Sergeevich was officially appointed to the post of secretary of the Russian mission. Saying goodbye to friends, at the end of August 1818 Griboedov hit the road.
General Yermolov poet found in Mozdok. The owner of the Caucasus received him affectionately, however, Alexander Sergeevich was already waiting for Yakubovich in Tiflis. Two days after Griboyedov’s arrival in the city (October 1818), a “delayed” duel was held. Her conditions were extremely tough - they shot from six steps. Yakubovich blurted out first and shot Griboyedov with the left hand. The wounded poet fired back, but missed. There were many rumors about a duel in quiet Tiflis, but its participants managed to hush up the matter. Having dissuaded the disease, Alexander Sergeevich stayed in the city until January 1819. Despite the treatment, his left little finger was immobilized. According to eyewitnesses, most of all Griboedov lamented that from now on he would not be able to play the piano. However, after a while he brilliantly mastered the game with nine fingers. It should also be noted that during his time in Tiflis, the poet became close with Major General Fedor Akhverdov, chief of artillery of the Caucasian Army. In the wing of his house lived the family of Prince Alexander Chavchavadze, and Praskovya Akhverdova (the wife of Fyodor Isaevich), without analyzing their own and princely children, was engaged in their upbringing.
In late January, 1819 Griboedov went to Persia. For the next three years, he lived in Tehran and in Tabriz, where the residence of Abbas Mirza, the governor of the country of the heir to the throne, was located. It was long and difficult for Griboedov to settle in a new environment for him. After a long trip to Tabriz, his piano reached it. Alexander Sergeevich put it on the roof of his house and played music in the evenings, delighting the townspeople. With the non-initiative mission leader Simone Mazarovich Griboedov became the main “driving force”, deploying active rivalry with the British - our main opponents in this country. Persia at that time acted as a buffer between Russia, which was advancing in the Caucasus, and India, which the British jealously guarded against strangers. In this struggle for influence, Alexander Sergeevich twice “beat” his rivals. In the autumn of 1819, despite the discontent of Abbas-Mirza and the British, he personally brought 158 prisoners of Russian soldiers and fugitives to Tiflis. And in the middle of 1821, after the beginning of the liberation uprising in Greece, Griboyedov achieved that the Persian prince, who had long been watching the Eastern Turkish territories, moved his troops against the Turks. In protest, the British consul left the country.
In November, 1821 Griboyedov, who had broken his arm when he fell from a horse, arrived in Tiflis for treatment, however, General Yermolov kept him with him as “foreign secretary”. The poet, who in January became a collegiate assessor of 1822, was supposed to “look after” guests from England. In these months, he talked a lot with Yermolov, visited the widowed Akhverdov, and got in touch with Kuchelbecker, who worked for Alexey Petrovich as an official for special assignments. In the spring of 1822, Alexander Sergeevich began to throw a new play out of which later “Woe from Wit” grew. Wilhelm Kuchelbecker, who literally idolized his comrade, became her first listener. However, these readings did not last long - in May, Kuchelbecker shot with a local official, and Yermolov expelled him with an unpleasant characteristic. However, the friendship of Wilhelm Karlovich and Alexander Sergeevich continued - Griboyedov subsequently often helped his comrade to get out of difficult situations that he continually got into.
The poet spent the summer of 1822, accompanying the British, on the road across the Caucasus and the Caucasus, and at the beginning of 1823, he took a vacation - his old friend Stepan Begichev got ready to marry and called Griboyedov to the wedding. In mid-March, he was already in Moscow. His mother greeted him unkindly, reproaching her son that he was evading service. The first thing the poet went to meet with Begichev, who read a number of scenes from his new comedy. To his surprise, comrade criticized the writing. Later, having thought it over, Griboyedov agreed with Stepan and burned the manuscript - in his head a new, “correct” plan of the play, which received the first name “Woe to Mind”, was born. In late April, the playwright played the role of the best man at Begichev’s wedding, and spent the whole of May, yearning for social life, he spent at balls. He did not want to return to the Caucasus, and Griboyedov filed a petition to extend leave without pay. The petition was granted.
In July, 1823 Alexander Sergeevich appeared in the Tula province in the estate Dmitrovskoye, where the young Begichevs were. Dmitry Begichev and his wife were also here. All life was completely "dacha" - everything except Griboyedov. Every day after breakfast, he went to the gazebo in the far corner of the garden and worked. Over the evening tea, the poet read the writing and listened to the comments. In late September, Alexander Sergeevich returned to Moscow, having three ready-made actions. To compose the last, the fourth, he needed Moscow observations. Not wanting to listen to the notation of his mother, he settled with the Begiches, where he lived for the next six months. While working on the comedy, he did not live at all as a hermit: he went to the theaters, played music. Together with the retired Chaadaev Griboyedov attended the English club, and with Peter Vyazemsky wrote a vaudeville “Who is the brother, who is the sister”. Finally, in May, the 1824 play was completed, and Griboedov went with her to St. Petersburg.
The famous Russian playwright Andrei Zhandr, a good comrade of Griboedov, undertook to prepare a manuscript for submission to the censorship committee. Soon the case was put "on stream" - the workers of the Office of the Military Counting Expedition headed by him rewrote the work day and night, and it spread in a huge number of copies around the city, meeting an admiring reception everywhere. But with censorship, things went wrong, and Alexander Sergeevich was in a frustrated state. At the end of the summer, he visited the poet Alexander Odoyevsky at his dacha in Strelna, and on his return to St. Petersburg he rented a modest apartment near the present Theater Square. The poet was in poverty - he even had to lay the Order of Leo and the Sun, received from the Persian Shah. And 7 November 1824 Griboyedov in his apartment experienced a terrible flood. The room on the ground floor was flooded, and when the water was gone, the ship froze on the pavement near the house. It was impossible to live in an apartment, and the playwright moved to Odoyevsky.
While living with Alexander Ivanovich, Griboedov met Kakhovsky, Obolensky, Ryleyev, and unwittingly became involved in a conspiracy. By the way, the Decembrists for a long time could not decide whether to dedicate Alexander Sergeyevich to their plans. However, his ties, in particular with Yermolov, were too important, and as a result there was a frank conversation. Griboyedov did not believe in the success of the uprising, but agreed to help the Decembrists. In May, 1825 he went to Kiev in order to return to the duty station, as well as to establish relations with the Southern Society. It is known that in Kiev he met with Bestuzhev-Rumin, Muravyov-Apostol, Trubetskoy and other conspirators. From there, the poet went to the Crimea. For three months he traveled around the peninsula, noting everything he saw and experienced in the diary of travel notes published three decades later, and in October 1825 returned to the Caucasus. Yermolov Griboedov met in Ekaterinogradskaya stanitsa, where the general was preparing to speak out against the Highlanders. However, the planned campaign, which Alexander Sergeyevich insistently requested, had to be postponed due to the death of Alexander I. Yermolov needed to take the troops to the oath - first Konstantin Pavlovich, and then Nikolay, with whom, by the way, the general had strained relations.
On December 14 there was an uprising of the Decembrists, and at the end of January 1826 in the fortress of Grozny, where Yermolov was located, galvanized the courier with orders to arrest Griboyedov and take him to St. Petersburg. Upon arrival in the capital, Alexander Sergeevich was placed in the building of the General Staff building, and not in the Peter and Paul Fortress, which in itself was a good sign. The content here was unfriendly - prisoners dined in a restaurant and could visit friends. Only the unknown. In this position, Griboedov spent three months. During this time, only Obolensky called him a member of the Society; Ryleev and the other Decembrists denied the poet’s participation. The husband of the playwright's cousin, General Paskevich, whom the new emperor trusted without limit, also fenced off his relative in every way. In the end, Nicholas I ordered: to release Griboyedov “with a cleaning certificate”, to make him in court counselors, to provide an annual salary and to be sent to the old duty station. In July, after the execution of five “initiators” of the riot, Alexander Sergeevich left for Tiflis.
While Griboyedov was absent in the Caucasus, much has changed there. In mid-July, the 1826 Persian Shah, led by the British, decided to start a war with Russia. Alexey Petrovich, misled by Mazarovich, who claims that the Persian army, trained by the British, is extremely strong, acted uncertainly, losing all of Eastern Transcaucasia during the first month of hostilities. Denis Davydov and Ivan Paskevich were sent to help him, the second with the permission of the emperor to remove Yermolov at any moment. Things on the front line went better, but the diarchy lasted until the spring of 1827, when Nicholas I, unsatisfied with the results, directly ordered Paskevich to head the Caucasian Special Corps. Dismissed “due to domestic circumstances” Yermolov went to his Oryol manor, and Denis Davydov followed him. Officially entrusting Griboyedov with diplomatic relations with Turkey and Persia, unofficially Paskevich handed him civilian control over the whole region and, without looking, podmakhal all the papers that the diplomat submitted to him. Under Yermolov, there was no such thing - the general liked to enter all matters and did not tolerate contradictions. Now Alexander Sergeevich could swing, which he, in fact, did. Thanks to him, the publication of the Tiflis Vedomosti was started, the local noble school was reformed, a project for the development of the city and plans for an economic study of Georgian territories were drawn up. He still preferred to spend the evenings of working life at Praskovya Akhverdova. The older girls of her “pension”, Nina Chavchavadze and Sonya Akhverdova, matured noticeably, and Griboedov gave them music lessons.
In May, Alexander Sergeevich developed the principles of a new policy towards Persia. First of all, the poet defended the "politics of influence", the great masters of which hitherto were the British. Griboyedov suggested not to try to cut down local traditions in the bud, but to turn them in favor of Russia. For example, to leave the national administration on new lands, of course, under the supervision of Russian commanders. By the time the summer campaign began. Alexander Sergeevich was at the army all the time, and his activities began to bear the first fruits. In the course of the advance of the Russian soldiers to the south, the local population willingly supplied them with food, and a number of Khans even changed Abbas-Mirza, going over to our side.
The Persian prince suffered one defeat after another, lost the fortresses of Abbas-Abad, Nakhichevan, Erivan and as a result his own capital Tabriz. By the way, censorship did not work in the fallen Erivan, and the Russian officers independently — to the joy of the author — first set and played Woe from Wit. And soon Abbas-Mirza requested a truce and arrived in Paskevich’s headquarters for negotiations in November. Peace conditions Alexander Sergeevich offered tough - the Persians had to cede the Nakhichevan and Erivan khanates, pay the Russian Empire a huge contribution (twenty million rubles in silver) and provide the advantages in trade. The Persians began to send money, and in December the father of Abbas-Mirza Feth Ali Shah, allegedly dissatisfied with the actions of his son, announced that he would send a new negotiator to Paskevich. Griboyedov, enraged, in January 1828 convinced Ivan Fedorovich, who did not want to fight in the winter, to move the troops forward. Soon the Russian units were under Tehran, and the Persians had no choice but to fulfill all the terms of the agreement.
10 February 1828 in Turkmanchay signed a peace treaty that marked the end of the Russian-Iranian war. Paskevich ruled that Griboedov would take the treatise to the capital. The poet arrived in St. Petersburg in March - his arrival in the city marked the 201 cannon shot. The victor was awarded high awards - he was granted the Order of St. Anne of the second degree, the rank of State Counselor and four thousand gold pieces of gold. In those days, Alexander Sergeevich was the most famous person in St. Petersburg, everyone was looking for him to meet - from writers to grand dukes. Even the well-known opponent of Griboyedov, the Russian commander Nikolai Muravyov-Karsky, admitted: “In Persia, Alexander Sergeevich replaced us with a single face with his twenty thousand strong army, and there would not be a person in Russia to occupy the place of his capable.”
In the capital, the playwright stopped at Demuth's tavern, where Pushkin also lived. Writers, meeting every day, quickly became friends. Pushkin wrote about his namesake like this: “This is one of the smartest people in Russia. It's fun to listen to him. ” A curious case - in April, 1828 Pushkin, Krylov, Vyazemsky and Griboedov conceived a joint tour of Europe. Vyazemsky informed his wife: “... In the cities we can appear as giraffes ... is there a joke to see four Russian writers. About us, right, would speak magazines. Upon arrival home, we would have published our travel notes: golden ore again. ” However, nothing came of this - the emperor forbade Pushkin to go abroad, major changes occurred in the life of Griboyedov. In late April, the Senate issued a decree establishing the imperial mission in Persia. Alexander Sergeevich was appointed extraordinary ambassador with the rank of minister. How could he delayed departure, attended literary meetings, hurried to “breathe out” the theater. In May, Pushkin read him the banned “Boris Godunov”. Griboyedov also tried to return to literature, starting to write the romantic tragedy “Georgian Nights”. Those who saw the passages claimed that they were excellent. All the last days in the capital of the playwright tormented by dark forebodings. “I won’t come back from Persia alive ... You don’t know these people - you’ll see, it will come to knives,” he told friends.
In early June, Griboyedov left St. Petersburg. A couple of days he stayed in Moscow next to his mother proud of his son, then in the Tula province he visited Stepan Begichev. Together with him, the poet traveled to his sister, who lived nearby. She had just given birth to a son, also named Alexander, - and Griboedov baptized the baby (by his own admission, “he swept it solemnly”). July 5 Alexander Sergeevich was greeted with great honors in Tiflis, and on July 16, all of a sudden, a well-known diplomat and playwright confessed his love to Nina Chavchavadze, a student of Yakhverdova, and asked for her hand. Fifteen-year-old Nina agreed, later she said: “As if in a dream! .. As if a sun ray burned!”. A day later, Griboyedov went to the headquarters of Paskevich, leading the next Russian-Turkish war. In Akhalkalaki, he convinced the count to send troops to the conquest of Batum, which could serve as a convenient port. In early August, Alexander Sergeevich returned to Tiflis, and a day later he came down with a fever. On August 22 he married Nina in Sioni Cathedral, while the sick poet barely stood. In September, it became easier for him, and the newlyweds left for Persia. The Minister’s motorcade reached Tabriz by October 6. It turned out that the diplomat’s spouse is pregnant. Young lived in the city for two months, and in early December, Griboyedov alone went to Tehran.
Griboedov did not intend to linger in Persia, he wrote to his wife: “I miss you. ... Now I truly feel what it means to love. " Having given the required visits and handed over credentials to Feth Ali Shah, Alexander Sergeevich focused on the release of prisoners. The Persians, as usual, rested, but Griboyedov managed to do a lot. On the eve of his departure, under the protection of the embassy, a certain Mirza-Yakub (actually, Armenian Yakub Markaryan), who is the second eunuch of the Shah's harem and the second person in the treasury, was asked. He wanted to return to his homeland, and Griboedov accepted him. After that, riots broke out in Tehran - the mullahs openly called on residents to take Mirza-Yakub by force. 30 January 1829 gathered around the Russian embassy a hundred-thousandth uncontrolled crowd of brutalized fanatics. The convoy of the mission, consisting of thirty-five Cossacks, offered the attacker decent resistance, but the forces were unequal. Together with the Cossacks courageously defended the embassy and Alexander Sergeevich. The Shah's troops did not come to the rescue - later Feth Ali Shah claimed that they could not get through. As a result of the attack, thirty-seven people were killed at the embassy. The disfigured corpse of a diplomat, who had been playing for the Tehran mob for three days, was identified only by the hand, which had long been shot through by a pistol bullet. As an "apology" for the defeat of the Russian embassy, the Persians handed over to the Russian Tsar the Shah diamond, which is now in the Diamond Fund of Russia. In July, 1829 ashes of Griboyedov were taken to Tiflis and, according to his will, were buried in the monastery of St. David on Mount Mtatsminda. On the tomb of the poet’s grave, Nina Chavchavadze’s phrase was stamped out: “Your mind and deeds are immortal in the Russian memory, but why did my love go through you!” By the way, the poet’s wife was not informed for a long time about the death of her husband, protecting her child. When the truth opened, Nina Griboyedova-Chavchavadze was delirious for several weeks, eventually giving birth to a premature baby boy. He lived only an hour. At the age of sixteen, Griboedov’s widow wore mourning, which she wore until her death in 1857. Her loyalty to her deceased husband during her lifetime became legendary, the locals respectfully called her the "Black Rose of Tiflis".
The premiere of Griboyedov's comedy “Woe from Wit”, which was the pinnacle of Russian poetry and drama, was held in full in January at 1831 in St. Petersburg on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater. Nevertheless, the term “in its full form” requires clarification - the play was disfigured by censorship, which made it possible for historian and censor Alexander Nikitenko to notice: “There is only one grief left in the play - so distorted by the knife of the Benkendorf council.” Despite this, the performance was a resounding success, the bright aphoristic style of comedy contributed to the fact that it was completely “disassembled into quotations”. The philosopher Nikolai Nadezhdin wrote: “... Faces, representing different shades of our life, are so happily posed, so sharply outlined, so truly captured, that you unwittingly stare, you recognize the originals and you laugh.” The Moscow premiere took place later - in November 1831 - at the Bolshoi Theater.
According to the materials of the book by E.N. Tsimbayeva "Griboedov" and the weekly edition of "Our history. 100 Great Names »
In 1794, Nastasya Fyodorovna acquired the village Timirevo in Vladimir Province, in which Alexander Sergeyevich spent his childhood years. There was nothing to move to Moscow for, and only at the beginning of the new century Aleksey Fyodorovich presented his sister with a house “near Novinsky”. Since then, Anastasia Fedorovna and her children spent the winter in the ancient capital of Russia, and in the summer they came to Khmelita, where Aleksey Fyodorovich kept a serf theater. Attended Griboedov and Moscow theaters, mainly Petrovsky, in which his mother took the box for the whole season. Also, one of the most vivid impressions of childhood was the annual Podnovinsky festivities, which took place at Holy Week a few steps from the Griboyedovs' house.
Like many noble children of that time, Alexander began to speak French almost earlier than in Russian. Griboedov began to study officially at the age of seven, after a tutor, a German by the name of Petrozilius, was assigned to him. Following his sister Masha, who showed exceptional success in playing the piano, the boy became interested in music. The dance was taught by the famous dance teacher Peter Iogel. In the autumn of 1803, Anastasia Fyodorovna sent her son to the Noble Guest House, which operated at Moscow University, but Alexander studied there for only half a year, having managed to get a number of music awards during that time. Further visits to the pension were prevented by poor health - the boy was again transferred to home schooling. Griboedov became a singing student (ie, students at their own expense) at Moscow University in 1806. After only two years, a thirteen-year-old teenager has successfully passed an exam for the degree of candidate of literature. It was still too early for him to enter the service, and the family decided that Alexander should continue his studies at the university, but at the ethical and political department.
By that time, Aleksandr Sergeevich had firmly made friends with the brothers Peter and Mikhail Chaadaev. All three were inveterate theater-goers, and preferred to spend evenings in theaters. Like Onegin, they were “liberty breathing” walking “between the seats on the legs”, suggesting a double lorgnette “on the lodges of unfamiliar women”, bowing and dissatisfied. By the way, in the then theater the voices of the actors were not always heard because of the noise. The theater of those times resembled a modern club, where people met, wentssip, started up novels, discussed news... The theater was entertainment, it became a “temple” much later, when a serious repertoire appeared, capable of educating people and changing life for the better. At the time of Griboedov’s youth, on the stage, as a rule, only “gadgets” were shown — redrawing French plays. There was no psychological theater, and the drama performances were a series of recitations by actors who changed their learned poses from time to time. The first literary experiments of Griboyedov also belong to this period of time. However, so far these were only "jokes". On the plot of university life in the spring of 1812, Alexander Sergeevich composed the tragedy “Dmitry Dryanskaya”, which was a parody of “Dmitry Donskoy” Vladislav Ozerov.
The atmosphere in the country, meanwhile, heated up - everyone was preparing for war with Napoleon. The Chaadaev brothers joined the army in the spring of 1812. The future playwright rushed after them, but his mother got in his way, categorically - due to the growing danger - who did not want an officer's path for her son. Nobody wanted to quarrel with her, and only after the beginning of the Patriotic War, Alexander Sergeyevich secretly from Anastasia Fyodorovna came to Count Peter Saltykov, who received an order to form a hussar regiment in the capital. In this regiment, the young Griboedov was immediately credited with the rank of Cornet. The “amateur” regiment looked very little on a regular combat unit and looked more like a Cossack freemen. This confirmed his “journey” to the east. In the city of Pokrov, hussars, deprived of competent leadership, and, in fact, not familiar with military discipline, in the course of the wild booze committed a uniform pogrom. The young officers, having escaped the “will” from the custody of their parents, took the march solely as a fun “adventure.” Damage inflicted on the city and the county amounted to over 21 thousands of rubles, which was a huge amount at the time. In the units of the regular army, such a savage trick of the Moscow hussars did not at all contribute to the growth of their “rating”. Grief-warriors were sent to serve in Kazan, Griboedov, having caught a bad cold, remained to be treated in Vladimir, where his relatives lived. The disease turned out to be quite serious - only in the spring, not without the help of local healers, he finally recovered.
By that time, the Moscow Hussars had been united with the Irkutsk Dragoon Regiment, which had suffered terrible losses and gained great fame in the Battle of Smolensk. The new regiment was included in the reserve army formed in Poland, from where the French had already been driven. Griboyedov also went to the western borders of the Russian Empire. On the way, he visited the Moscow conflagration. He did not find his native home or university - everything disappeared in the fire. Then the cornet visited Hmelita, where he heard a story that Napoleon himself lived in the Griboyedov estate (in fact, it was Marshal Joachim Murat). He found his regiment, now called the Irkutsk Hussars, in the city of Kobryn in June 1813. At this point, Griboedov did not stay up long - he had several letters for General Andrei Kologrivov, commanding cavalry in the reserve army. The headquarters of the general was located in Brest-Litovsk, and soon there was a young officer there. He did not find the general here, but he became friends with the brothers Stepan and Dmitry Begichev. The first served as an adjutant of Kologrivov, and the second - the governor of the office. Thanks to their participation, Griboedov was credited to the headquarters - the general needed intelligent officers who knew Polish.
At the headquarters, Alexander Sergeevich performed the duties of a “negotiator” with local residents, who were extremely unfriendly to Russian soldiers, and showed himself in this field from the best side. But in his spare time, Griboedov led a rather scattered life - he played music, hanged himself, participated in officers' parties. Some of his “exploits” went beyond what was permitted, for example, once he and Stepan Begichev entered the hall where a ball was held (on the second floor!) On a horse. On another occasion, Alexander Sergeevich, having expelled the church organist, performed on the organ during the Catholic service "Kamarinskaya". However, Kologrivov valued him, and Griboyedov got away. In Poland, he continued his literary tests - he began to compose the comedy “Young Spouses” and published twice in the “European Herald” - with the article “On the Cavalry Reserves” and the poetic and prosaic “Letter from Brest-Litovsk”, which presented the report on the celebration of the victory over By Napoleon.
After the war, the service did not bother Alexander Sergeyevich quickly bored. In December, 1814, having received a vacation, went to St. Petersburg, where he lived for three months, plunging headlong into theatrical life. At that time, he became friends with Prince Alexander Shakhovsky, who led all Petersburg theaters. After returning to Brest-Litovsk, Griboedov finished his “Young Spouses” and sent the comedy to Shakhovsky. Alexander Alexandrovich came to the delight of the work and invited the author to Petersburg to take part in the play of the play. Having knocked out a new vacation - now for a year, but without saving his salary - in June Griboedov 1815 rushed to the northern capital. His financial affairs, by the way, were very bad. In 1814, the father passed away, leaving only debts. Mother, avoiding extra payments, persuaded her son to give her share of the inheritance to her sister. Uncle Alexey Fyodorovich had already managed to go bankrupt by that time and also could not help his beloved nephew. The only joy was that the public accepted the “Young Spouses” favorably, although without much enthusiasm. And in December, 1815 Alexander Sergeevich filed a petition for leaving the civil service. Despite the efforts of Kologrivov to raise his protégé, 25 in March 1816 cornet Griboedov was dismissed "to determine the status of the former civil ruling civil."
In St. Petersburg, Griboyedov lived with his old friend Stepan Begichev. Life he led, as before, scattered - he visited the grand salons, became his behind theatrical scenes, met with old Moscow friends, and also got new ones. Among them it is worth noting the war heroes Alexander Alyabyev and Peter Katenin. By the summer of 1817, the efforts of Griboedov’s mother were crowned with success, and he was taken to serve in the College of Foreign Affairs — by the way, at the same time, with graduates of Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum Alexander Pushkin and Wilhelm Kuchelbecker. The newly-minted official did not leave drama, but was still content with “gadgets”. He spent the summer of 1817 in the Katenin's country house, where, together with his master, he composed the comedy “The Student”. And since August, he began to visit Alexander Shakhovsky more often. In addition came a creative crisis, and Griboedov was one of his critics. Desperate, the prince invited him to show himself how to write, of course, within the framework of the plot prepared. Alexander Sergeevich, without thinking twice, composed five scenes that Shakhovskaya, having corrected, later included in the comedy “The Married Bride”. It was in these scenes that Griboyedov first found the language that glorified him in “Woe from Wit”.
In the fall of 1817 the poet got into a disagreeable history. It all started with the fact that the ballet dancer Avdotya Istomina, who lived with Vasily Sheremetev, left her lover. Sheremetev's father, alarmed by his son’s feelings for the “actor,” asked Begichev and Griboedov to “scout” the case. After the next performance, Alexander Sergeevich met a ballerina and took her to Count Zavadovsky, who was living at that time to discuss the situation. Unfortunately, the jealous Sheremetev found them there. There was a challenge. Everything would have ended in reconciliation if Alexander Yakubovich, a famous daredevil and sneaker, did not intervene in the matter. As a result, a quadruple duel, unprecedented in our country, took place. 12 November 1817 fired Zavadovsky and Sheremetev, and Yakubovich and Griboedov were to converge. However, Sheremetev was mortally wounded in the stomach and died the next day. The second duel was postponed. Alexander I, at the request of Sheremetev’s father, forgave Griboyedov and Zavadovsky, and the guard Yakubovich, thanks to whom the incident had turned into a death case, went to serve in the Caucasus. Society also condemned all the participants of the fight. Zavadovsky left for England, leaving Griboyedov alone in the capital which was not very comfortable for him.
At that time, the dual power reigned in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia - Karl Nesselrode, who was in charge of the Foreign Affairs College, was in charge of the West, and Count John Kapodistrias was in charge of the East. Griboedov, not satisfied with the insignificant position in the College, expressed a desire to use his diplomatic skills in Greece, where the liberation struggle with the Turkish invaders was about to begin. To this end, he even began to study the Greek language, but everything turned out differently. Kapodistrias, who did not approve of the policy of the emperor for rapprochement with Austria, fell into disfavor. In April, 1818 Alexander Sergeevich was offered a choice - either go to a distant America, or to Persia on a newly formed Russian mission. The first option was absolutely unpromising, but the second one did not look brilliant. Nesselrode - his immediate superior - when talking with Griboyedov, sweetened the pill: the poet was transferred to the next class and was given a decent salary. There was nowhere to go - in June Alexander Sergeevich was officially appointed to the post of secretary of the Russian mission. Saying goodbye to friends, at the end of August 1818 Griboedov hit the road.
General Yermolov poet found in Mozdok. The owner of the Caucasus received him affectionately, however, Alexander Sergeevich was already waiting for Yakubovich in Tiflis. Two days after Griboyedov’s arrival in the city (October 1818), a “delayed” duel was held. Her conditions were extremely tough - they shot from six steps. Yakubovich blurted out first and shot Griboyedov with the left hand. The wounded poet fired back, but missed. There were many rumors about a duel in quiet Tiflis, but its participants managed to hush up the matter. Having dissuaded the disease, Alexander Sergeevich stayed in the city until January 1819. Despite the treatment, his left little finger was immobilized. According to eyewitnesses, most of all Griboedov lamented that from now on he would not be able to play the piano. However, after a while he brilliantly mastered the game with nine fingers. It should also be noted that during his time in Tiflis, the poet became close with Major General Fedor Akhverdov, chief of artillery of the Caucasian Army. In the wing of his house lived the family of Prince Alexander Chavchavadze, and Praskovya Akhverdova (the wife of Fyodor Isaevich), without analyzing their own and princely children, was engaged in their upbringing.
In late January, 1819 Griboedov went to Persia. For the next three years, he lived in Tehran and in Tabriz, where the residence of Abbas Mirza, the governor of the country of the heir to the throne, was located. It was long and difficult for Griboedov to settle in a new environment for him. After a long trip to Tabriz, his piano reached it. Alexander Sergeevich put it on the roof of his house and played music in the evenings, delighting the townspeople. With the non-initiative mission leader Simone Mazarovich Griboedov became the main “driving force”, deploying active rivalry with the British - our main opponents in this country. Persia at that time acted as a buffer between Russia, which was advancing in the Caucasus, and India, which the British jealously guarded against strangers. In this struggle for influence, Alexander Sergeevich twice “beat” his rivals. In the autumn of 1819, despite the discontent of Abbas-Mirza and the British, he personally brought 158 prisoners of Russian soldiers and fugitives to Tiflis. And in the middle of 1821, after the beginning of the liberation uprising in Greece, Griboyedov achieved that the Persian prince, who had long been watching the Eastern Turkish territories, moved his troops against the Turks. In protest, the British consul left the country.
In November, 1821 Griboyedov, who had broken his arm when he fell from a horse, arrived in Tiflis for treatment, however, General Yermolov kept him with him as “foreign secretary”. The poet, who in January became a collegiate assessor of 1822, was supposed to “look after” guests from England. In these months, he talked a lot with Yermolov, visited the widowed Akhverdov, and got in touch with Kuchelbecker, who worked for Alexey Petrovich as an official for special assignments. In the spring of 1822, Alexander Sergeevich began to throw a new play out of which later “Woe from Wit” grew. Wilhelm Kuchelbecker, who literally idolized his comrade, became her first listener. However, these readings did not last long - in May, Kuchelbecker shot with a local official, and Yermolov expelled him with an unpleasant characteristic. However, the friendship of Wilhelm Karlovich and Alexander Sergeevich continued - Griboyedov subsequently often helped his comrade to get out of difficult situations that he continually got into.
The poet spent the summer of 1822, accompanying the British, on the road across the Caucasus and the Caucasus, and at the beginning of 1823, he took a vacation - his old friend Stepan Begichev got ready to marry and called Griboyedov to the wedding. In mid-March, he was already in Moscow. His mother greeted him unkindly, reproaching her son that he was evading service. The first thing the poet went to meet with Begichev, who read a number of scenes from his new comedy. To his surprise, comrade criticized the writing. Later, having thought it over, Griboyedov agreed with Stepan and burned the manuscript - in his head a new, “correct” plan of the play, which received the first name “Woe to Mind”, was born. In late April, the playwright played the role of the best man at Begichev’s wedding, and spent the whole of May, yearning for social life, he spent at balls. He did not want to return to the Caucasus, and Griboyedov filed a petition to extend leave without pay. The petition was granted.
In July, 1823 Alexander Sergeevich appeared in the Tula province in the estate Dmitrovskoye, where the young Begichevs were. Dmitry Begichev and his wife were also here. All life was completely "dacha" - everything except Griboyedov. Every day after breakfast, he went to the gazebo in the far corner of the garden and worked. Over the evening tea, the poet read the writing and listened to the comments. In late September, Alexander Sergeevich returned to Moscow, having three ready-made actions. To compose the last, the fourth, he needed Moscow observations. Not wanting to listen to the notation of his mother, he settled with the Begiches, where he lived for the next six months. While working on the comedy, he did not live at all as a hermit: he went to the theaters, played music. Together with the retired Chaadaev Griboyedov attended the English club, and with Peter Vyazemsky wrote a vaudeville “Who is the brother, who is the sister”. Finally, in May, the 1824 play was completed, and Griboedov went with her to St. Petersburg.
The famous Russian playwright Andrei Zhandr, a good comrade of Griboedov, undertook to prepare a manuscript for submission to the censorship committee. Soon the case was put "on stream" - the workers of the Office of the Military Counting Expedition headed by him rewrote the work day and night, and it spread in a huge number of copies around the city, meeting an admiring reception everywhere. But with censorship, things went wrong, and Alexander Sergeevich was in a frustrated state. At the end of the summer, he visited the poet Alexander Odoyevsky at his dacha in Strelna, and on his return to St. Petersburg he rented a modest apartment near the present Theater Square. The poet was in poverty - he even had to lay the Order of Leo and the Sun, received from the Persian Shah. And 7 November 1824 Griboyedov in his apartment experienced a terrible flood. The room on the ground floor was flooded, and when the water was gone, the ship froze on the pavement near the house. It was impossible to live in an apartment, and the playwright moved to Odoyevsky.
While living with Alexander Ivanovich, Griboedov met Kakhovsky, Obolensky, Ryleyev, and unwittingly became involved in a conspiracy. By the way, the Decembrists for a long time could not decide whether to dedicate Alexander Sergeyevich to their plans. However, his ties, in particular with Yermolov, were too important, and as a result there was a frank conversation. Griboyedov did not believe in the success of the uprising, but agreed to help the Decembrists. In May, 1825 he went to Kiev in order to return to the duty station, as well as to establish relations with the Southern Society. It is known that in Kiev he met with Bestuzhev-Rumin, Muravyov-Apostol, Trubetskoy and other conspirators. From there, the poet went to the Crimea. For three months he traveled around the peninsula, noting everything he saw and experienced in the diary of travel notes published three decades later, and in October 1825 returned to the Caucasus. Yermolov Griboedov met in Ekaterinogradskaya stanitsa, where the general was preparing to speak out against the Highlanders. However, the planned campaign, which Alexander Sergeyevich insistently requested, had to be postponed due to the death of Alexander I. Yermolov needed to take the troops to the oath - first Konstantin Pavlovich, and then Nikolay, with whom, by the way, the general had strained relations.
On December 14 there was an uprising of the Decembrists, and at the end of January 1826 in the fortress of Grozny, where Yermolov was located, galvanized the courier with orders to arrest Griboyedov and take him to St. Petersburg. Upon arrival in the capital, Alexander Sergeevich was placed in the building of the General Staff building, and not in the Peter and Paul Fortress, which in itself was a good sign. The content here was unfriendly - prisoners dined in a restaurant and could visit friends. Only the unknown. In this position, Griboedov spent three months. During this time, only Obolensky called him a member of the Society; Ryleev and the other Decembrists denied the poet’s participation. The husband of the playwright's cousin, General Paskevich, whom the new emperor trusted without limit, also fenced off his relative in every way. In the end, Nicholas I ordered: to release Griboyedov “with a cleaning certificate”, to make him in court counselors, to provide an annual salary and to be sent to the old duty station. In July, after the execution of five “initiators” of the riot, Alexander Sergeevich left for Tiflis.
While Griboyedov was absent in the Caucasus, much has changed there. In mid-July, the 1826 Persian Shah, led by the British, decided to start a war with Russia. Alexey Petrovich, misled by Mazarovich, who claims that the Persian army, trained by the British, is extremely strong, acted uncertainly, losing all of Eastern Transcaucasia during the first month of hostilities. Denis Davydov and Ivan Paskevich were sent to help him, the second with the permission of the emperor to remove Yermolov at any moment. Things on the front line went better, but the diarchy lasted until the spring of 1827, when Nicholas I, unsatisfied with the results, directly ordered Paskevich to head the Caucasian Special Corps. Dismissed “due to domestic circumstances” Yermolov went to his Oryol manor, and Denis Davydov followed him. Officially entrusting Griboyedov with diplomatic relations with Turkey and Persia, unofficially Paskevich handed him civilian control over the whole region and, without looking, podmakhal all the papers that the diplomat submitted to him. Under Yermolov, there was no such thing - the general liked to enter all matters and did not tolerate contradictions. Now Alexander Sergeevich could swing, which he, in fact, did. Thanks to him, the publication of the Tiflis Vedomosti was started, the local noble school was reformed, a project for the development of the city and plans for an economic study of Georgian territories were drawn up. He still preferred to spend the evenings of working life at Praskovya Akhverdova. The older girls of her “pension”, Nina Chavchavadze and Sonya Akhverdova, matured noticeably, and Griboedov gave them music lessons.
In May, Alexander Sergeevich developed the principles of a new policy towards Persia. First of all, the poet defended the "politics of influence", the great masters of which hitherto were the British. Griboyedov suggested not to try to cut down local traditions in the bud, but to turn them in favor of Russia. For example, to leave the national administration on new lands, of course, under the supervision of Russian commanders. By the time the summer campaign began. Alexander Sergeevich was at the army all the time, and his activities began to bear the first fruits. In the course of the advance of the Russian soldiers to the south, the local population willingly supplied them with food, and a number of Khans even changed Abbas-Mirza, going over to our side.
The Persian prince suffered one defeat after another, lost the fortresses of Abbas-Abad, Nakhichevan, Erivan and as a result his own capital Tabriz. By the way, censorship did not work in the fallen Erivan, and the Russian officers independently — to the joy of the author — first set and played Woe from Wit. And soon Abbas-Mirza requested a truce and arrived in Paskevich’s headquarters for negotiations in November. Peace conditions Alexander Sergeevich offered tough - the Persians had to cede the Nakhichevan and Erivan khanates, pay the Russian Empire a huge contribution (twenty million rubles in silver) and provide the advantages in trade. The Persians began to send money, and in December the father of Abbas-Mirza Feth Ali Shah, allegedly dissatisfied with the actions of his son, announced that he would send a new negotiator to Paskevich. Griboyedov, enraged, in January 1828 convinced Ivan Fedorovich, who did not want to fight in the winter, to move the troops forward. Soon the Russian units were under Tehran, and the Persians had no choice but to fulfill all the terms of the agreement.
10 February 1828 in Turkmanchay signed a peace treaty that marked the end of the Russian-Iranian war. Paskevich ruled that Griboedov would take the treatise to the capital. The poet arrived in St. Petersburg in March - his arrival in the city marked the 201 cannon shot. The victor was awarded high awards - he was granted the Order of St. Anne of the second degree, the rank of State Counselor and four thousand gold pieces of gold. In those days, Alexander Sergeevich was the most famous person in St. Petersburg, everyone was looking for him to meet - from writers to grand dukes. Even the well-known opponent of Griboyedov, the Russian commander Nikolai Muravyov-Karsky, admitted: “In Persia, Alexander Sergeevich replaced us with a single face with his twenty thousand strong army, and there would not be a person in Russia to occupy the place of his capable.”
In the capital, the playwright stopped at Demuth's tavern, where Pushkin also lived. Writers, meeting every day, quickly became friends. Pushkin wrote about his namesake like this: “This is one of the smartest people in Russia. It's fun to listen to him. ” A curious case - in April, 1828 Pushkin, Krylov, Vyazemsky and Griboedov conceived a joint tour of Europe. Vyazemsky informed his wife: “... In the cities we can appear as giraffes ... is there a joke to see four Russian writers. About us, right, would speak magazines. Upon arrival home, we would have published our travel notes: golden ore again. ” However, nothing came of this - the emperor forbade Pushkin to go abroad, major changes occurred in the life of Griboyedov. In late April, the Senate issued a decree establishing the imperial mission in Persia. Alexander Sergeevich was appointed extraordinary ambassador with the rank of minister. How could he delayed departure, attended literary meetings, hurried to “breathe out” the theater. In May, Pushkin read him the banned “Boris Godunov”. Griboyedov also tried to return to literature, starting to write the romantic tragedy “Georgian Nights”. Those who saw the passages claimed that they were excellent. All the last days in the capital of the playwright tormented by dark forebodings. “I won’t come back from Persia alive ... You don’t know these people - you’ll see, it will come to knives,” he told friends.
In early June, Griboyedov left St. Petersburg. A couple of days he stayed in Moscow next to his mother proud of his son, then in the Tula province he visited Stepan Begichev. Together with him, the poet traveled to his sister, who lived nearby. She had just given birth to a son, also named Alexander, - and Griboedov baptized the baby (by his own admission, “he swept it solemnly”). July 5 Alexander Sergeevich was greeted with great honors in Tiflis, and on July 16, all of a sudden, a well-known diplomat and playwright confessed his love to Nina Chavchavadze, a student of Yakhverdova, and asked for her hand. Fifteen-year-old Nina agreed, later she said: “As if in a dream! .. As if a sun ray burned!”. A day later, Griboyedov went to the headquarters of Paskevich, leading the next Russian-Turkish war. In Akhalkalaki, he convinced the count to send troops to the conquest of Batum, which could serve as a convenient port. In early August, Alexander Sergeevich returned to Tiflis, and a day later he came down with a fever. On August 22 he married Nina in Sioni Cathedral, while the sick poet barely stood. In September, it became easier for him, and the newlyweds left for Persia. The Minister’s motorcade reached Tabriz by October 6. It turned out that the diplomat’s spouse is pregnant. Young lived in the city for two months, and in early December, Griboyedov alone went to Tehran.
Griboedov did not intend to linger in Persia, he wrote to his wife: “I miss you. ... Now I truly feel what it means to love. " Having given the required visits and handed over credentials to Feth Ali Shah, Alexander Sergeevich focused on the release of prisoners. The Persians, as usual, rested, but Griboyedov managed to do a lot. On the eve of his departure, under the protection of the embassy, a certain Mirza-Yakub (actually, Armenian Yakub Markaryan), who is the second eunuch of the Shah's harem and the second person in the treasury, was asked. He wanted to return to his homeland, and Griboedov accepted him. After that, riots broke out in Tehran - the mullahs openly called on residents to take Mirza-Yakub by force. 30 January 1829 gathered around the Russian embassy a hundred-thousandth uncontrolled crowd of brutalized fanatics. The convoy of the mission, consisting of thirty-five Cossacks, offered the attacker decent resistance, but the forces were unequal. Together with the Cossacks courageously defended the embassy and Alexander Sergeevich. The Shah's troops did not come to the rescue - later Feth Ali Shah claimed that they could not get through. As a result of the attack, thirty-seven people were killed at the embassy. The disfigured corpse of a diplomat, who had been playing for the Tehran mob for three days, was identified only by the hand, which had long been shot through by a pistol bullet. As an "apology" for the defeat of the Russian embassy, the Persians handed over to the Russian Tsar the Shah diamond, which is now in the Diamond Fund of Russia. In July, 1829 ashes of Griboyedov were taken to Tiflis and, according to his will, were buried in the monastery of St. David on Mount Mtatsminda. On the tomb of the poet’s grave, Nina Chavchavadze’s phrase was stamped out: “Your mind and deeds are immortal in the Russian memory, but why did my love go through you!” By the way, the poet’s wife was not informed for a long time about the death of her husband, protecting her child. When the truth opened, Nina Griboyedova-Chavchavadze was delirious for several weeks, eventually giving birth to a premature baby boy. He lived only an hour. At the age of sixteen, Griboedov’s widow wore mourning, which she wore until her death in 1857. Her loyalty to her deceased husband during her lifetime became legendary, the locals respectfully called her the "Black Rose of Tiflis".
The premiere of Griboyedov's comedy “Woe from Wit”, which was the pinnacle of Russian poetry and drama, was held in full in January at 1831 in St. Petersburg on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater. Nevertheless, the term “in its full form” requires clarification - the play was disfigured by censorship, which made it possible for historian and censor Alexander Nikitenko to notice: “There is only one grief left in the play - so distorted by the knife of the Benkendorf council.” Despite this, the performance was a resounding success, the bright aphoristic style of comedy contributed to the fact that it was completely “disassembled into quotations”. The philosopher Nikolai Nadezhdin wrote: “... Faces, representing different shades of our life, are so happily posed, so sharply outlined, so truly captured, that you unwittingly stare, you recognize the originals and you laugh.” The Moscow premiere took place later - in November 1831 - at the Bolshoi Theater.
According to the materials of the book by E.N. Tsimbayeva "Griboedov" and the weekly edition of "Our history. 100 Great Names »
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