Orest Kiprensky’s portrait of Pushkin
To mark the birthday of Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) — which falls on 6th June — the Pushkin Club will be celebrating the “Boldino Autumn” on Tuesday 9th June with a series of readings in Russian and English.
Upon Pushkin’s engagement to the 18-year-old Natalia Goncharova, his father transferred to him part of the family’s Boldino estate, in the province of Nizhniy Novgorod.
The poet had to visit his estate to deal with all the formalities. He arrived at Boldino on 3rd September 1830. Pushkin never intended to stay very long.
But Fate decreed otherwise. At that time, a cholera epidemic had just broken out in Russia, and many provinces were put under quarantine. The consequence of this was that Pushkin remained stranded in Boldino for three months.
These three months of forced 'self-isolation' resulted in an astonishing outburst of creativity. This was the most productive period of Pushkin’s entire life.
Pushkin’s towering achievement in Boldino was his writing of the four 'Little Tragedies' – The Miserly Knight, Mozart and Salieri, The Stone Guest and, finally, The Feast During the Plague.
The Feast During the Plague is Pushkin's free translation of part of a scene from a historical drama by the Scottish writer, John Wilson, City of the Plague (1816), which Pushkin read in the original in a composite edition published in Paris in 1829. This work caught Pushkin's imagination due to the similar situation that Russia was now experiencing, with cholera raging all over the country.
The highlights of The Feast During the Plague are two songs – ‘Mary’s Song’ and the ‘Hymn to the Plague’ from Walsingham, the ‘Master of Revels’ and one of the central characters.
Those two songs will be read in Russian and in Antony Wood’s English translations, along with six other poems from the Boldino Autumn period. This selection will include the poem Elegy, which is one of Pushkin's greatest lyric poems and embodies the poetic confession of his innermost hopes.
The Boldino Autumn shows how creative genius can extract inspiration from the most unlikely circumstances.
The Evening will be introduced by David Brummell.
The poems will be read in Russian by Alla Gelich and in English translation by Lucy Daniels (a former Co-Chairman of the Pushkin Club), Antony Wood and David Brummell.
The translations of the two songs and four of the other six poems which will be read appear in Antony Wood’s Alexander Pushkin – Selected Poetry, which was published in Penguin Classics on 23 April.
A link to the Zoom event will be sent out 24 hours before the start time.
A link to the Zoom meeting will sent out 24 hours before the start time.
26 or under? Become a Young Pushkin to enjoy a selection of free and discounted tickets.
Because we are unable to hold events at present, Pushkin House has lost several vital income streams. Please donate to ensure that we can re-open at full strength, and continue to deliver our wonderful cultural programme. No amount is too small. Thank you!