A very short biography of Ostrovsky. Ostrovsky biography interesting information briefly

It is the name of A. N. Ostrovsky that stands at the origins of the development of Russian drama theater. His dramas are still very popular to this day thanks to the extraordinary flavor of his talent as a writer and playwright, who always felt what the secular public expected from him. Therefore, it is interesting to know what kind of person Alexander Ostrovsky was. His books contain a huge creative heritage. Among his most famous works: “Guilty Without Guilt”, “Dowry”, “Thunderstorm”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Snow Maiden”, “At someone else’s feast there is a hangover”, “What you go for is what you will find”, “Your own people” - let’s settle”, “Mad money”, etc.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. short biography

Alexander Nikolaevich was born in the spring of March 31 (April 12), 1823. He grew up on Malaya Ordynka in Moscow. His father was the son of a priest, and his name was Nikolai Fedorovich. Having received a seminary education in Kostroma, he went to study at the Moscow Theological Academy. But he never became a priest, but began to practice as a lawyer in judicial institutions. Over time, he rose to the rank of titular councilor and received the title of nobility.

Ostrovsky's biography (short) says that Ostrovsky's mother, Lyubov Ivanovna, died when he was 7 years old. There are six children left in the family. Subsequently, their stepmother, Emilia Andreevna von Tesin, who was the daughter of a Swedish nobleman, took care of the family. The Ostrovsky family did not need anything; a lot of attention was paid to the education and upbringing of children.

Childhood

Ostrovsky spent almost his entire childhood in Zamoskvorechye. His father had a large library, the boy began studying Russian literature early and felt a craving for writing, but his father wanted his son to become a lawyer.

From 1835 to 1940, Alexander studied at the Moscow Gymnasium. Then he entered Moscow University and began studying to become a lawyer. But a quarrel with a teacher prevented him from finishing his last year at university. And then his father got him a job in court. He received his first salary in the amount of 4 rubles, but then it increased to 15 rubles.

Creation

Further, Ostrovsky’s biography (brief) indicates that Alexander Ostrovsky’s fame and popularity as a playwright was brought to him by the play “Our People - Let’s Be Numbered!”, published in 1850. This play was approved by I. A. Goncharov and N. V. Gogol. But the Moscow merchants did not like it, and the merchants complained to the sovereign. Then, by personal order of Nicholas I, its author was dismissed from service and placed under police supervision, which was lifted only under Alexander II. And in 1861 the play again saw the theatrical stage.

During Ostrovsky’s disgraced period, the first play staged in St. Petersburg was called “Don’t Get in Your Own Sleigh.” Ostrovsky's biography (brief) includes information that for 30 years his plays were staged at the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky and Moscow Maly Theaters. In 1856, Ostrovsky began working for the Sovremennik magazine.

Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich. Works

In 1859, Ostrovsky, with the support of G. A. Kushelev-Bezborodko, published the first collection of essays in two volumes. At this point, the Russian critic Dobrolyubov will note that Ostrovsky is an accurate depiction of the “dark kingdom.”

In 1860, after “The Thunderstorm,” Dobrolyubov called him “a ray of light in a dark kingdom.”

Indeed, Alexander Ostrovsky knew how to captivate with his remarkable talent. “The Thunderstorm” became one of the playwright’s most striking works, the writing of which was also associated with his personal drama. The prototype of the main character of the play was the actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya; he had a close relationship with her for a long time, although they were both not free people. She was the first to play this role. Ostrovsky made the image of Katerina tragic in its own way, so he reflected in it all the suffering and torment of the soul of a Russian woman.

Cradle of Talents

In 1863, Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize and became an elected corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. Later, in 1865, he organized the Artistic Circle, which became the cradle of many talents.

Ostrovsky hosted such eminent guests as F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, P. I. Tchaikovsky, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, I. S. Turgenev, etc. in his house.

In 1874, the writer-playwright founded the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers, of which Ostrovsky remained the chairman until his death. He also served on the commission associated with the revision of the theater management regulations, which led to new changes, thanks to which the position of artists was significantly improved.

In 1881, a benefit performance of the opera “The Snow Maiden” by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov took place at the Mariinsky Theater. Ostrovsky's biography (brief) indicates that at these moments Ostrovsky was incredibly pleased with the musical design of the great composer.

Last years

In 1885, the playwright became the head of the repertoire department of Moscow theaters and headed the theater school. Ostrovsky almost always had financial problems, although he collected good fees from his plays and had a pension assigned by Emperor Alexander III. Ostrovsky had many plans, he was literally burning at work, this affected his health and drained his vitality.

On June 2, 1886, he died on his Shchelykovo estate near Kostroma. He was 63 years old. His body was buried next to his father’s grave at the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Kostroma province in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki.

The widow, actress Maria Andreevna Bakhmetyeva, three sons and a daughter were awarded a pension by Tsar Alexander III.

His estate in Shchelykovo is now a memorial and natural museum of Ostrovsky.

Conclusion

Ostrovsky created his own theater school with its holistic concept of theatrical production. The main component of his theater was that there were no extreme situations in it, but depicted life situations that went back to the everyday life and psychology of a person of that time, which Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky knew very well. A short biography describes that Ostrovsky’s theater had many ideas, but to bring them to life, new stage aesthetics and new actors were needed. All this was later brought to mind by K. S. Stanislavsky and M. A. Bulgakov.

Ostrovsky's dramas served as the basis for film adaptations and television series. Among them are the film “Balzaminov’s Marriage”, shot in 1964 based on the play “What You Go For, You’ll Find” by director K. Voinov, the film “Cruel Romance”, shot in 1984 based on “Dowry” by director Eldar Ryazanov. In 2005, Evgeny Ginzburg directed the film “Anna” based on the play “Guilty Without Guilt.”

Ostrovsky created an extensive repertoire for the Russian theater stage, which included 47 highly original plays. He worked in collaboration with talented young playwrights, including P. M. Nevezhin and N. Ya. Solovyov. Ostrovsky's dramaturgy became national due to its origins and traditions.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is rightfully considered one of the most famous playwrights in Russia. This great man not only stood at the origins of the Russian drama school, but was also the teacher of the famous K.S. Stanislavsky and M.A. Bulgakov. Biography of A.N. Ostrovsky is interesting to the same extent as his creative activity.

Alexander Nikolaevich was born into a wealthy Moscow merchant family on April 12, 1823. His mother died when the boy was barely 7 years old. His stepmother, the well-known Baroness Emilia Andreevna von Tessin, invested fully in the upbringing and education of young Alexander and his brothers. Few people know that Alexander Nikolaevich knew German, French and even Greek from early childhood. As an adult, he additionally learned English, Spanish and Italian. Truly, a talented person is talented in everything!

At the age of 17, Ostrovsky entered Moscow University, but due to a conflict with the teacher, he dropped out of his studies in the third year of the university. Perhaps this decisive step influenced the further professional development of Alexander Nikolaevich.

In 1850, “Our People – Let’s Be Numbered!” was published, Ostrovsky’s first play, which brought him fame and notoriety throughout the Russian Empire. Despite the colossal success, the publication of the play almost put an end to the further career of the great Russian playwright. Having caused a strong outcry among bureaucrats dissatisfied with the incriminating nature of the play, Ostrovsky was removed from public service, was declared unreliable and was under strict police supervision for 5 years. It is interesting that the same consideration could be expected for another famous work of the playwright. We are talking about the great play “The Thunderstorm,” which might not have been published at all and would not have enriched the cultural baggage of Russia if not for the Empress, who treated the work favorably. The will of the queen determined the fate of both the work and its author.

Being a representative of the upper class, A.N. Ostrovsky described the customs and morals of ordinary people with unusual clarity. Not least of all, his first wife, who came from a simple family, played a role in this. Ostrovsky’s father and stepmother, considering such a union to be wrong, were against their son’s marriage to a woman from a lower class, so the playwright and Agafya Ivanovna (that was the name of the writer’s first wife) lived in an unofficial marriage for 20 years. The couple had 5 children, none of whom lived to adulthood. The playwright married his second wife 2 years after the death of Agafya Ivanovna. From this marriage he had six children - two daughters and four sons.

Few people know that the opera “The Snow Maiden”, one of the most famous works of P.I. Tchaikovsky, is the result of the collaboration of the great composer with the famous playwright. The opera "The Snow Maiden" is based on legends, customs and folk tales.

Being the founder of modern theater, the playwright played a big role in the development of Stanislavsky. In fact, he is the founder of the modern art of acting. Alexander Nikolaevich founded his own school, where he taught actors to play, living emotions: expressively, emotionally and authentically. His method found enormous popularity, although there were opponents of this technique. Thus, the famous M.S. Shchepkin was one of the main critics of this playing technique.

Ostrovsky was a unique person. Nowadays he would be considered a genius. Judge for yourself, a polyglot, playwright and founder of modern theatrical art. Yes, as they say, “they don’t make things like that now.”

Ostrovsky biography, interesting information briefly.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky April 12, 1823 in Moscow on Malaya Ordynka. His father, Nikolai Fedorovich, was the son of a priest, he himself graduated from the Kostroma Seminary, then the Moscow Theological Academy, but began to practice as a lawyer, dealing with property and commercial matters; rose to the rank of collegiate assessor, and in 1839 received the nobility. His mother, Lyubov Ivanovna Savvina, the daughter of a sexton and a breadmaker, died when Alexander was not yet nine years old. The family had four children (four more died in infancy). The younger brother is the statesman M. N. Ostrovsky. Thanks to Nikolai Fedorovich’s position, the family lived in prosperity, and great attention was paid to the education of children who received home education. Five years after the death of Alexander's mother, his father married Baroness Emilie Andreevna von Tessin, the daughter of a Swedish nobleman. The children were lucky with their stepmother: she surrounded them with care and continued to educate them.

Ostrovsky spent his childhood and part of his youth in the center of Zamoskvorechye. Thanks to his father's large library, he became acquainted with Russian literature early and felt an inclination towards writing, but his father wanted to make him a lawyer. In 1835, Ostrovsky entered the third grade of the 1st Moscow Provincial Gymnasium, after which in 1840 he became a student at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. He failed to complete the university course: without passing the exam in Roman law, Ostrovsky wrote a letter of resignation (he studied until 1843). At the request of his father, Ostrovsky entered the service as a clerk in the Conscientious Court and served in the Moscow courts until 1850; his first salary was 4 rubles a month, after some time it increased to 16 rubles (transferred to the Commercial Court in 1845).

By 1846, Ostrovsky had already written many scenes from the life of a merchant and conceived the comedy “The Insolvent Debtor” (later - “Our People - We Will Be Numbered!”). The first publication was a small play “Picture of Family Life” and an essay “Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident” - they were published in one of the issues of “Moscow City List” in 1847. Professor of Moscow University S.P. Shevyrev, after Ostrovsky read the play at his home on February 14, 1847, solemnly congratulated those gathered on the “appearance of a new dramatic luminary in Russian literature.”

A. N. Ostrovsky.

Ostrovsky’s literary fame was brought to him by the comedy “Our People – Let’s Be Numbered!”, published in 1850 in the journal of university professor M.P. Pogodin “Moskvityanin”. Under the text it read: “A. ABOUT." (Alexander Ostrovsky) and “D. G.". Under the second initials was Dmitry Gorev-Tarasenkov, a provincial actor who offered Ostrovsky cooperation. This collaboration did not go beyond one scene, and subsequently served as a source of great trouble for Ostrovsky, since it gave his ill-wishers a reason to accuse him of plagiarism (1856). However, the play evoked approving responses from N. V. Gogol and I. A. Goncharov. The influential Moscow merchants, offended for their class, complained to the “boss”; as a result, the comedy was banned from production, and the author was dismissed from service and placed under police supervision by personal order of Nicholas I. Supervision was lifted after the accession of Alexander II, and the play was allowed to be staged only in 1861.

Ostrovsky’s first play, which was able to reach the theater stage, was “Don’t Sit in Your Own Sleigh,” written in 1852 and staged for the first time in Moscow on the stage of the Maly Theater on January 14, 1853.

For more than thirty years, starting from 1853, new plays by Ostrovsky appeared almost every season at the Moscow Maly and St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky theaters. Since 1856, Ostrovsky has become a permanent contributor to the Sovremennik magazine. In the same year, in accordance with the wishes of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, a business trip of outstanding writers took place to study and describe various areas of Russia in industrial and domestic relations. Ostrovsky took upon himself the study of the Volga from the upper reaches to Nizhny Novgorod.

A. N. Ostrovsky, 1856

In 1859, with the assistance of Count G. A. Kushelev-Bezborodko, the first collected works of Ostrovsky were published in two volumes. Thanks to this publication, Ostrovsky received a brilliant assessment from N. A. Dobrolyubov, which secured his fame as an artist of the “dark kingdom.” In 1860, “The Thunderstorm” appeared in print, to which Dobrolyubov dedicated the article “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom.” From the second half of the 1860s, Ostrovsky took up the history of the Time of Troubles and entered into correspondence with Kostomarov. The fruit of the work was five “historical chronicles in verse”: “Kuzma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk”, “Vasilisa Melentyeva”, “Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky”, etc.

In 1863, Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize (for the play “The Thunderstorm”) and was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1866 (according to other sources - in 1865) Ostrovsky founded the Artistic Circle, which subsequently gave many talented figures to the Moscow stage. I. A. Goncharov, D. V. Grigorovich, I. S. Turgenev, A. F. Pisemsky, F. M. Dostoevsky, I. E. Turchaninov, P. M. Sadovsky, L. P. visited Ostrovsky’s house. Kositskaya-Nikulina, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L. N. Tolstoy, P. I. Tchaikovsky, M. N. Ermolova, G. N. Fedotova.

In 1874, the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers was formed, of which Ostrovsky remained the permanent chairman until his death. Working on the commission “to revise regulations on all parts of theatrical management,” established in 1881 under the directorate of the Imperial Theaters, he achieved many changes that significantly improved the situation of artists. In 1885, Ostrovsky was appointed head of the repertory department of Moscow theaters and head of the theater school.

Despite the fact that his plays did well at the box office and that in 1883 Emperor Alexander III granted him an annual pension of 3 thousand rubles, financial problems did not leave Ostrovsky until the last days of his life. His health did not meet the plans he had set for himself. The intense work exhausted the body.

On June 2 (14), 1886, on Spiritual Day, Ostrovsky died in his Kostroma estate Shchelykovo. His last work was the translation of “Antony and Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare, Alexander Nikolaevich’s favorite playwright. The writer was buried next to his father in the church cemetery near the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki, Kostroma province. Alexander III donated 3,000 rubles from the cabinet funds for the funeral; the widow, together with her two children, was given a pension of 3,000 rubles, and 2,400 rubles a year for raising three sons and a daughter. Subsequently, the widow of the writer M. V. Ostrovskaya, an actress of the Maly Theater, and the daughter of M. A. Chatelain were buried in the family necropolis.

After the death of the playwright, the Moscow Duma established a reading room named after A. N. Ostrovsky in Moscow.

Family

The younger brother is the statesman M. N. Ostrovsky.

Alexander Nikolaevich had a deep passion for the actress Lyubov Kositskaya, but both of them had a family. However, even after becoming a widow in 1862, Kositskaya continued to reject Ostrovsky’s feelings, and soon she began a close relationship with the son of a wealthy merchant, who eventually squandered her entire fortune; She wrote to Ostrovsky: “...I don’t want to take your love away from anyone.”

The playwright lived in cohabitation with the commoner Agafya Ivanovna, but all their children died at an early age. Having no education, but being an intelligent woman with a subtle, easily vulnerable soul, she understood the playwright and was the very first reader and critic of his works. Ostrovsky lived with Agafya Ivanovna for about twenty years, and in 1869, two years after her death, he married actress Maria Vasilievna Bakhmetyeva, who bore him four sons and two daughters.

Creation

"Columbus of Zamoskvorechye"

The play “Poverty is not a vice” (1853) was first staged on January 15, 1869 at the Maly Theater for a benefit performance by Prov Mikhailovich Sadovsky.

Ostrovsky Theater

Russian theater in its modern sense begins with A. N. Ostrovsky: the playwright created a theater school and a holistic concept of theatrical production.

The essence of Ostrovsky's theater lies in the absence of extreme situations and opposition to the actor's gut. Alexander Nikolaevich's plays depict ordinary situations with ordinary people, whose dramas go into everyday life and human psychology.

The main ideas of theater reform:

the theater must be built on conventions (there is a 4th wall separating the audience from the actors);
constancy of attitude towards language: mastery of speech characteristics that express almost everything about the characters;
the bet is not on one actor;

“A good play will please the public and will be successful, but it will not last long in the repertoire if it is poorly performed: the public goes to the theater to watch good performances of good plays, and not the play itself; you can read the play. Othello is, without a doubt, a good play; but the public did not want to watch it when Charsky played the role of Othello. The interest of a performance is a complex matter: it involves equally both the play and the performance. When both are good, the performance is interesting; when one thing is bad, the performance loses its interest.”
- “Note on the draft “Rules on prizes of imperial theaters for dramatic works””

Ostrovsky's theater required a new stage aesthetics, new actors. In accordance with this, Ostrovsky creates an acting ensemble, which includes such actors as Martynov, Sergei Vasiliev, Evgeniy Samoilov, Prov Sadovsky.

Naturally, innovations met opponents. He was, for example, Shchepkin. Ostrovsky's dramaturgy required the actor to detach himself from his personality, which M. S. Shchepkin did not do. For example, he left the dress rehearsal of “The Thunderstorm”, being very dissatisfied with the author of the play.

Ostrovsky's ideas were brought to their logical conclusion by K. S. Stanislavsky and M. A. Bulgakov.

Folk myths and national history in Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy

In 1881, the successful premiere of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Snow Maiden” took place on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, which the composer called his best work. A. N. Ostrovsky himself appreciated Rimsky-Korsakov’s creation:

“The music for my “Snow Maiden” is amazing, I could never imagine anything more suitable for it and so vividly expressing all the poetry of the Russian pagan cult and this first snow-cold, and then uncontrollably passionate heroine of the fairy tale.”

The appearance of Ostrovsky’s poetic play “The Snow Maiden,” created on the basis of fairy tales, songs and ritual songs of Russian poetry, was caused by a random circumstance. In 1873, the Maly Theater was closed for major renovations, and its troupe moved to the Bolshoi Theater building. The management commission of the Imperial Moscow Theaters decided to stage an extravaganza performance in which all three troupes would participate: drama, opera and ballet. A. N. Ostrovsky was approached with a proposal to write such a play in a very short time, who readily agreed to it, deciding to use the plot from the folk tale “The Snow Maiden Girl.” The music for the play, at Ostrovsky's request, was commissioned from the young P. I. Tchaikovsky. Both the playwright and the composer worked on the play with great passion, very quickly, in close creative contact. On March 31, on his fiftieth birthday, Ostrovsky finished The Snow Maiden. The first performance took place on May 11, 1873 on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater.

While working on “The Snow Maiden,” Ostrovsky carefully searched for the dimensions of the poems, consulted with historians, archaeologists, experts on ancient life, and turned to a large amount of historical and folklore material, including “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” He himself highly valued this play of his, and wrote, “I<…>in this work I take a new road”; He spoke with delight about Tchaikovsky’s music: “Tchaikovsky’s music for The Snow Maiden is charming.” I. S. Turgenev was “captivated by the beauty and lightness of the language of The Snow Maiden.” P. I. Tchaikovsky, while working on “The Snow Maiden,” wrote: “I have been sitting at work without getting up for about a month; I’m writing music for Ostrovsky’s magical play “The Snow Maiden,” he considered the dramatic work itself to be the pearl of Ostrovsky’s creations, and said about his music for it: “This is one of my favorite creations. It was a wonderful spring, I felt good in my soul... I liked Ostrovsky’s play, and in three weeks, without any effort, I wrote the music.”

Later, in 1880, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote an opera on the same plot. M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov writes in his memoirs: “With some special warmth, Alexander Nikolaevich spoke about Tchaikovsky’s music for The Snow Maiden, which, obviously, greatly prevented him from admiring Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden. Undoubtedly... Tchaikovsky’s sincere music... was closer to Ostrovsky’s soul, and he did not hide the fact that it was dearer to him, as a populist.”

This is how K. S. Stanislavsky spoke about “The Snow Maiden”: ““The Snow Maiden” is a fairy tale, a dream, a national legend, written and told in Ostrovsky’s magnificent sonorous verses. One might think that this playwright, the so-called realist and everyday writer, never wrote anything except wonderful poetry, and was not interested in anything else except pure poetry and romance.”

Criticism

Ostrovsky's work became the subject of fierce debate among critics of both the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 19th century, Dobrolyubov (articles “The Dark Kingdom” and “A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom”) and Apollo Grigoriev wrote about him from opposite positions. In the 20th century - Mikhail Lobanov (in the book “Ostrovsky”, published in the “ZhZL” series), M. A. Bulgakov and V. Ya. Lakshin.

Memory

Central Library named after A. N. Ostrovsky (Rzhev, Tver region).
Moscow Regional Drama Theater named after A. N. Ostrovsky.
Kostroma State Drama Theater named after A. N. Ostrovsky.
Ural Regional Drama Theater named after A. N. Ostrovsky.
Irbit Drama Theater named after A. N. Ostrovsky (Irbit, Sverdlovsk region).
Kineshma Drama Theater named after A. N. Ostrovsky (Ivanovo region).
Tashkent State Theater and Art Institute named after A. N. Ostrovsky.
Streets in a number of cities of the former USSR.
On May 27, 1929, a monument to Ostrovsky was unveiled in front of the Maly Theater (sculptor N. A. Andreev, architect I. P. Mashkov) (the jury gave it preference over the monument to Ostrovsky, submitted to the competition by A. S. Golubkina, who depicted the great playwright at the moment a creative impulse that captivates the viewer).
In 1984, in Zamoskvorechye, in the house where the great playwright was born - a cultural monument of the early 20s of the 19th century, a branch of the Theater Museum named after. A. A. Bakhrushin - House-Museum of A. N. Ostrovsky.
Nowadays in Shchelykovo (Kostroma region) there is a memorial and natural museum-reserve of the playwright.
Once every five years, since 1973, the All-Russian theater festival “Ostrovsky Days in Kostroma”, which is supervised by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Union of Theater Workers of the Russian Federation (All-Russian Theater Society), lights up the stage.
A memorial plaque in Tver, on Sovetskaya Street (formerly Millionnaya), building 7, informs that the playwright lived in this house, Barsukov’s hotel, in the spring and summer of 1856, during his trip to the Upper Volga region.
Every two years, since 1993, the Maly Theater hosts the festival “Ostrovsky in the Ostrovsky House,” to which theaters from all over Russia bring their performances based on the playwright’s plays to Moscow.
Ostrovsky's plays never leave the stage. Many of his works have been filmed or served as the basis for the creation of film and television scripts.
Among the film adaptations that are most popular in Russia is Konstantin Voinov’s comedy “Balzaminov’s Marriage” (1964, starring G. Vitsin).
The film “Cruel Romance”, directed by Eldar Ryazanov based on “Dowry” (1984), gained significant popularity.
In 2005, director Evgeny Ginzburg received the main prize ( Grand Prix "Garnet Bracelet") Eleventh Russian Festival “Literature and Cinema” (Gatchina) “ for an incredibly amazing interpretation of the great play by A. N. Ostrovsky “Guilty Without Guilt” in the film “Anna”"(2005, script by G. Danelia and Rustam Ibragimbekov; starring opera singer Lyubov Kazarnovskaya).

In philately

Postage stamps of the USSR

Portrait of A. N. Ostrovsky - USSR postage stamp. 1948

Portrait of A. N. Ostrovsky based on a painting by V. Perov (1871, Tretyakov Gallery) Postage stamp of the USSR. 1948

USSR postage stamp, 1959.

Playwright A. N. Ostrovsky (1823-1886), actors M. N. Ermolova (1853-1928), P. S. Mochalov (1800-1848), M. S. Shchepkin (1788-1863) and P. M. Sadovsky (1818-1872). USSR postage stamp 1949.

Plays

"Family Picture" (1847)
“Our people - we will be numbered” (1849)
"An Unexpected Case" (1850)
"The Morning of a Young Man" (1850)
"Poor Bride" (1851)
“Don’t get into your own sleigh” (1852)
"Poverty is no vice" (1853)
“Don’t live as you want” (1854)
“In someone else’s feast there is a hangover” (1856) text. The play was first staged on the theater stage on January 9, 1856 at the Maly Theater for a benefit performance by Prov Mikhailovich Sadovsky, and then, on January 18, in St. Petersburg on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater for a benefit performance by Vladimirova.
“Profitable Place” (1856) text The play was first staged on the theater stage on September 27, 1863 at the Alexandrinsky Theater during a benefit performance by Levkeeva. First staged at the Maly Theater on October 14 of the same year at a benefit performance by E. N. Vasilyeva.
"A Festive Sleep Before Dinner" (1857)
"Did not get along!" (1858)
"Nurse" (1859)
"Thunderstorm" (1859)
"An old friend is better than two new ones" (1860)
“Your own dogs squabble, don’t bother someone else’s” (1861)
"The Marriage of Balzaminov" (1861)
“Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk” (1861, 2nd edition 1866)
"Hard Days" (1863)
“Sin and misfortune do not live on anyone” (1863)
"Voevoda" (1864; 2nd edition 1885)
"The Joker" (1864)
"On a Lively Place" (1865)
"The Deep" (1866)
"Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky" (1866)
"Tushino" (1866)
“Vasilisa Melentyeva” (co-authored with S. A. Gedeonov) (1867)
“Simplicity is enough for every wise man” (1868)
"Warm Heart" (1869)
"Mad Money" (1870)
"Forest" (1870)
“It’s not all Maslenitsa for the cat” (1871)
“There wasn’t a penny, but suddenly it was Altyn” (1872) text On December 10, 1872, the first performance of the comedy took place at the Maly Theater during Musil’s benefit performance.
"Comedian of the 17th Century" (1873)
“The Snow Maiden” (1873) text. In 1881, the premiere of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera took place on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater
“Late Love” (1874) text On November 22, 1874, the first performance of the comedy took place at the Maly Theater during Musil’s benefit performance.
“Labor Bread” (1874) text On November 28, 1874, the first performance of the comedy took place at the Maly Theater during Musil’s benefit performance.
"Wolves and Sheep" (1875)
“Rich Brides” (1876) text On November 30, 1876, the first performance of the comedy took place at the Maly Theater during Musil’s benefit performance.
“Truth is good, but happiness is better” (1877) text On November 18, 1877, the first performance of the comedy took place at the Maly Theater during Musil’s benefit performance.
“The Marriage of Belugin” (1877), together with Nikolai Solovyov
“The Last Victim” (1878) text On November 8, 1878, the first performance of the comedy took place at the Maly Theater during Musil’s benefit performance
“Dowry” (1878) text On November 10, 1878, the first performance of the drama took place at the Maly Theater during Musil’s benefit performance.
"Good Master" (1879)
“Savage” (1879), together with Nikolai Solovyov
"The Heart Is Not a Stone" (1880)
"Slave Girls" (1881)
“It shines, but does not warm” (1881), text together with Nikolai Solovyov. Premiere on November 14, 1881 in St. Petersburg, at the Alexandrinsky Theater, at a benefit performance by F. A. Burdin.
“Guilty Without Guilt” (1881-1883)
"Talents and Admirers" (1882)
"Handsome Man" (1883)
"Not of this world" (1885)

Film adaptations of works

1911 - Vasilisa Melentyeva
1911 - On a busy place (film, 1911)
1916 - Guilty without guilt
1916 - On a busy place (film, 1916, Chardynin)
1916 - On a lively place (film, 1916, Sabinsky) (Another title On the high road)
1933 - Thunderstorm
1936 - Dowryless
1945 - Guilty without guilt
1951 - Truth is good, but happiness is better (film-play)
1952 - Wolves and Sheep (television play)
1952 - Simplicity is enough for every wise man (television play)
1952 - Snow Maiden (cartoon)
1953 - Warm Heart (film-play)
1955 - On a busy place (film-play)
1955 - Talents and Fans (film-play)
1958 - Abyss (television film, film adaptation of the play of the Leningrad Academic Drama Theater named after A. S. Pushkin).
1964 - Marriage of Balzaminov
1968 - Snow Maiden
1971 - Simplicity is enough for every wise man (film-play)
1971 - Spring Tale (based on the play “The Snow Maiden”)
1972 - It shines, but it doesn’t warm (film-play)
- Talents and fans (television play)
1973 - Talents and fans
1975 - The Last Victim
1978 - Handsome Man
1980 - Forest
1981 - Mad Money
1981 - Vacancy - film directed by Margarita Mikaelyan (based on the play “Profitable Place”)
1982 - Trustees (television play based on the play “The Last Victim”)
1983 - Late Love
1984 - Cruel Romance (based on the play “Dowry”)
1985 - After the Rain on Thursday (fairy tale film)
1989 - Heart is not a stone
1998 - On a busy place
2001 - Savage
2005 - Anna (based on the play “Guilty Without Guilt”)
2006 - Snow Maiden (cartoon based on the play “The Snow Maiden”)
2008 - Guilty without guilt
2008 - Russian money (based on the play “Wolves and Sheep”)
2008 - Bribes are smooth (based on the play “Profitable Place”)
2009 - Bankrupt (based on the play “Our People - We Will Be Numbered”)
2011 - Dowry

Born on March 31 (April 12), 1823 in Moscow, he grew up in a merchant environment. His mother died when he was 8 years old. And the father married again. There were four children in the family.

Ostrovsky was educated at home. His father had a large library, where little Alexander first began to read Russian literature. However, the father wanted to give his son a legal education. In 1835, Ostrovsky began his studies at the gymnasium, and then entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. Due to his interests in theater and literature, he never completed his studies at the university (1843), after which he worked as a scribe in court at the insistence of his father. Ostrovsky served in the courts until 1851.

Ostrovsky's creativity

In 1849, Ostrovsky’s work “Our People – Let’s Be Numbered!” was written, which brought him literary fame; he was highly appreciated by Nikolai Gogol and Ivan Goncharov. Then, despite censorship, many of his plays and books were published. For Ostrovsky, writings are a way to truthfully depict the life of the people. The plays “The Thunderstorm”, “Dowry”, “Forest” are among his most important works. Ostrovsky's play "Dowry", like other psychological dramas, non-standardly describes the characters, the inner world, and the torment of the heroes.

Since 1856, the writer has been participating in the publication of the Sovremennik magazine.

Ostrovsky Theater

In the biography of Alexander Ostrovsky, theater takes pride of place.
Ostrovsky founded the Artistic Circle in 1866, thanks to which many talented people appeared in the theater circle.

Together with the Artistic Circle, he significantly reformed and developed the Russian theater.

Ostrovsky's house was often visited by famous people, including I. A. Goncharov, D. V. Grigorovich, Ivan Turgenev, A. F. Pisemsky, Fyodor Dostoevsky, P. M. Sadovsky, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Leo Tolstoy, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, M. N. Ermolova and others.

In a brief biography of Ostrovsky, it is worth mentioning the emergence in 1874 of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers, where Ostrovsky was chairman. With his innovations, he achieved improvement in the lives of theater actors. Since 1885, Ostrovsky headed the theater school and was the head of the repertoire of Moscow theaters.

Writer's personal life

It cannot be said that Ostrovsky’s personal life was successful. The playwright lived with a woman from a simple family, Agafya, who had no education, but was the first to read his works. She supported him in everything. All their children died at an early age. Ostrovsky lived with her for about twenty years. And in 1869 he married the artist Maria Vasilyevna Bakhmetyeva, who bore him six children.

last years of life

Until the end of his life, Ostrovsky experienced financial difficulties. Hard work greatly depleted the body, and the writer’s health increasingly failed. Ostrovsky dreamed of reviving a theater school in which professional acting could be taught, but the death of the writer prevented the implementation of his long-conceived plans.

Ostrovsky died on June 2(14), 1886 on his estate. The writer was buried next to his father, in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki, Kostroma province.

Chronological table

Other biography options

Since childhood, Ostrovsky knew Greek, German and French, and at a later age he also learned English, Spanish and Italian. All his life he translated plays into different languages, thus improving his skills and knowledge.
The writer’s creative path spans 40 years of successful work on literary and dramatic works. His activities influenced an entire era of theater in Russia. For his works, the writer was awarded the Uvarov Prize in 1863.
Ostrovsky is the founder of modern theatrical art, whose followers were such outstanding personalities as Konstantin Stanislavsky and Mikhail Bulgakov.
see all

It is unlikely that it will be possible to briefly describe the work of Alexander Ostrovsky, since this man left a great contribution to the development of literature.

He wrote about many things, but most of all in the history of literature he is remembered as a good playwright.

Popularity and features of creativity

Popularity of A.N. Ostrovsky brought the work “Our people - we will be numbered.” After it was published, his work was appreciated by many writers of that time.

This gave confidence and inspiration to Alexander Nikolaevich himself.

After such a successful debut, he wrote many works that played a significant role in his work. These include the following:

"Forest"
"Talents and Fans"
"Dowry."

All of his plays can be called psychological dramas, since in order to understand what the writer wrote about, you need to delve deeply into his work. The characters in his plays were versatile personalities that not everyone could understand. In his works he looked at how the country’s values were collapsing.

Each of his plays has a realistic ending; the author did not try to end everything with a positive ending, like many writers; for him, the most important thing was to show real, rather than fictional, life in his works. In his works, Ostrovsky tried to depict the life of the Russian people, and, moreover, he did not embellish it at all - but wrote what he saw around him.

Childhood memories also served as subjects for his works. A distinctive feature of his work can be called the fact that his works were not entirely censored, but despite this, they remained popular. Perhaps the reason for his popularity was that the playwright tried to present Russia to readers as it is. Nationality and realism are the main criteria that Ostrovsky adhered to when writing his works.

Work in recent years

A.N. Ostrovsky became particularly involved in creativity in the last years of his life; it was then that he wrote the most significant dramas and comedies for his work. All of them were written for a reason; mainly his works describe the tragic fates of women who have to deal with their problems alone. Ostrovsky was a playwright from God; it would seem that he managed to write very easily, thoughts themselves came to his head. But he also wrote works where he had to work hard.

In his latest works, the playwright developed new techniques for presenting text and expressiveness - which became distinctive in his work. His style of writing works was highly appreciated by Chekhov, which for Alexander Nikolaevich is beyond praise. He tried in his work to show the internal struggle of the heroes.