Onegin leads the life of a young man, free from official obligations. It should be noted that only a small group of noble youth of St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 19th century. led a similar life. Apart from non-employee people, such a life could only be afforded by rare young people from among the rich and noble-born mama's boys, whose service, most often in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was purely fictitious.
The right to get up as late as possible was a kind of sign of aristocracy, separating the non-employee nobleman not only from the common people or his fellow soldiers at the front, but also from the village landowner-owner.
The morning toilet and a cup of coffee or tea were replaced by a walk at two or three in the afternoon. The walk, on horseback or in a carriage, took an hour or two. Favorite places for festivities of St. Petersburg dandies in the 1810-1820s. there were Nevsky Prospekt, English Embankment of the Neva and Admiralteysky Boulevard.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon it was time for lunch. The young man, leading a single lifestyle, rarely had a cook - a serf or a hired foreigner - and preferred to dine in a restaurant.
The young dandy sought to “kill” the afternoon by filling the gap between the restaurant and the ball. One possibility was the theater. For the St. Petersburg dandy of that time, it was not only an artistic spectacle and a kind of club where social meetings took place, but also a place of love affairs and accessible behind-the-scenes hobbies.
Dancing was an important element of noble life. Their role was significantly different from both the function of dances in the folk life of that time and from the modern one.
At the balls, the social life of a nobleman was realized: he was neither a private person in private life, nor a serving man in public service - he was a nobleman in a noble assembly, a man of his class among his own.
The main element of the ball as a social and aesthetic event was dancing. They served as the organizing core of the evening and set the style of conversation. “Mazur chat” required superficial, shallow topics, but also entertaining and sharp conversation, the ability to quickly, epigrammatically respond. The ballroom conversation was far from the play of intellectual forces, the “fascinating conversation of the highest education,” which was cultivated in the literary salons of Paris in the 18th century and the absence of which Pushkin complained about in Russia. Nevertheless, it had its own charm - the liveliness of freedom and ease of conversation between a man and a woman, who found themselves simultaneously in the center of a noisy celebration and in intimacy that was otherwise impossible.
Dance training began early - from the age of five or six. Apparently, Pushkin began to study dancing already in 1808. Until the summer of 1811, he and his sister attended dance evenings with the Trubetskoys, Buturlins and Sushkovs, and on Thursdays children’s balls with the Moscow dance master Iogel.
Early dance training was painful and resembled the rigorous training of an athlete or the training of a recruit by a diligent sergeant major.
The training gave the young man not only dexterity during dancing, but also confidence in movements, freedom and independence in posing a figure, which in a certain way influenced the person’s mental structure: in the conventional world of social communication, he felt confident and free, like an experienced actor in stage. Grace, manifested in precision of movements, was a sign of good upbringing. The aristocratic simplicity of the movements of people of “good society” both in life and in literature was opposed by the stiffness or excessive swagger (the result of the struggle with one’s own shyness) of the commoner’s gestures.
The ball in Onegin's era began with a Polish (polonaise). It is significant that in Eugene Onegin the polonaise is not mentioned even once. In St. Petersburg, the poet introduces us to the ballroom at the moment when “the crowd is busy with the mazurka,” that is, at the very height of the holiday, which emphasizes Onegin’s fashionable lateness. But even at the Larins’ ball, the polonaise is omitted, and the description of the holiday begins with the second dance - the waltz, which Pushkin called “monotonous and crazy.” These epithets have not only an emotional meaning. “Monotonous” - because, unlike the mazurka, in which at that time solo dances and the invention of new figures played a huge role, the waltz consisted of the same constantly repeating movements.
The definition of waltz as “crazy” has a different meaning: the waltz, despite its universal distribution, was used in the 1820s. reputation for obscene or at least excessively free dance.
The old “French” manner of performing the mazurka required the gentleman to make light jumps, the so-called entrechat (“a jump in which one foot hits the other three times while the body is in the air”). The “secular” manner began to change in the 1820s. English The gentleman was required to make languid, lazy movements; he refused the mazurka chatter and remained sullenly silent during the dance.
Smirnova-Rosset’s memoirs tell an episode of her first meeting with Pushkin: while still an institute, she invited him to a mazurka. Pushkin silently and lazily walked with her around the hall a couple of times. The fact that Onegin “danced the mazurka easily” shows that his boredom and fashionable disappointment were half fake in the first chapter. For their sake, he could not refuse the pleasure of jumping in the mazurka.
One of the dances that concluded the ball was the cotillion - a type of quadrille, the most relaxed, varied and playful dance.
The ball provided an opportunity to spend a fun and noisy night.
The day of the capital's nobleman had some typical features. However, those signs that mark the day of an officer or departmental official are not noted in the novel, and it makes no sense to dwell on them in this essay.
Onegin leads the life of a young man, free from official obligations. It should be noted that quantitatively only a small group of noble youth of St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 19th century. led a similar life. Apart from non-employee people, such a life could only be afforded by rare young people from among the rich and noble-born mama's boys, whose service, most often in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was purely fictitious. We find the type of such a young man, albeit at a slightly later time, in the memoirs of M.D. Buturlin, who remembers “Prince Pyotr Alekseevich Golitsyn and his inseparable friend Sergei (forgot his middle name) Romanov.” “Both of them were civil servants, and both, it seems, were then serving in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I remember that Petrusha (as he was called in society) Golitsyn used to say, que servant au ministere des affaires etrangeres il etait tres etranger aux affaires (untranslatable play on words: the French “etrangere” means both “foreign” and “alien” - “serving in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I am alien to all matters” - Yu.L.)" (Buturlin. P. 354).
Guards officer in 1819-1820. - at the very height of Arakcheevism, - if he was in the junior ranks (and due to Onegin’s age at that time, of course, he could not count on a high rank, which would provide certain relief in the course of everyday military drill - looking at a number of biographies shows fluctuations in ranks between the guards lieutenant and army lieutenant colonel), had to be in his company, squadron or team from early morning. The soldier order established by Paul I, in which the emperor was in bed at ten o'clock in the evening and on his feet at five in the morning, was preserved under Alexander I, who loved to repeat, flirtatiously, that he was a “simple soldier.” P called him “the crowned soldier” in a famous epigram.
Meanwhile, the right to get up as late as possible was a kind of sign of aristocracy, separating the non-employee nobleman not only from the common people or fellow laborers, but also from the village landowner-owner. The fashion of getting up as late as possible dates back to the French aristocracy of the “old regime” and was brought to Russia by royalist emigrants. Parisian society ladies of the pre-revolutionary era were proud of the fact that they never saw the sun: waking up at sunset, they went to bed before sunrise. The day began in the evening and ended in the morning twilight.
J. Soren in the comedy “Morals of Our Time” depicted a dialogue between a bourgeois and an aristocrat. The first one praises the delights of a sunny day and hears the answer: “Fie, monsieur, this is an ignoble pleasure: the sun is only for the rabble!” (cf.: Ivanov I. The political role of the French theater in connection with the philosophy of the 18th century. // Academic Zap. Moscow University. Department of History and Philology. 1895. Issue XXII. P. 430). Waking up later than other people of the world had the same meaning as showing up to a ball later than others. Hence the plot of a typical anecdote about how a military servant catches her sybaritic subordinate in the morning disbelief (quite natural for a secular person, but shameful for a military man) and in this form leads him around the camp or St. Petersburg for the amusement of the audience. Anecdotes of this kind were attached to Suvorov, and to Rumyantsev, and to Paul I, and to Grand Duke Konstantin. Their victims in these stories were aristocratic officers.
In light of the above, the strange quirk of Princess Avdotya Golitsyna, nicknamed “Princesse Nocturne” (nocturne in French means “night” and, as a noun, “night butterfly”), probably becomes clearer. The “Night Princess” who lived in a mansion on Millionnaya, a beauty “as charming as freedom” (Vyazemsky), the object of P and Vyazemsky’s hobbies, never appeared in daylight and never saw the sun. Gathering a sophisticated and liberal society in her mansion, she received only at night. This even caused the alarm of the Third Department under Nicholas I: “Princess Golitsyna, who lives in her own house in Bolshaya Millionnaya, who, as is already known, tends to sleep during the day and is engaged in company at night - and such use of time is highly suspect , because at this time there are special activities with some secret affairs...” (Modzalevsky B.L. Pushkin under secret supervision. L., 1925. P. 79). A secret agent was assigned to Golitsyna's house. These fears, despite the clumsiness of police exaggerations, were not completely without foundation: in the climate of Arakcheevism, under the rule of the “crowned soldier,” aristocratic particularism acquired a shade of independence, noticeable, although tolerable under Alexander I and turning almost into sedition under his successor.
The morning toilet and a cup of coffee or tea were replaced by a walk at two or three in the afternoon. The walk, on horseback or in a carriage, took an hour or two. Favorite places for festivities of St. Petersburg dandies in the 1810-1820s. there were Nevsky Prospekt and the English Embankment of the Neva. We also walked along Admiralteysky Boulevard, which was laid out into three alleys at the beginning of the 19th century. on the site of the glacis of the Admiralty, which was renewed under Paul (glacis - an embankment in front of a ditch).
The daily walk of Alexander I influenced the fact that the fashionable daytime festivities took place along a specific route. “At one o’clock in the afternoon he left the Winter Palace, followed the Palace Embankment, and at Pracheshny Bridge he turned along the Fontanka to the Anichkovsky Bridge<...>Then the sovereign returned to his place along Nevsky Prospekt. The walk was repeated every day and was called le tour imperial [imperial circle]. Whatever the weather, the sovereign walked in only a frock coat...” (Sollogub V.A. Stories. Memoirs. L., 1988. P. 362). The emperor, as a rule, walked without accompanying persons, looking at the ladies through his lorgnette (he was nearsighted) and responding to the bows of passers-by. The crowd at these hours consisted of officials whose service was fictitious or semi-fictitious. Naturally, they could fill the Nevsky during office hours, along with walking ladies, visitors from the provinces and non-working dandies. It was at these hours that Onegin walked along the “boulevard”.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon it was time for lunch. Such hours were clearly felt as late and “European”: for many people they still remembered the time when lunch began at twelve.
The young man, leading a single life, rarely had a cook - a serf or a hired foreigner - and preferred to dine in a restaurant. With the exception of a few first-class restaurants located on Nevsky, dinners in St. Petersburg taverns were of worse quality than in Moscow. O.A. Przhetslavsky recalled:
“The culinary part in public institutions was in some kind of primitive state, at a very low level. It was almost impossible for a single person who did not have his own kitchen to dine in Russian taverns. At the same time, these establishments closed quite early in the evening. When leaving the theater it was possible to dine in only one restaurant, somewhere on Nevsky Prospekt, underground; he was kept by Domenic"
(Landlord Russia... P. 68).
The “single” atmosphere of a restaurant dinner is vividly depicted by P in letters from the spring of 1834 to Natalya Nikolaevna, who left through Moscow for the Linen Factory:
“...I appeared to Dumas, where my appearance created general joy: single, single Pushkin! They began to tempt me with champagne and punch and ask if I would go to Sofya Astafievna? All this confused me, so I no longer intend to come to Dumas and am having lunch at home today, ordering Stepan botvina and beef-steaks.”
(XV, 128).
And later: “I have lunch at Dumais’s at 2 o’clock, so as not to meet with the bachelor gang” (XV, 143).
A fairly complete overview of St. Petersburg restaurants in the 1820s. (albeit dating back to a time somewhat later than the action of the first chapter of the novel) we find in one of the diaries of contemporaries:
“June 1, 1829. Had lunch at the Heide Hotel, on Vasilyevsky Island, in the Kadetskaya Line - almost no Russians are visible here, all are foreigners. The lunch is cheap, two rubles in banknotes, but they don’t serve any cake at any cost. Strange custom! They put little oil and a lot of vinegar in the salad.
June 2nd. I had lunch at the German restaurant Kleya, on Nevsky Prospekt. Old and smoky establishment. Most of all, the Germans drink little wine, but a lot of beer. Lunch is cheap; I was given a lafite worth 1 ruble; I had a stomach ache for two days after that.
June 3rd Lunch at Dumais's. In terms of quality, this lunch is the cheapest and the best of all lunches in St. Petersburg restaurants. Dumais has the exclusive privilege of filling the stomachs of St. Petersburg lions and dandies.
June 4th. Lunch in Italian style at Alexander or Signor Ales, along the Moika River near the Police Bridge. There are no Germans here, but more Italians and French. However, in general there are few visitors. He only accepts people he knows well, preparing holiday meals at home. The pasta and stofato are excellent! He was served by a Russian girl, Marya, renamed Marianna; Self-taught, she learned to speak French and Italian perfectly.
5th. Lunch at Legrand's, formerly Feuillet, in Bolshaya Morskaya. Lunch is good; last year you couldn't dine here twice in a row because everything was the same. This year, lunch here for three rubles in banknotes is excellent and varied. The sets and all the accessories are lovely. They are served exclusively by Tatars, in tailcoats.
June 6th. Excellent lunch at Saint-Georges, along the Moika (now Donon), almost opposite Ales. The house in the courtyard is wooden, simply but tastefully decorated. Each visitor occupies a special room; there is a garden at the house; It’s a delight to dine on the balcony; the service is excellent, the wine is excellent. Lunch for three and five rubles in banknotes.
On June 7th I didn’t have lunch anywhere because I had breakfast carelessly and spoiled my appetite. On the way to Ales, also on the Moika, there is a small Diamant shop, which serves Strasbourg pies, ham, etc. You can't dine here, but you can take it home. At my request, the owner allowed me to have breakfast. His food is excellent, Mr. Diamond is a golden master. His shop reminds me of Parisian guinguettes (small taverns).
June 8th. I had lunch at Simon-Grand-Jean, on Bolshaya Konyushennaya. Lunch is good, but the smell from the kitchen is unbearable.
June 9th. Dined at Coulomb's. Dumais is better and cheaper. However, there are more lunches here for those living in the hotel itself; the wine is wonderful.
June 10th. Lunch at Otto's; tasty, filling and cheap; you can hardly find a better cheap lunch in St. Petersburg"
(quoted from: Pylyaev M.I. Old Life: Essays and Stories. St. Petersburg, 1892. P. 8-9).
This passage characterizes the situation at the end of the 1820s. and by the beginning of the decade can be applied only with some reservations. Thus, the gathering place for St. Petersburg dandies at that time was not the Dumais restaurant, but the Talon restaurant on Nevsky. However, the overall picture was the same: there were few good restaurants, each visited by a certain, stable circle of people. To appear in one restaurant or another (especially in one like Talona or later Dumais) meant appearing at a gathering point for single youth - “lions” and “dandies”. And this required a certain style of behavior for the entire time remaining until the evening. It is no coincidence that in 1834 P had to dine earlier than usual in order to avoid meeting with the “single gang.”
The young dandy sought to “kill” the afternoon by filling the gap between the restaurant and the ball. One possibility was the theater. For the St. Petersburg dandy of that time, it was not only an artistic spectacle and a kind of club where social meetings took place, but also a place of love affairs and accessible behind-the-scenes hobbies. “The theater school was located across the house from us, on the Catherine Canal. Every day, lovers of pupils walked countless times along the canal embankment past the windows of the school. The pupils were housed on the third floor...” (Panaeva A.Ya. Memoirs. M., 1972. P. 36).
During the second half of the 18th and first third of the 19th century. The daily routine shifted steadily. In the 18th century the business day started early:
“The military reported for services at six o’clock, the civilian officials at eight and opened their Presence without delay, and at one o’clock in the afternoon, following the regulations, they stopped their judgments. Thus, they very rarely returned to their home later than two o’clock, while the military were in their apartments already at twelve o’clock<...>Private evenings generally began at seven o'clock. Whoever arrived at them at nine or ten o’clock, the owner immediately asked: “Why is it so late?” The answer would be: “The theater or the concert was delayed, I couldn’t wait for the carriage!”
(Makarov. About the time of lunches, dinners and congresses in Moscow from 1792 to 1844 // Shchukinsky collection [Issue] 2. P. 2).
V.V. Klyucharev wrote in the 1790s. To I. A. Molchanov: “I can be with you until seven o’clock, and at seven o’clock the ball in the club will begin, then everyone knows.”
In 1799, the dinner party of the commander-in-chief in Moscow, Count I.P. Saltykov, began at three o’clock, and the evening at seven and “ended with a light dinner at one after midnight, and sometimes earlier” (Ibid. P. 4).
In 1807, people began to come to the Moscow commander-in-chief T.I. Tutolmin for his evenings and balls from nine to ten o’clock.
“...Recorded dandies, nowadays lions, appeared there at eleven, but this was sometimes noticed by him, the owner, with displeasure...”
(Ibid. P. 5).
In the 1810s. the daily routine shifted even more: in 1812, “Madame Stahl, being in Moscow, usually had breakfast at the Gallery on Tverskoy Boulevard, this happened at two o’clock” (Ibid. p. 8).
By the beginning of the 1820s. dinner moved to four o'clock, the time of evening meetings to ten, but the dandies did not arrive at the balls until midnight. Where dinner took place after the ball, it took place at two or three in the morning.
The large-scale exhibition presents more than 50 authentic outfits from the first third of the 19th century. Photo by Vera Vetrova
The Alexander Pushkin Museum on Prechistenka seems to have solved the problem of many people who do not yet know where to go on weekends and the upcoming March holidays. The exhibition “Fashion of the Pushkin Era”, created by the joint forces of the fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev Foundation, the Pushkin Museum and the Historical Museum, became a real gift on March 8 for women of all ages.
The large-scale exhibition, which occupies three halls, presents more than 50 authentic suits and dresses, 500 women's and men's accessories, wardrobe details, picturesque portraits, fashion pictures, interior and household items - what made up the wardrobe and surrounded the fashionista of the first third of the 19th century.
The exhibition is structured as a story about one day in the life of a socialite according to a time principle, and each time of day is given a special place in the spacious exhibition halls. Fortunately, much evidence of that vibrant era has survived to this day, although many specimens come from France, Germany, England, the USA and Spain.
The concept of “fashion” was extremely relevant for Pushkin’s time, because the tastes of society changed quite quickly. The laws of fashion (mostly it came to Russia from Europe) were followed in public life, in social etiquette, in art - in architecture and the interior of buildings, in painting and literature, in gastronomy, and, of course, in clothes and hairstyles.
In the 19th century, among the aristocracy there were strict rules providing for a certain type of clothing for different etiquette situations. These rules and fashion trends can be traced by the variety of dresses worn in Russian capitals 200 years ago by Pushkin’s contemporaries and contemporaries, as well as literary heroes of that time.
At the beginning of the exhibition there is a story about the first half of the day, which included “morning toilet”, “walk”, “morning visit”, “lunch” and “afternoon communication in the owner’s office”.
The morning toilet for a woman consisted of dresses of a simple cut, and the aristocrat put on a robe or dressing gown (another name is a dressing gown - a loose garment without buttons, belted with a twisted cord - both men and women could wear it), they went out to breakfast in it, saw their household and close friends. By the way, the dressing gown among home clothes holds the palm in terms of frequency of mentions among Russian writers. The hero of Sollogub’s story “The Pharmacist” sewed himself a robe in the form of a frock coat with velvet lapels, and such a suit “testified to the dapper habits of the owner.” Peter Vyazemsky in his works interpreted the robe as an invariable attribute of idleness and laziness, but at the same time it began to be considered a sign of... a creative personality. It was in the robe that Tropinin portrayed Pushkin, and Ivanov - Gogol.
Looking at the small elegant outfits, you can’t help but wonder: will any of our adult contemporaries, and not children, be able to put on such costumes? Alexander Vasiliev said that the maximum size of a woman’s dress was 48, and the average height of a woman at that time was 155 cm, men were a little taller, but not too much - 165 cm. The fashion historian noted that the food we now eat contains hormones, and therefore no wonder people get so big.
The morning toilet and a cup of coffee were followed by morning receptions and visits (between breakfast and lunch). Particular concern here was the business suit, which had to be elegant, elegant, but not ceremonial. During a morning visit, men were supposed to wear frock coats and vests, and ladies were supposed to wear fashionable toilets specially designed for morning visits.
By two or three o'clock in the afternoon, most of the secular public went out for a walk - on foot, on horseback or in a carriage. Favorite places for festivities in the 1810–1820s in St. Petersburg were Nevsky Prospekt, English Embankment, Admiralteysky Boulevard, and in Moscow - Kuznetsky Most. As befits a real dandy, the dandy wears a satin top hat with a wide brim a la Bolivar, named after the popular South American politician. The tailcoat for walking could be green or dark blue. Women dressed up in colorful, motley dresses and put on hats of various styles.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon it was lunchtime. The young man, leading a single life, rarely had a cook, preferring to dine in a good restaurant.
After dinner, evening visits began - one of the indispensable social duties. If the doorman suddenly refused to admit a visitor without explaining the reason, then this meant that the person was completely refused home.
Ladies received guests in living rooms and music salons, and the owner of the house preferred his office to communicate with friends. Usually furnished to the taste of the owner, the office was conducive to leisurely and confidential male conversation, for example, over a good pipe and a glass of excellent tincture.
By the way, business cards appeared in Europe at the end of the 18th century; in Russia they became widespread at the beginning of the 19th century. At first, customers asked for embossing, inserted coats of arms, drawings and garlands, but in the 1820s and 1830s they almost universally switched to simple varnished cards without any decorations.
A separate hall of the exhibition is dedicated to the theater - a very fashionable pastime in Pushkin’s time.
The performance began at six o'clock in the evening and ended at nine, so the young dandy, dressed in a tailcoat or uniform, could then be in time for a ball or a club.
At the exhibition, in niches stylized as theater boxes, the mannequins are dressed in luxurious evening silk dresses, on their heads - berets, currents and turbans made of velvet and with ostrich feathers (the headdresses were not removed either in the theater or at the ball).
Along the entire wall of the exhibition hall there is a showcase - ballroom fans made of tulle, a tortoiseshell fan, a fan depicting gallant scenes, lorgnettes and theater binoculars, a bottle of smelling salts, beaded bags with floral patterns, bracelets with chalcedony and agates, fashion pictures, portrait miniatures ladies in empire dresses.
People came to the theater not only to watch a performance, it was a place of social meetings, love affairs and behind-the-scenes intrigues.
Probably the most exhibit-filled room is dedicated to "evening time" and includes themes such as "The English Club" and "The Ball".
The first English clubs appeared in Russia under Catherine II, banned under Paul I, they experienced a rebirth during the reign of Alexander I. Meetings in the English club were the privilege of exclusively the male half of society, which is why there are accessories in the windows: miniature portraits of fashionistas, satin stitch embroidered suspenders, snuff boxes (in the form of a gilded figure of a pug or with a portrait of Field Marshal Gerhard von Blücher), a beaded wallet and a portresor. The latter has long since moved into the category of curiosities and cute trinkets that even the almighty Yandex and Google do not provide an explanation of what the item was intended for. In fact, a portresor is a long coin purse knitted with steel beads on brown threads, the number of which inside the portresor was limited by a special ring.
The organizers of the exhibition did not ignore books that were very popular, were an obligatory part of libraries and were actively read in clubs: the works of Lord Byron, Alphonse de Lamartine “Poetic Meditations”, Evariste Guys “Selected Works”, Germaine de Stael “Corinna, or Italy” » – everything is in French. Among the domestic works are “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by Alexander Pushkin and “The Ice House” by Ivan Lazhechnikov.
Evening dresses, in which the secular public dressed up for parties, receptions and balls, were very diverse and differed in very interesting details. For example, the ball gowns of debutantes who came to their first ball were sure to differ from the outfits of society ladies. The color, style, and even the type of flowers with which the dress was decorated mattered.
Where and from whom fashionistas of the Pushkin era bought dresses can also be found out at the exhibition. It is interesting that one of the guidebooks of that time reported: “From early morning until late evening you see many carriages, and rare of them will go without shopping. And at what price? Everything is exorbitantly expensive, but for our fashionistas this is nothing: as if “Bought on Kuznetsky Most” gives each item a special charm.” So the complaints of modern dandies about the inflated prices of Moscow stores have at least a two-hundred-year history.
At the opening of the exhibition, Alexander Vasiliev noted that the noble stratum in Russia was relatively small, and much fewer high society toilets remained than in Europe. In addition, the costumes of Pushkin's time are very fragile, because all the dresses were made entirely by hand. This was an era when artificial dyes had not yet been invented and all dresses were dyed exclusively with natural dyes based on flowers, leaves, mineral salts, trees, berries and even beetles.
Nowadays it’s not enough to find a dress and restore it; the most difficult thing is to combine it with other toiletries to complete the look. At the exhibition, designer Kirill Gasilin brilliantly coped with this task, dressing and styling all the mannequins.
Two years ago, another project by Vasiliev, “Fashion in the Mirror of History,” was shown at the Museum of Moscow. XIX–XX centuries.” and even then they noted that an organization that regularly held exhibitions related to fashion (as, for example, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Fashion and Textiles in Paris, or the Anna Wintour Metropolitan Costume Center, which reopened after a long break) museum in New York), unfortunately, there is no museum in Russia.
And although the Fashion Museum was founded in 2006, an organization under the ideological leadership of Valentin Yudashkin, it does not have its own premises, and as a result, events are periodically held under its auspices at other venues. This was the case in 2014, when, in honor of the 25th anniversary of Yudashkin’s Fashion House, the designer’s works “supplemented” the exhibition of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin at the exhibition “Fashion in the Space of Art”.
Creating an exhibition like “Fashion of the Pushkin Era” requires enormous effort and labor, and it is almost impossible to repeat, so it will last quite a long time by Moscow standards - until May 10.
Socialite Day in the 19th century.
I woke up around ten in the morning. My head was empty, just as there was not a cloud in the sky. I thoughtfully examined the ceiling, trying to find even the slightest crack in the white fabric of my “roof.” There was a thick silence in the room, and it felt as if you could touch it with your palm and make circles, like ripples from a thrown stone on water. But then I heard a stomp on the stairs - it was my servant and, perhaps, my closest friend - Anatoly, or as he was also called, Tolka, although I had never gotten used to this abbreviation - rushing at full speed in order to wake up my person. The door creaked slightly and he entered.
- Get up, sir. Already early in the morning they brought a letter - the Dyagterevs are calling your honor for lunch...
- Anatole, don't fuss. Why such a rush? Let's get up now... Bring the coffee and documents to the dining room. Today I'll go for a light walk.
- This minute, sir. Let's make arrangements.
Anatoly ran again to set up the kitchen to prepare coffee. I stretched and stood up with a jerk. I dress myself, out of habit, which has been pleasing to me since childhood, and no governesses take part in this. The outfit is typical for our time.
I went downstairs five minutes later. The coffee was already steaming in a silver-plated cup; next to it stood my favorite apple jam, stored up since the summer. But the leather folder with documents dominated the table. I studied them a little bit at a time. These were some ancient papers brought from somewhere in Egypt by my grandfather. It's quite interesting to read the chronicles in the morning. But you don’t have to fool your head with all sorts of “Messengers”... However, I was no stranger to reading Pushkin, I really liked his works! Or Byron... Depending on my mood.
It's probably worth telling a little about yourself. My name was Vladimir Sergeevich ***. I inherited the estate from my long-deceased father, and a hundred and fifty souls in addition. At the time of the story, I was twenty-four years old, I was well educated, spoke English well, read French fluently, knew a little the designation of Egyptian hieroglyphs, wrote poetry and prose, could imitate Mozart on the piano and, in general, was happy with his modest life. Every day had a spontaneous routine, but most often I returned home at four in the morning, listened to Anatole about business and went to bed. Actually, this is the theme of my story to you, my dear reader. How do I spend my day?
Tolka pulled me away from my thoughts over yet another manuscript. In his hand was a white envelope of a new invitation.
- Today the Shapovalovs are giving a ball...
- I’m going, Anatole, they have a lovely daughter, and you know how much I love communicating with young ladies...
- That's right, your honor. What about the Dyagterevs?
- Take it too, then I’ll go to the theater, they say there will be something interesting today. Well, then to the Shapovalovs...
- In a minute.
I put the documents back in the folder, finished my now fairly cold coffee and headed to my office, where my piano was located. It was still a long time before lunch, and I was eager to kill time.
***
I went outside. The white snow sparkled brightly in the light of the midday sun, blinding the eyes. The crew stood ready right next to the entrance, the horses twitching their tails in impatience, steam escaping from their nostrils. I shivered. It’s cool even in a fur coat, you know... He sat down and shouted to the coachman: “Touch it!” The carriage set off with a creak, the horse's hooves stepping softly through the snow. It was far from the Dyagterevs and I began to watch how the steam, coming out of my mouth, condensed on my palm, flowing down in small droplets. That's why I fell asleep. The coachman woke me up by announcing the final stop.
It was light in the hallway. Standing right on the threshold was the maid Efrosinya, who helped me take off my outer clothing.
- Hello, Vladimir Sergeevich! - in the dining room, where Efrosinya led me, I was met by Alexander Petrovich Dyagterev, the owner of the house.
- Hello to you, Alexander Petrovich! How is your wife today?.. As far as I remember from the last letter...
- Yes, I’m sick, to my regret. Sick. The doctor who was here the day before said that she still had to lie in bed. But I still thank you for inquiring about her health. And now, the guests are already waiting for the table.
The dinner was a great success, but I didn’t sit there long enough. Citing poor health, I said goodbye to the guests and Dyagtyarev, who was already quite boring me with his empty chatter, and drove off to watch the performance. I’ll tell you straight, it was frankly boring, and besides, I never found a single mademoiselle that was worthwhile. That’s why he quietly left the hall and headed to another theater. The contingent here was much better. I saw the Shapovalovs’ daughter, Mashenka, a lovely girl. I liked everything about her, except her too strict character. As a result, I have been hitting my head for the second year now, how can I get her hand? But that’s not what we’re talking about for now. The performance turned out to be extremely interesting, I sat through until the end, and then applauded, it seems, louder than anyone else. Well, there was still a little time left before the ball, and the coachman, at my behest, took me home, where I dined and, contrary to custom, sat down to write manuscripts.
Well, I won’t describe all the details of the ball. I’ll just say: I never discovered another way to melt Mashenka’s heart, and the one I came up with in the manuscripts once again failed miserably. We played whist, I won one hundred and fifty rubles from the head of the house, Mikhail Shapovalov, now he owes me.
He returned home later than usual, listened to Anatole, and, having drunk hot tea at night, collapsed unconscious into bed, from which he did not rise until midday.
Introduction………………………………………………………… ……………1
Chapter 1. What is a “secular society”? …………………………….3
Chapter 2. Etiquette………………………………………………………6
Chapter 3. Who are “dandies”?……………………………………………...9
Chapter 4. The novel “Eugene Onegin” is an encyclopedia of “secular” life....12
4.1 Entertainment…………………………………………………………… ....13
4.2 Ball………………………………………………………... 16
4.3 Duel……………………………………………………….. 20
Conclusion…………………………………………………… …………….26
Bibliography…………………………………………………… …..28
Introduction
In the novel “Eugene Onegin” Pushkin created the image of a typical nobleman of his time. Throughout the first chapter of the novel, the author more than once says that Eugene was overcome by an illness, the name of which is "English spleen" or "Russian blues". But what caused this disease?
The answer to this question is nothing less than a detailed study of this topic. For a long time, Eugene lived according to the laws of high society, the entertainments and morals of which he was pretty tired of.
Also, knowing about the intricacies of social life, the activities and hobbies of the nobles, you can rethink many episodes of the novel. And also understand the prerequisites for the emergence of motives for the behavior of many heroes, the reasons for their attitude towards each other.
We should also not forget about those human qualities that could be dictated by high society and the norms of behavior in it. For example, the love affairs in which Eugene took part drowned out in his soul the ability to love sincerely and strongly. This is what prevented him from recognizing his true love in Tatyana.
The same can be said about those places that a person of high society is obliged to visit. It doesn’t matter whether a person is impressed by any theatrical production - if they talk about it, then he is obliged to attend it. And is it worth mentioning the constant visits to the houses of high-ranking persons. Receiving an invitation to such receptions emphasized a certain status of a person, his elitism. Not only the political life of the country and important international news were discussed here, but also ordinary gossip or advantageous games for their own children. Isn’t this what we see in the episode of matchmaking with Tatyana?
The logic of the study determined the structure of this work, consisting of an introduction, four chapters, a conclusion and a bibliography. Chapter No. 1 is devoted to an explanation of the term “secular society” - key to the topic under study. Chapter No. 2 examines etiquette and its features characteristic of the era depicted in the novel Eugene Onegin.
Chapter No. 3 is a transition from an analysis of the lifestyle of society as a whole to an analysis of the lifestyle of the main character of the novel. Chapter No. 4 is entirely devoted to the novel by A.S. Pushkin. In conclusion, the results of the study are summed up.
This work will pursue several goals. One of them is an attempt to analyze the norms of secular life and consider how Pushkin embodied them in his novel. The other is to present the main characters of the novel as prominent representatives of high society, to fully reveal the features of their everyday life.
Chapter 1. What is “secular society”?
Before moving on to consider the day of a secular person as a whole, you need to understand in more detail the concepts: “secular society” and “light”. Movement from the general to the specific is the main principle of this work, which will certainly create the most complete understanding of its topic.
So, the word “light” means an intelligent, privileged and well-mannered society. “The world” consists of people distinguished by their intelligence, learning, some kind of talent, natural virtues or virtues acquired through civilization, and finally, politeness and decency.
To be called a "socialite" is to receive praise. To know secular address means to be able to captivate with all kinds of wonderful qualities: politeness, courtesy, self-control, calmness, delicacy, friendliness, generosity and the like.
If we could know all the ins and outs of the “light”, if we could enter into all the details of the secret family life of people belonging to the light, find out all their home secrets, worries and dark worries; if we could penetrate through this shiny, polished shell, which in appearance presents only pleasure, gaiety, brilliance and splendor, what a difference would appear to us between what he really is and what he seems to be.
« The father is at odds with his children, the husband is at enmity with his wife, but these family secrets are carefully hidden from the eyes of the world: antipathy, envy, grumbling, and eternal discord. There, friendship is clouded by suspicion, self-interest and whim; tender vows and assurances of eternal love and devotion end in hatred and betrayal; great fortunes lose all their value through the dependence to which they are subjected" 1 .
Look into any secular house, and you will see people of various states and positions in the world. Among them are military men, doctors, lawyers, and theologians - in a word, people of all professions, representatives of various specialties, sciences and arts. All of them have gathered into one circle of good acquaintances, but no matter how closely they are united, they still remain alien to each other, between them there can never be complete solidarity in opinions and views, but from the outside it will always seem that between them all complete unanimity and solidarity prevails in everything. Etiquette requires this, prescribing self-control, complete courtesy and respect for the opinion of another, even if it was impossible to internally agree with this opinion. Etiquette does not allow for either disputes or intolerance towards other people's opinions. One, wanting to start a conversation, boldly raises a question about some subject, the other interlocutor, more shy and waiting only for an opportunity to be spoken to, politely answers the question asked, not daring to object, although internally he does not agree with the opinion of his more courageous interlocutor. The third, also possessing courage, but not having knowledge of the subject that was discussed, begins to speak without understanding himself. However, no one interrupts him with the remark that he is talking about something he does not understand. The fourth, whose opinion on the same subject is completely fair, either remains silent, or inserts his remark so modestly, politely and gently that he does not offend anyone with his mental superiority, and the conversation proceeds peacefully, without disputes, without disturbances. " No one is forgotten here, everyone knows their place and position in the world» 2.
It is not without reason that the world forms its opinion of your worth according to the opinion it has of your friends. The proverb says: “Tell me who you are friends with, and I will tell you who you are.” Indeed, every person becomes, to a certain extent, like those in whose circle he moves. He accepts their views, their manners and even their way of thinking. It is therefore very important that a young man who wishes to acquire the habits, bearing and manners of a man of the world should attend only good societies. He will quietly acquire all these external qualities by moving in decent society and carefully applying the qualities and manners of the persons who make up this society. Just let him look at them as closely as possible, and soon he will be equal to them. There is nothing in a secular society that cannot be acquired with effort and care.
Chapter 2. Etiquette
Having mentioned in the previous chapter about etiquette, a kind of “code of laws” for a secular person, it would be logical to talk about it in more detail. Not having even the most minimal idea of what the word “etiquette” meant for the nobles means not understanding the prerequisites for many of the actions of the heroes of the novel “Eugene Onegin.”
It is known that over time, ancient Russian customs gradually disappeared, giving way to the dominant French influence. As for manners, social courtesy and fashion, they were a blind imitation of the French. Knowledge of the French language at that time was considered the main sign of a good upbringing. Therefore, the nobles began to entrust their children to the French, who, along with teaching the language, instilled in their pupils French customs and morals.
In the 19th century, LI’s book was very popular in Russia. Sokolov “Secular Man, or a Guide to the Knowledge of Secular Decorums and Community Rules Accepted by a Good Society.” It was reprinted several times in 1847-1855.
What rules did Russian society adhere to in the 19th century?
Much attention in etiquette manuals of that time was paid to the art of pleasing and winning over people. It presupposed mutual helpfulness, attentiveness, willingness to sacrifice certain comforts for the sake of others, and tact. Tact was one of the most important conditions for being in the world. A tactful person could become loved and respected by everyone without having much intelligence, since tact and prudence in many cases could replace education and even the heart for the world. On the other side, " a person in whom the highest virtues are combined with unpleasant personal traits: knowledge with pride, courage with insolence, morality with excessive severity, was unlikely to be loved in society. Those who did not have a subtle nature, a sense of tact, common sense and sensitivity were recommended to follow the established rules." 3 .
The young man's first trip into society was also strictly regulated. He could appear at the ball for the first time in a tailcoat or uniform. At the ball, he had to be attentive to the owners of the scrap and the ladies, regardless of their age, attractiveness and wealth. All this testified to the excellent upbringing of the young man and his belonging to the chosen society.
Before marriage, the lifestyles of a girl and a young man were radically different. The young man was not subject to any control and was completely free in his acquaintances and entertainment. The young girl, on the contrary, did not have the right to live and go out alone; was obliged to live with her parents and obey their will.
Social relations were the name given to acquaintances made in salons with mutual consent, with mutual sympathy and equality of the parties. When meeting, they exchanged cards, visits and all sorts of pleasantries, following the laws of social decency.
“If after a mutual introduction an invitation followed from either party, it was answered with a visit; it was indecent to refuse. If there was no invitation, but I wanted to make an acquaintance, laziness after the acquaintance (introduction) they sent a business card and waited for the invitation.” 4 .
In general, visits were a necessary element of social communication. People visited each other either to make acquaintances or to maintain an old one.
It was customary to make short visits upon departure. Leaving without paying friends a visit and not informing them of their departure was contrary to the rules of good manners. Returning after a long absence, I also needed to visit friends.
The guest had to be careful not to “stay too long” for more than 20 minutes. The hosts' polite invitation to stay longer was not taken seriously. No refreshments were served during the first visit. At the beginning of the conversation, the visitor thanked for the honor shown to him.
After the first visit, it was customary to send a return invitation within a week, otherwise it was believed that the acquaintance would not be continued. If the return visit was postponed indefinitely, this meant that the acquaintance was undesirable.
Chapter 3. Who are “dandies”?
Literally in the first lines of the novel, the author calls his hero “dandy.” Who was meant by this name in Pushkin’s time? That is, before moving directly to Pushkin’s novel, you should learn more about the lifestyle that Onegin adhered to.
Dandy is a socio-cultural type of the 19th century: a man who emphasizes the “gloss” of appearance and behavior. Unlike a dandy, he does not blindly follow fashion, but creates it himself, possessing subtle taste, extraordinary thinking, and irony in relation to existing behavior patterns.
Famous dandies include Byron, George Brummel, Huysmans, Robert de Montesquiou, Oscar Wilde, James Whistler, Baudelaire, Max Beerbohm. Most often, dandies belonged to the middle class, although they led an aristocratic lifestyle.