Praskovya Zhemchugova
Encyclopedia
Praskovia Ivanovna Kovalyova-Zhemchugova also Kovaleva or Kovalyova, Kovaleva-Zhemchugova, Zhemchugova-Sheremeteva, and Sheremeteva or Sheremetyeva (Прасковья Ивановна Жемчугова, Ковалёва, Шереметева) (July 20, 1768 – February 23, 1803) was a Russian serf
actress and soprano
opera
singer.
by the name of Ivan Gorbunov (a.k.a. Kovalyov) probably on the estate of Voshchazhnikovo in the province of Yaroslavl
. Praskovia and her family belonged to the Sheremetevs, one of the richest noble families in Russia at the time. As a young girl she moved with her family to the estate of Kuskovo
outside Moscow. Soon thereafter she was taken from her family to serve as a chambermaid to Princess Martha Dolgorukaya, a relative of her master, Count Pyotr Sheremetev, who lived in the manor house.
Blessed with a fine voice, Praskovia was trained to be a singer in the opera company then being put together by Count Pyotr and his son, Nikolai Sheremetev
. She debuted in 1779 on the stage of the serf theatre at Kuskovo in the role of the servant Gubert in the comic opera L'Amitié à l'épreuve by André Grétry. Following her success, Praskovia was given the leading role of Belinda in Antonio Sacchini
's opera La colonie. In this 1780 performance the actress for the first time appeared under the stage name Zhemchugova, "The Pearl", (zhemchug means "pearl" in Russian). The other stars of the company were also given new names: Arina "The Sapphire", Fekla "The Turquoise", Tatyana "The Garnet", Nikolai "The Marble", Andrei "The Flint", etc.
After the role of Belinda, Praskovia was promoted to the position of the first actress of the theatre. By the age of 17, she could read and write French
and Italian
fluently, played the harp
and clavichord
, and was acknowledged by her contemporaries for her operatic and dramatic abilities.
In a career that spanned almost two decades, Praskovia performed in over a dozen operas, including Monsigny
's Le deserteur and Aline, reine de Golconde, Paisiello
's L'infante de Zamora, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
's Le Devin du village, and Piccinni
's La buona figliuola maritata.
Her most important role was Eliane in Grétry's opera Les Mariages samnites. Assuming the part for the first time in 1785, Praskovia sang Eliane for 12 years — a first in the history of serf theatre. In 1787 Praskovia sang the role of Eliane at Kuskovo for Empress Catherine II
and her suite. Catherine was so impressed by her performance that she requested to meet Praskovia and later gave her a diamond ring.
In the mid-1780s, Praskovya became the mistress of Count Nikolai Sheremetev. Nikolai was the impresario of the family serf theater, and he had helped train Praskovia over the years, eventually falling in love with the young star of the troupe. The circumstances surrounding the early years of their relationship, like so much of Praskovia's life, are unknown. After the death of Nikolai's father in 1788, Nikolai and Praskovia set up a private household in a secluded corner of the Kuskovo estate. Their unorthodox relationship soon became the subject of gossip among aristocratic society.
In 1795 Praskovia, Nikolai, and the theatre troupe moved from Kuskovo to Ostankino
, a brilliant new palace constructed north of Moscow with a large theatre intended for large-scale operas and immense balls. The year 1795 was marked by the premiere of the opera Zelmira and Smeloy, or the Capture of Izmail (Osip Kozlovsky
, text by Pavel Potemkin
); Praskovia acted in the role of the captive Turkish woman Zelmira). Praskovia performed here for Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of Poland.
), and was forced to retire. In late 1796, Nikolai was appointed to the court of Paul I and Praskovia moved with him to St. Petersburg.
Although they lived as man and wife, Nikolai and Praskovia had to keep the nature of their relationship secret from polite society. It was taboo for an aristocrat like Sheremetev to move about in society with a serf as his social equal. Finally, in 1798 Sheremetev emancipated Praskova and later the entire Kovalyov family from serfdom. Understanding that her health would not allow her to return to the stage, he closed the theatre.
In 1801 Nikolai and Praskovia married in Moscow in the strictest secrecy. As part of the arrangements, Nikolai had created a phony genealogy for Praskovia claiming that she was the long-lost descendant of a Polish nobleman by the name of Kovalevskii. Around the time of the wedding he sent a forger to Poland with a purse full of money to purchase a patent of nobility from a willing noble family.
Within months of their wedding Praskovia became pregnant. On February 3, 1803 she gave birth to a son, Dmitry, but pregnancy and childbirth destroyed her poor health and she died on February 23 at the Sheremetev palace in St. Petersburg. Just before she died Nikolai informed Emperor Alexander I of his marriage and requested official recognition, which he granted. News of the marriage scandalized society and angered Nikolai's family. Nikolai's two nephews, the Razumovsky brothers, had planned to inherit their uncle's vast fortune, and upon hearing that they were to lose it all to the son of serf they contemplated murdering the infant.
Praskovia was buried in an elaborate ceremony at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery attended by clergy and servants from the Sheremetev household. Nikolai was too overcome with grief to attend, and the nobility stayed away to signal its disapproval of Nikolai's marriage.
In memory of Praskovia Nikolai built in Moscow on Sukharevskaya square
a large almshouse that tended to the sick, poor, and orphaned up until the revolution of 1917. Under the Soviets the almshouse was shut down and replaced by a scientific research institute named after N. Sklifosovsky.
The plaque on Praskovia's grave reads--
"This plain marble, unfeeling and impermanent,
Hides the priceless remains of a wife and mother.
Her soul was a temple of virtue,
In which peace, piety, and faith resided,
Where pure love and friendship dwellt.
Even in her final hour she remained devoted,
Feeling the full grief of those she was leaving behind.
What is to become of her wretched spouse,
Fated to drag out the rest of his days without his friend?
His heart lives on nothing but barren sighs, wailing, sorrow, and heavy moans.
Yet her death was the path to immortality,
Her innocent spirit is now in God's embrace,
Robed in the radiant cloak of imperishability,
And forever surrounded by the faces of angels.
Fill this dwelling place with righteous blessings,
O God, and lay her pure soul to rest for all eternity."
SERF
A spin exchange relaxation-free magnetometer is a type of magnetometer developed at Princeton University in the early 2000s. SERF magnetometers measure magnetic fields by using lasers to detect the interaction between alkali metal atoms in a vapor and the magnetic field.The name for the technique...
actress and soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer.
Career
Praskovia was one of the best opera singers in eighteenth-century Russia. She was born into the family of a serf smithSmith (metalwork)
A metalsmith, often shortened to smith, is a person involved in making metal objects. In contemporary use a metalsmith is a person who uses metal as a material, uses traditional metalsmithing techniques , whose work thematically relates to the practice or history of the practice, or who engages in...
by the name of Ivan Gorbunov (a.k.a. Kovalyov) probably on the estate of Voshchazhnikovo in the province of Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...
. Praskovia and her family belonged to the Sheremetevs, one of the richest noble families in Russia at the time. As a young girl she moved with her family to the estate of Kuskovo
Kuskovo
Kuskovo was the summer country house and estate of the Sheremetev family. Built in the mid-18th century, it was originally situated several miles to the east of Moscow but now is part of the East District of the city. It was one of the first great summer country estates of the Russian nobility,...
outside Moscow. Soon thereafter she was taken from her family to serve as a chambermaid to Princess Martha Dolgorukaya, a relative of her master, Count Pyotr Sheremetev, who lived in the manor house.
Blessed with a fine voice, Praskovia was trained to be a singer in the opera company then being put together by Count Pyotr and his son, Nikolai Sheremetev
Nikolai Sheremetev
Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev was a Russian count, the son of Petr Borisovich Sheremetev, notable grandee of the epoch of empresses Anna Ivanovna, Elizabeth Petrovna, and Catherine II. He was also the grandson of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev.His father P. B...
. She debuted in 1779 on the stage of the serf theatre at Kuskovo in the role of the servant Gubert in the comic opera L'Amitié à l'épreuve by André Grétry. Following her success, Praskovia was given the leading role of Belinda in Antonio Sacchini
Antonio Sacchini
Antonio Maria Gasparo Sacchini was an Italian opera composer.Sacchini was born in Florence, but was raised in Naples, where he received his musical education at the San Onofrio conservatory. He wrote his first operas in Naples, thereafter moving to Venice, then London and eventually Paris, where...
's opera La colonie. In this 1780 performance the actress for the first time appeared under the stage name Zhemchugova, "The Pearl", (zhemchug means "pearl" in Russian). The other stars of the company were also given new names: Arina "The Sapphire", Fekla "The Turquoise", Tatyana "The Garnet", Nikolai "The Marble", Andrei "The Flint", etc.
After the role of Belinda, Praskovia was promoted to the position of the first actress of the theatre. By the age of 17, she could read and write French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
fluently, played the harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
and clavichord
Clavichord
The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...
, and was acknowledged by her contemporaries for her operatic and dramatic abilities.
In a career that spanned almost two decades, Praskovia performed in over a dozen operas, including Monsigny
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts .He is considered alongside André Grétry and François-André Danican Philidor to have been the founder of a new musical genre, the opéra comique, laying a path for other French composers such as...
's Le deserteur and Aline, reine de Golconde, Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello was an Italian composer of the Classical era.-Life:Paisiello was born at Taranto and educated by the Jesuits there. He became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and...
's L'infante de Zamora, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
's Le Devin du village, and Piccinni
Piccinni
Piccinni may refer to:Tribe of American woodpeckers Picini of the subfamily Picinae-music:*Teatro Piccinni, Italian theater in Bari, Apulia, named after*Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer and grandfather of...
's La buona figliuola maritata.
Her most important role was Eliane in Grétry's opera Les Mariages samnites. Assuming the part for the first time in 1785, Praskovia sang Eliane for 12 years — a first in the history of serf theatre. In 1787 Praskovia sang the role of Eliane at Kuskovo for Empress Catherine II
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
and her suite. Catherine was so impressed by her performance that she requested to meet Praskovia and later gave her a diamond ring.
In the mid-1780s, Praskovya became the mistress of Count Nikolai Sheremetev. Nikolai was the impresario of the family serf theater, and he had helped train Praskovia over the years, eventually falling in love with the young star of the troupe. The circumstances surrounding the early years of their relationship, like so much of Praskovia's life, are unknown. After the death of Nikolai's father in 1788, Nikolai and Praskovia set up a private household in a secluded corner of the Kuskovo estate. Their unorthodox relationship soon became the subject of gossip among aristocratic society.
In 1795 Praskovia, Nikolai, and the theatre troupe moved from Kuskovo to Ostankino
Ostankino Palace
Ostankino Palace is a former summer residence and private opera theater of Sheremetev family, originally situated several kilometres to the north from Moscow but now a part of the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow...
, a brilliant new palace constructed north of Moscow with a large theatre intended for large-scale operas and immense balls. The year 1795 was marked by the premiere of the opera Zelmira and Smeloy, or the Capture of Izmail (Osip Kozlovsky
Osip Kozlovsky
Osip Antonovich Kozlovsky was a Russian composer of Polish or Belarusian origin.-Biography:...
, text by Pavel Potemkin
Pavel Potemkin
Count Pavel Sergeevich Potemkin, also Potyomkin , was a Imperial Russian statesman, soldier and writer.He was a cousin of Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, a well-known military and political figure of Catherine II’s Russia. He took part in the wars with the rebel adventurer Pugachev, the Ottoman...
); Praskovia acted in the role of the captive Turkish woman Zelmira). Praskovia performed here for Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of Poland.
Later life
At the height of the theatre's flowering in the late 1790s Praskovia became ill, possibly with consumption (tuberculosisTuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
), and was forced to retire. In late 1796, Nikolai was appointed to the court of Paul I and Praskovia moved with him to St. Petersburg.
Although they lived as man and wife, Nikolai and Praskovia had to keep the nature of their relationship secret from polite society. It was taboo for an aristocrat like Sheremetev to move about in society with a serf as his social equal. Finally, in 1798 Sheremetev emancipated Praskova and later the entire Kovalyov family from serfdom. Understanding that her health would not allow her to return to the stage, he closed the theatre.
In 1801 Nikolai and Praskovia married in Moscow in the strictest secrecy. As part of the arrangements, Nikolai had created a phony genealogy for Praskovia claiming that she was the long-lost descendant of a Polish nobleman by the name of Kovalevskii. Around the time of the wedding he sent a forger to Poland with a purse full of money to purchase a patent of nobility from a willing noble family.
Within months of their wedding Praskovia became pregnant. On February 3, 1803 she gave birth to a son, Dmitry, but pregnancy and childbirth destroyed her poor health and she died on February 23 at the Sheremetev palace in St. Petersburg. Just before she died Nikolai informed Emperor Alexander I of his marriage and requested official recognition, which he granted. News of the marriage scandalized society and angered Nikolai's family. Nikolai's two nephews, the Razumovsky brothers, had planned to inherit their uncle's vast fortune, and upon hearing that they were to lose it all to the son of serf they contemplated murdering the infant.
Praskovia was buried in an elaborate ceremony at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery attended by clergy and servants from the Sheremetev household. Nikolai was too overcome with grief to attend, and the nobility stayed away to signal its disapproval of Nikolai's marriage.
In memory of Praskovia Nikolai built in Moscow on Sukharevskaya square
Sukharev Tower
The Sukharev Tower was one of the best known landmarks and symbols of Moscow until its destruction by the Soviet authorities in 1934. The tower was built in the Moscow baroque style at the intersection of the Garden Ring with the Sretenka street in 1692-1695.Tsar Peter the Great ordered the...
a large almshouse that tended to the sick, poor, and orphaned up until the revolution of 1917. Under the Soviets the almshouse was shut down and replaced by a scientific research institute named after N. Sklifosovsky.
Quotations
"The love affair between Count Sheremetyev and his serf actress set the rumour mill rolling with the high society really shocked to see the count to be so madly in love with his servant and even preparing to build a theatre for her in his Ostankino estate just north of Moscow. And still, this public criticism of his choice was really playing on the young count's nerves who realised all too clear that the society would never forgive him if he ever married the commoner girl. In the meantime, Praskovya the actress was making strides on stage and her theatre's fortnightly performances always played to a full house." (Lyubov Tsarevskaya Russian Culture)The plaque on Praskovia's grave reads--
"This plain marble, unfeeling and impermanent,
Hides the priceless remains of a wife and mother.
Her soul was a temple of virtue,
In which peace, piety, and faith resided,
Where pure love and friendship dwellt.
Even in her final hour she remained devoted,
Feeling the full grief of those she was leaving behind.
What is to become of her wretched spouse,
Fated to drag out the rest of his days without his friend?
His heart lives on nothing but barren sighs, wailing, sorrow, and heavy moans.
Yet her death was the path to immortality,
Her innocent spirit is now in God's embrace,
Robed in the radiant cloak of imperishability,
And forever surrounded by the faces of angels.
Fill this dwelling place with righteous blessings,
O God, and lay her pure soul to rest for all eternity."