Matilda Kshesinskaya in old age. Frank diaries of Nicholas II about Matilda Kshesinskaya published for the first time

Matilda without embellishment: what kind of ballerina Kshesinskaya was in life

Alexei Uchitel's film "Matilda" has finally been released in Russia - a seemingly ordinary drama about the latter's novel Russian Emperor and the ballerina, who suddenly, completely unexpectedly, caused an unprecedented seething of passions, scandals and even serious death threats against the director and members of the film crew. Well, while the intrigued Russian public, in a state of some confusion, is preparing to personally assess the source of the all-Russian hype, Vladimir Tikhomirov tells what Matilda Kshesinskaya was like in life.

Ballerina of blue bloods

According to the Kshesinsky family legend, Kshesinsky’s great-great-great-grandfather was Count Krasinsky, who possessed enormous wealth. After his death, almost the entire inheritance went to his eldest son - Kshesinskaya’s great-great-grandfather, but his younger son I received practically nothing. But soon the happy heir died and all the wealth passed to his 12-year-old son Wojciech, who remained in the care of a French teacher.

Wojciech's uncle decided to kill the boy in order to take possession of his fortune. He hired two killers, one of whom repented at the very last moment and told Wojciech’s teacher about the plot. As a result, he secretly took the boy to France, where he registered him under the name Kshesinsky.

The only thing that Kshesinskaya has preserved as proof of her high-born origin is a ring with the coat of arms of the Counts Krasinski.

From childhood - to the machine

Ballet was Matilda's destiny from birth. The father, Pole Felix Kshesinsky, was a dancer and teacher, as well as the creator of a family troupe: the family had eight children, each of whom decided to connect his life with the stage. Matilda was the youngest. At the age of three she was sent to ballet class.

By the way, she is far from the only one of the Kshesinskys who achieved success. She shone on the stage of the Imperial Theaters for a long time elder sister Julia. And Matilda herself was called “Kshesinskaya the Second” for a long time. Her brother Joseph Kshesinsky, also a famous dancer, also became famous. After the revolution he remained in Soviet Russia, received the title of Honored Artist of the Republic. His fate was tragic - he died of hunger during the siege of Leningrad.

Love at first sight

Matilda was noticed already in 1890. At the graduation performance of the ballet school in St. Petersburg, which was attended by Emperor Alexander III and his family (Empress Maria Feodorovna, four brothers of the sovereign with their spouses and the still very young Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich), the emperor loudly asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya?” When the embarrassed pupil was brought to him, he extended his hand to her and said:

Be the decoration and glory of our ballet.

After the exam, the school gave a large festive dinner. Alexander III asked Kshesinskaya to sit next to him and introduced the ballerina to his son Nicholas.

Young Tsarevich Nicholas

“I don’t remember what we talked about, but I immediately fell in love with the heir,” Kshesinskaya later wrote. - I can see him now Blue eyes with such kind expression. I stopped looking at him only as an heir, I forgot about it, everything was like a dream. When I said goodbye to the heir, who sat next to me throughout the dinner, we looked at each other differently than when we met; a feeling of attraction had already crept into his soul, as well as into mine...

The second meeting with Nikolai took place in Krasnoye Selo. A wooden theater was also built there for the entertainment of officers.

Kshesinskaya, after conversations with the heir, recalled:

All I could think about was him. It seemed to me that although he was not in love, he still felt attracted to me, and I involuntarily gave myself up to dreams. We had never been able to talk alone, and I didn’t know how he felt about me. I found out this only later, when we became close...

The main thing is to remind yourself

The romance between Matilda and Nikolai Alexandrovich began in 1892, when the heir rented a luxurious mansion on English Avenue for the ballerina. The heir constantly came to her, and the lovers spent many happy hours there together (he later bought and gave her this house).

However, already in the summer of 1893, Niki began to visit the ballerina less and less.

And on April 7, 1894, Nicholas's engagement to Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt was announced.

Nicholas II and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt

It seemed to me that my life was over and that there would be no more joys, and that there was much, much sorrow ahead,” Matilda wrote. - It’s hard to express what I was worried about when I knew that he was already with his bride. The spring of my happy youth was over, a new, difficult life was beginning with a heart broken so early...

In her numerous letters, Matilda asked Nika for permission to continue to communicate with him on a first-name basis, and also to turn to him for help in difficult situations. Over the subsequent years, she tried in every possible way to remind herself of herself. For example, patrons in Winter Palace they often informed her about plans for Nicholas to move around the city - wherever the emperor went, he invariably met Kshesinskaya there, enthusiastically sending “dear Niki” air kisses. Which probably drove both the Tsar himself and his wife to white heat. It is a known fact that the management of the Imperial Theater once received an order banning Kshesinskaya from performing on Sundays - on this day the royal family usually visited theaters.

Mistress for three

After the heir, Kshesinskaya had several more lovers from among the representatives of the Romanov family. So, immediately after breaking up with Nicky, he consoled her Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich - their romance lasted for a long time, which did not stop Matilda Kshesinskaya from making new lovers. Also in 1900, she began dating 53-year-old Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich.

Soon Kshesinskaya began a whirlwind romance with his son, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, her future husband.

A feeling that I had not experienced for a long time immediately crept into my heart; “It was no longer an empty flirtation,” Kshesinskaya wrote. - From the day of my first meeting with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, we began to meet more and more often, and our feelings for each other soon turned into a strong mutual attraction.

Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov and Matilda Kshesinskaya with their son

However, she did not break off relations with other Romanovs, taking advantage of their patronage. For example, with their help she received a personal benefit performance dedicated to the tenth anniversary of her work at the Imperial Theater, although other artists were entitled to similar honors only after twenty years of service.

In 1901, Kshesinskaya found out that she was pregnant. The child's father is Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.

On June 18, 1902, she gave birth to a son at her dacha in Strelna. At first she wanted to name him Nikolai, in honor of her beloved Nika, but in the end the boy was named Vladimir - in honor of the father of her lover Andrei.

Kshesinskaya recalled that after giving birth she had a difficult conversation with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, who was ready to recognize the newborn as his son:

He knew very well that he was not the father of my child, but he loved me so much and was so attached to me that he forgave me and decided, despite everything, to stay with me and protect me as a good friend. I felt guilty before him, because the previous winter, when he was courting a young and beautiful Grand Duchess and there were rumors about a possible wedding, I, having learned about this, asked him to stop courtship and thereby put an end to conversations that were unpleasant for me. I adored Andrei so much that I didn’t realize how guilty I was before Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich...

As a result, the child was given the middle name Sergeevich and the last name Krasinsky - for Matilda this had special meaning. True, after the revolution, when in 1921 the ballerina and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich got married in Nice, their son received the “correct” middle name.

Gothic in Windsor

Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, in honor of the birth of the child, gave Kshesinskaya a royal gift - the Borka estate in the Oryol province, where he planned to build a copy of the English Windsor on the site of the old manor house. Matilda admired the estate of the British kings.

Soon the famous architect Alexander Ivanovich von Gauguin, who was building the very famous Kshesinskaya mansion on the corner of Kronverksky Avenue in St. Petersburg, was discharged from St. Petersburg.

Construction took ten years, and in 1912 the castle and park were ready. However, the prima ballerina was dissatisfied: what kind of English style is this if in a five-minute walk through the park you can see a typical Russian village with thatched huts?! As a result, the neighboring village was razed to the ground, and the peasants were evicted to a new location.

But Matilda still refused to go on vacation to the Oryol province. As a result, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich sold the “Russian Windsor” in Borki to a local horse breeder from the Sheremetyev count family, and he bought the ballerina Villa Alam on the Cote d'Azur of France.

Mistress of the ballet

In 1904, Kshesinskaya decides to leave the Imperial Theater. But at the beginning of the new season she receives an offer to return on a “contractual” basis: she is obliged to pay her 500 rubles for each performance. Crazy money for those times! Also, Kshesinskaya was assigned all the parties that she liked.

Soon the entire theatrical world knew that Matilda's word was law. Thus, the director of the Imperial Theaters, Prince Sergei Volkonsky, once dared to insist that Kshesinskaya appear on stage in a costume that she did not like. The ballerina did not comply and was fined. A couple of days later, Prince Volkonsky himself resigned.

The lesson was taken into account, and the new director of the Imperial Theaters, Vladimir Telyakovsky, already preferred to stay away from Matilda.

It would seem that a ballerina, serving in the directorate, should belong to the repertoire, but then it turned out that the repertoire belongs to Kshesinskaya, Telyakovsky himself wrote. - She considered it her property and could give or not let others dance.

Matilda's Withering

In 1909, Kshesinskaya's main patron, Nicholas II's uncle, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, died. After his death, the attitude towards the ballerina at the Imperial Theater changed in the most radical way. She was increasingly offered episodic roles.

Vladimir Alexandrovich Romanov

Soon Kshesinskaya goes to Paris, then to London, and again St. Petersburg. Until 1917, no fundamental changes occurred in the life of the ballerina. The result of boredom was the ballerina’s romance with dancer Pyotr Vladimirov, who was 21 years younger than Matilda.

Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, accustomed to sharing his mistress with his father and uncle, was furious. During Kshesinskaya's tour in Paris, the prince challenged the dancer to a duel. The unfortunate Vladimirov was shot in the nose by an insulted representative of the Romanov family. Doctors had to piece him together.

On the run

At the beginning of February 1917, the police chief of Petrograd advised the ballerina and her son to leave the capital, since unrest was expected in the city. On February 22, the ballerina gave her last reception in her mansion - it was a dinner with luxurious serving for twenty-four people.

The very next day she left the city, engulfed in a wave of revolutionary madness. On February 28, the Bolsheviks, led by Georgian student Agababov, broke into the ballerina’s mansion. He began hosting dinners at famous house, forced the chef to cook for him and his guests, who drank elite wines and champagne from the cellar. Both Kshesinskaya's cars were requisitioned.

Kshesinskaya's mansion in St. Petersburg

At this time, Matilda herself wandered with her son to different apartments, fearing that her child would be taken away from her. Her servants brought food to her from home; almost all of them remained faithful to Kshesinskaya.

After some time, Kshesinskaya herself decided to go to her house. She was horrified when she saw what he had become.

I was offered to go up to my bedroom, but it was simply terrible what I saw: a wonderful carpet, specially ordered by me in Paris, was all covered in ink, all the furniture was taken to the lower floor, the door and all the shelves were torn out of the wonderful wardrobe with its hinges taken out, and there were guns there... In my restroom, the bathtub-basin was filled with cigarette butts. At this time, student Agababov came up to me... He invited me, as if nothing had happened, to move back and live with them and said that they would give me their son’s rooms. I didn’t answer anything, this was already the height of impudence...

Until mid-summer, Kshesinskaya tried to return the mansion, but then she realized that she just needed to run away. And she left for Kislovodsk, where she was reunited with Andrei Romanov.

In her own mansion different years Lenin, Zinoviev, Stalin and others worked. From the balcony of this house Lenin repeatedly spoke to workers, soldiers and sailors. Kalinin lived there for several years, from 1938 to 1956 there was a Kirov Museum, and since 1957 - the Museum of the Revolution. In 1991, a Museum was created in the mansion political history Russia, which is still there.

In exile

In 1920, Andrei and Matilda and their child left Kislovodsk and went to Novorossiysk. Then they leave for Venice, and from there to France.

In 1929, Matilda and her husband find themselves in Paris, but the money in their accounts is almost gone, and they need to live on something. Then Matilda decides to open her own ballet school.

Soon children begin to come to Kshesinskaya’s classes famous parents. For example, the daughters of Fyodor Chaliapin. In just five years, the school grows so that about 100 people study there annually. The school also operated during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Of course, at some moments there were no students at all, and the ballerina came to an empty studio. The school became an outlet for Kshesinskaya, thanks to which she survived the arrest of her son Vladimir. He ended up in the Gestapo literally the very next day after the Nazi invasion of the USSR. The parents raised all possible connections so that Vladimir would be released. According to rumors, Kshesinskaya even secured a meeting with the head of the secret German state police, Heinrich Müller. As a result, after 119 days of imprisonment, Vladimir was finally released from the concentration camp and returned home. But Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich really went crazy during his son’s imprisonment. He supposedly imagined Germans everywhere: the door opened, they came in and arrested his son.

The final

In 1956, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich died in Paris at the age of 77.

With the death of Andrei, the fairy tale that was my life ended. Our son remained with me - I adore him and from now on he is the whole meaning of my life. For him, of course, I will always remain a mother, but also the greatest and true friend...

It is interesting that after leaving Russia, not a single word about the last Russian emperor is found in her diary.

Matilda died on December 5, 1971, a few months shy of her centenary. She was buried in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois cemetery near Paris. On the monument there is an epitaph: “Your Most Serene Princess Maria Feliksovna Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya, Honored Artist of the Imperial Theaters Kshesinskaya.”

Her son Vladimir Andreevich died single and childless in 1974 and was buried next to his mother’s grave.

But the Kshesinskaya ballet dynasty did not fade away. This year to the ballet troupe Bolshoi Theater Matilda Kshesinskaya's great-niece Eleonora Sevenard was adopted.

Matilda Kshesinskaya. Mysteries of life. Documentary

More details and a variety of information about events taking place in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of our beautiful planet can be obtained at Internet Conferences, constantly held on the “Keys of Knowledge” website. All Conferences are open and completely free. We invite everyone interested...

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Mistress of the House of Romanov

125 years ago, a young ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya completed her first season at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg. Ahead of her lay a dizzying career and a stormy romance with the future Emperor Nicholas II, which she spoke about very frankly in her Memoirs.

In 1890, for the first time, the royal family led by Alexander III was supposed to be present at the graduation performance of the ballet school in St. Petersburg. “This exam decided my fate,” Kshesinskaya would later write.

Fateful dinner

After the performance, the graduates watched with excitement as members slowly walked along the long corridor leading from the theater stage to the rehearsal room where they were gathered. royal family: Alexander III with Empress Maria Feodorovna, four brothers of the sovereign with their spouses and the still very young Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich. To the surprise of everyone, the emperor loudly asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya?” When the embarrassed student was brought to him, he extended his hand to her and said: “Be the decoration and glory of our ballet.”

Seventeen-year-old Kshesinskaya was stunned by what happened in the rehearsal hall. But the further events of this evening seemed even more incredible. After the official part, a large festive dinner was given at the school. Alexander III took a seat at one of the lavishly served tables and asked Kshesinskaya to sit next to him. Then he pointed to the seat next to the young ballerina to his heir and, smiling, said: “Just be careful not to flirt too much.”

“I don’t remember what we talked about, but I immediately fell in love with the heir. Like now, I see his blue eyes with such a kind expression. I stopped looking at him only as an heir, I forgot about it, everything was like a dream. When I said goodbye to the heir, who sat next to me throughout the dinner, we no longer looked at each other the same way as when we met; a feeling of attraction had already crept into his soul, as well as into mine...”

Later, they accidentally saw each other several times from afar on the streets of St. Petersburg. But the next fateful meeting with Nikolai happened in Krasnoye Selo, where, according to tradition, a camp gathering for practical shooting and maneuvers. A wooden theater was built there, where performances were given to entertain the officers.

Kshesinskaya, who from the moment of the graduation performance dreamed of at least seeing Nikolai up close again, was infinitely happy when he came to talk to her during intermission. However, after getting ready, the heir had to go on a trip around the world for 9 months.

“After the summer season, when I could meet and talk with him, my feeling filled my entire soul, and all I could think about was him. It seemed to me that although he was not in love, he still felt attracted to me, and I involuntarily gave myself up to dreams. We had never been able to talk alone, and I didn’t know how he felt about me. I found out this only later, when we became close...”

Matilda Kshesinskaya. Mysteries of life. Documentary

More details and a variety of information about events taking place in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of our beautiful planet can be obtained at Internet Conferences, constantly held on the website “Keys of Knowledge”. All Conferences are open and completely free. We invite everyone who wakes up and is interested...

Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya is a Russian ballerina with Polish roots, who performed on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater from 1890 to 1917, the mistress of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II. Their love story formed the basis feature film Alexey Uchitel "Matilda".

Early years. Family

Matilda Kshesinskaya was born on August 31 (old style - 19) 1872 in St. Petersburg. Initially, the surname of the family sounded like “Krzezinski”. Later it was transformed into “Kshesinsky” for euphony.

Her parents are ballet dancers of the Mariinsky Theater: her father Felix Kshesinsky was a ballet dancer, who in 1851 was invited from Poland to the Russian Empire by Nicholas I himself, and her mother Yulia Deminskaya, who at the time of their acquaintance was raising five children from her deceased first husband, dancer Lede, was a soloist corps de ballet. Matilda's grandfather Jan was a famous violinist and opera singer who sang on the stage of the Warsaw Opera.

At the age of 8, Matilda became a student at the Imperial Theater School in St. Petersburg, where her brother Joseph and sister Julia were already studying. The day of the final exam - March 23, 1890 - was remembered by the talented girl who completed her studies as an external student for the rest of her life.

According to tradition, Emperor Alexander III sat on the examination committee, who was accompanied that day by his son and heir to the throne, Nicholas II. The 17-year-old ballerina performed wonderfully, and at parting the emperor gave her parting words: “Be the adornment and glory of our ballet!” Later in her memoirs, Matilda wrote: “Then I told myself that I had to live up to the expectations placed on me.”

Ballerina career

Immediately after graduating from college, Matilda was invited to the main troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. Already in the first season, she was assigned small roles in 22 ballets and 21 operas.

Colleagues recalled Matilda as an incredibly efficient dancer who inherited her father’s talent for dramatic expressiveness. She could stand at the ballet barre for hours, overcoming the pain.

In 1898, the prima began taking lessons from Enrico Cecchetti, an outstanding Italian dancer. With his help, she became the first Russian ballerina to masterfully perform 32 fouettés in a row. Previously, only the Italian Pierina Legnani succeeded in this, whose rivalry with Matilda continued long years.

After six years of work in the theater, the ballerina was awarded the title of prima. Her repertoire included The Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Odette (Swan Lake), Paquita, Esmeralda, Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty) and Princess Aspiccia (The Pharaoh's Daughter). Her unique style combined the impeccability of the Italian and lyricism of the Russian ballet schools. Her name is still associated to this day an entire era, a great time for Russian ballet.

Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II

The relationship between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II began at a dinner party after the final exam. The heir to the throne became seriously infatuated with the airy and fragile ballerina, and with the full approval of his mother.

Empress Maria Feodorovna was seriously worried about the fact that her son (before meeting Kshesinskaya) did not show any interest in girls, so she encouraged his romance with Matilda in every possible way. For example, Nikolai Alexandrovich took money for gifts for his beloved from a fund specially created for this purpose. Among them was a house on the Promenade des Anglais, which previously belonged to the composer Rimsky-Korsakov.

For a long time they were content with casual meetings. Before each performance, Matilda looked out the window for a long time in the hope of seeing her lover ascending the steps, and when he came, she danced with double enthusiasm. In the spring of 1891, after a long separation (Nicholas went to Japan), the heir first secretly left the palace and went to Matilda.

Trailer for the film "Matilda"

Their romance lasted until 1894 and ended due to Nicholas's engagement to the British princess Alice of Darmstadt, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who stole the heart of the emperor's successor. Matilda took the breakup very hard, but supported Nicholas II with all her heart, realizing that crowned person cannot marry a ballerina. She was on the side ex-lover, when the emperor and his wife opposed his alliance with Alice.

Before his marriage, Nicholas II entrusted the care of Matilda to his cousin, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich, president of the Russian Theater Society. For the next few years, he was a faithful friend and patron of the ballerina.

However, Nicholas, already an emperor at that time, still had feelings for ex-lover. He continued to follow her career. It was rumored that it was not without his patronage that Kshesinskaya received the position of prima of the Mariinsky in 1886. In 1890, in honor of her benefit performance, he presented Matilda with an elegant diamond brooch with a sapphire, which he and his wife had been choosing for a long time.

Documentary film about Matilda Kshesinskaya with video chronicle

After that same benefit performance, Matilda was introduced to another cousin of Nicholas II - Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich. As the legend goes, he stared at the beauty and accidentally spilled a glass of wine on her expensive dress sent from France. But the ballerina saw in this lucky sign. Thus began their romance, which later ended in marriage.

In 1902, Matilda gave birth to a son, Vladimir, from Prince Andrei. The birth was very difficult; the woman in labor and her newborn were miraculously rescued from the other world.

Life at the beginning of the 20th century

In 1903, the ballerina was invited to America, but she refused the offer, preferring to stay in her homeland. At the turn of the century, the prima had already achieved all imaginable heights on stage, and in 1904 she decided to resign from the main troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. She did not stop dancing, but now she worked under a contract and received a huge fee for each performance.

In 1908, Matilda went on a tour to Paris, where she met the young aristocrat Pyotr Vladimirovich, who was 21 years younger than her. They began a passionate affair, which is why Prince Andrei challenged his opponent to a duel and shot him in the nose. In France, the already middle-aged Kshesinskaya opened a ballet school

During the war, Kshesinskaya fell ill with arthritis - since then, every movement was given to her with great difficulty, but the school still flourished. When she devoted herself entirely to a new passion, gambling, the studio became her only source of rather depleted income.

Death

Matilda Kshesinskaya, mistress of the last Russian emperor, lived a bright, amazing life. She did not live a few months before her 100th birthday. On December 6, 1971, she died and was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery in the same grave with her husband.

In 1969, 2 years before Matilda’s death, Soviet ballet stars Ekaterina Maksimova and Vladimir Vasiliev visited her estate. As they later wrote in their memoirs, on the threshold they were met by a completely gray-haired, wizened old woman with surprisingly young eyes full of sparkle. When they told Matilda that her name was still remembered in her homeland, she replied: “And they will always remember.”

Matilda Kshesinskaya (1872 – 1971) | Who was she: a courtesan or a great talent? Heterosexual or smart device? Probably all together...

Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya (Maria-Matilda Adamovna-Feliksovna-Valerievna Krzesinska; August 19, 1872, Ligovo (near St. Petersburg) - December 6, 1971, Paris) - a famous Russian ballerina and teacher, also known for her intimate relationships with the august persons of the Russian Empire.

Her name was "Madame Seventeen". The reason for this was her addiction to playing roulette in the Monte Carlo casino and a constant bet on the number 17. It was at this age, on March 23, 1890, that she first met the heir to the royal throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich or Niki. This meeting determined everything future fate Maria-Matilda Adamovna-Feliksovna-Valerievna Krzhezinskaya, or in the version better known to us, Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya. The more I read about this famous ballerina, about her life, love, work, the more often I ask myself the same question: who and what would she be without the support of the Romanovs?

Who is she more - a courtesan or something else? femme fatale? The authors of many stories very diligently avoid this topic, as if “lubricating” this facet of Matilda Kshesinskaya’s “talent”. But in reality, everything is not so simple, and this is confirmed by numerous memories of her contemporaries and the actions of the ballerina herself.

Thomson M.N. Portrait of Matilda Kshesinskaya. 1991

The world of theater is not so simple, if for ordinary spectators it is a holiday, then for the servants of melpomene it is a struggle for life, intrigue, mutual claims and the ability to do everything to be noticed by the superiors of this world. Ballet dancers have always been loved by the upper class: grand dukes and nobles of lower rank did not shy away from patronizing this or that ballerina. Patronage is often further love affair it didn’t work, but still some even dared to take these beauties as wives. But such people were in the minority; the majority were destined for the sad fate of “flashing up as a bright star” on the stage and then quietly fading away outside it. Matilda Kshesinskaya escaped this fate...

Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya was a hereditary “ballet dancer” - she was born on August 31, 1872 into a theatrical family of a Pole, dancer and opera singer Felix Kshesinsky and ballerina Yulia Dolinskaya (in another transcription Dominskaya) in St. Petersburg.

Felix Kshesinsky and Yulia Dominskaya

Matilda became the last, thirteenth child in this family and had an affectionate name - Malya, Malechka. Felix Kshesinsky's eldest daughter, Yulia, danced with her father and is often confused with Matilda Feliksovna in photographs today.

Sister Yulia - Kshesinskaya 1st

Matilda's brother Joseph also became a ballet dancer. It was in such an atmosphere of the theater world that young Malechka grew up.

Matilda with her father in the Polish act of the opera "A Life for the Tsar" 1890s

At the age of 8 she became a visiting student at the Imperial Theater School, and at the age of 15 she took lessons from Christian Ioganson, who became her teacher for many years, even after she became a recognized ballet dancer.

In the spring of 1890, after graduating from college, she was enrolled in the group of the Mariinsky Theater and in her first season she danced in 22 ballets and 21 operas.
Not a bad start... and it may seem that talent is to blame. But is it? In fact, this is not entirely true - on March 23, 1890, during the final exam, the first meeting of the future Emperor Nicholas II, a phlegmatic and lethargic young man, with a cheerful and cheerful Polish woman took place. Everything happened with the approval of members of the royal family, starting from the emperor Alexandra III, who organized this acquaintance and ending with Empress Maria Feodorovna, who still wanted her son to become... a man.

After the exam there was dinner, mutual flirting between two young people and years later an entry in Kshesinskaya’s memoirs: “When I said goodbye to the Heir, a feeling of attraction to each other had already crept into his soul, as well as into mine.”

truly them serious relationship began only two years later, after the heir came home to Matilda Kshesinskaya, under the name of Hussar Volkov. Notes, letters and... gifts, truly royal. The first was a gold bracelet with large sapphires and two diamonds, on which Matilda engraved two dates - 1890 and 1892 - the first meeting and the first visit to her home.

But... Their love was doomed and after April 7, 1894, when the engagement of the Tsarevich to Alice of Hesse was officially announced, Nicholas never came to Matilda again.

However, as you know, he allowed her to contact him in letters on a first name basis and promised to help her in everything if she needed help.

But... as they say, a holy place is never empty: “In my grief and despair, I was not left alone. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, with whom I became friends from the day the heir first brought him to me, stayed with me and supported me.

I never felt a feeling for him that could be compared with my feeling for Niki, but with all his attitude he won my heart, and I sincerely fell in love with him,” Matilda Kshesinskaya later wrote in her memoirs. She fell in love... however quickly and again... Romanova.

And it is not surprising that her career was going uphill. She became the prima of the Mariinsky Theater and virtually the entire repertoire was built around her. Yes, her contemporaries did not refuse to recognize her talent, but latently everyone understood that this talent made its way to the top not through a terrible struggle for existence, but in a slightly different way. But let’s give the floor to the witnesses; Vladimir Arkadyevich Telyakovsky, director of the imperial theaters, wrote about this especially well in his “Memoirs.”

From the memoirs of V.A. Telyakovsky: “M. Kshesinskaya danced beautifully and was also an undeniably outstanding Russian ballerina. For (Kshesinskaya) ... success on stage was a means: her aspirations were more grandiose and extensive, and the role of only a ballerina, although outstanding, did not satisfy her from a young age, M. Kshesinskaya left in her thirteenth year of service. at will from the ballet troupe.

She saved her strength for another purpose. M. Kshesinskaya was an undeniably smart woman. She perfectly took into account both the strong and especially the weak sides men, these eternally searching Romeos, who say whatever they like about women, and from whom women make whatever they, women, want."

From the memoirs of V.A. Telyakovsky: “It would seem that a ballerina, serving in the directorate, should belong to the repertoire, but then it turned out that the repertoire belongs to M. Kshesinskaya, and just as out of fifty performances, forty belong to balletomanes, and in the repertoire - from all the ballets more than half of the best belong to the ballerina Kshesinskaya.

with Vera Trefilova in the ballet "Pharaoh's Daughter"(?)

She considered them her property and could give or not let others dance them. There were cases when a ballerina was discharged from abroad. Her contract stipulated ballets for tours. This was the case with the ballerina Grimaldi, invited in 1900.

But when she decided to rehearse one ballet, indicated in the contract (this ballet was “Vain Precaution”), Kshesinskaya declared: “I won’t give it, this is my ballet.” The telephones, conversations, telegrams began. The poor director was rushing here and there. Finally, he sends an encrypted telegram to the minister in Denmark, where he was with the sovereign at that time. The case was secret and of special national importance. And what? She receives the following answer: “Since this ballet is Kshesinskaya’s, it should be left to her.”

Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich loved Matilda Kshesinskaya faithfully for 25 years. He pampered her, protected her, saved her... In Strelna, in the name of Kshesinskaya, he bought a magnificent dacha.

Later she would write: “In order to console and entertain me at least a little, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich pampered me as best he could, did not deny me anything and tried to forestall all my desires.”

And then a word from the historian Shirokorad A.B., a quote from the book “The Fall of Port Arthur”: “...The question arises: how did the poor dancer Matilda Kshesinskaya become one of richest women Russia? Salary of a soloist of the Mariinsky Theater? Yes, she spent more on outfits! Communication in 1890-1894 with the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Nicholas? There were pennies there too.

At the end of the 1890s, Kshesinskaya bought a country palace in Strelna. The ballerina overhauled it and even built her own power plant. “Many envied me, since even in the [Winter Palace. - A. III.] there was no electricity,” Kshesinskaya noted proudly. In Kshesinskaya's Strelna Palace, tables were set for more than a thousand people. On Matilda’s birthday, the railway schedule of trains passing through Strelnya even changed.
In the spring of 1906, Kshesinskaya bought a plot of land on the corner of Kronverksky Prospekt and Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya Street and commissioned the architect Alexander von Gauguin to design the palace. By the end of 1906, the construction of the two-story palace was completed.

The famous Kshesinskaya mansion in St. Petersburg Photo of the early twentieth century

salon 1916

Its length was 50 meters and width - 33 meters. They wrote about the palace - everything was built and furnished according to Kshesinskaya’s wishes and tastes: the hall was in the Russian Empire style, the salon was in the style of Louis XVI, the bedroom and restroom were in the English style, etc. The stylish furniture was supplied by the famous French manufacturer Meltzer. Chandeliers, sconces, candelabra and everything else, even the latches, were ordered from Paris. The house with the adjacent garden is a small masterpiece of Matilda Kshesinskaya’s imagination. Well-trained maids, a French cook, a senior janitor - Knight of St. George, a wine cellar, carriages, cars and even a barn with a cow and a cowwoman. Matilda loved to drink milk. There was, of course, a large winter garden. Where does all this come from? It’s not hard to guess that the source of Matilda’s well-being... was Russia’s huge military budget.”

The same budget to which the Grand Dukes and in particular Sergei Mikhailovich had access. In all her roles, she “shone”: she appeared on stage, hung with real jewelry - diamonds, pearls, sapphires... She was served by Faberge himself and made many things commissioned by the Grand Dukes.

THE DOG COLLAR NECLACE (“dog collar”) Matilda is shown wearing a similar necklace in almost all photographs. Despite such an unpoetic name, this type of necklace flourished for almost half a century.

Yes, she dances all this time, but ballet is not work for her, but just entertainment, although, to her credit, she is talented and does everything to stay in shape. And all in order to remove competitors and rivals! There is an interesting entry on this subject in the memoirs great ballerina Tamara Karsavina.

From the memoirs of ballerina Tamara Karsavina: “I remember another incident with a fine, which had serious consequences. It occurred during Volkonsky’s directorship. Once Matilda Kshesinskaya wore her own costume to a performance, ignoring Volkonsky’s order to go on stage in a suit specially tailored for the role. The next day she was fined, Kshesinskaya became angry and began to seek cancellation, and a few days later an order from the Minister of the Court to cancel the fine appeared in the Vestnik.

ballet "Camargo"

Prince Volkonsky immediately resigned. He was deservedly much loved, and the community was indignant at the disrespect shown to one of its members. Hostile demonstrations directed against Kshesinskaya began to take place in the theater - she paid dearly for her short-term triumph. At that time she was at the peak of her talent. In terms of virtuosity, she was not inferior to Legnani, and in terms of acting qualities she even surpassed her.

Matilda chose the time for her performances herself and performed only at the height of the season, allowing herself long breaks, during which she stopped regular classes and indulged in unbridled entertainment. Always cheerful and laughing, she loved tricks and cards; sleepless nights did not affect her appearance, did not spoil her mood. She had amazing vitality and exceptional willpower.

During the month preceding her appearance on stage, Kshesinskaya devoted all her time to work - she trained hard for hours, did not go anywhere and did not receive anyone, went to bed at ten in the evening, weighed herself every morning, always ready to limit herself in food, although her diet was without that she was quite strict. Before the performance, she remained in bed for twenty-four hours, only eating at noon. light breakfast. At six o'clock she was already at the theater in order to have two hours at her disposal for exercise and makeup. One evening I was warming up on stage at the same time as Kshesinskaya and noticed how feverishly her eyes sparkled.

From the very beginning she showed me great kindness. One autumn, during my first season at the theater, she sent me an invitation to spend the weekend at her country house in Strelna. “Don’t bother taking fancy dresses with you,” she wrote, “we have a village style here. I’ll send for you.” The thought of the modesty of my wardrobe worried me greatly. Matilda apparently guessed this. She also thought that I didn’t know her secretary by sight, so she came to the station to pick me up herself. She had a small group of friends staying with her.

As a hostess, Matilda was excellent. She had a large garden near the coast. Several goats lived in the pen, one of them, a favorite who appeared on stage in Esmeralda, followed Matilda like a dog.

caricature by N. and S. Legat "Esmeralda"

All day Matilda did not let me go, showing countless signs of attention... I got the impression that everyone around me fell under the charm of her cheerful and good-natured nature. But even I, with all my naivety, understood that the sycophants surrounding her exuded a lot of flattery. And this is understandable, taking into account the position occupied by the famous dancer, rich and influential. Envy and gossip constantly followed her. All that day I had a feeling of bewilderment - could this charming woman really be the same terrible Kshesinskaya, who was called an unscrupulous intriguer who destroys the careers of her rivals.

If anyone hurts you, come straight to me. “I will stand up for you,” she said later and subsequently kept her word: she had the opportunity to intervene and stand up for me. I began to get significantly fewer roles, and it turned out that the director was led to believe that I had too much work.

One famous ballerina, who apparently was not one of my well-wishers, unexpectedly showed excessive concern for my health, asking the director not to overwork me, since I was sick with consumption. The director, thus misled by this feigned concern, showing true sympathy, began to gradually reduce my repertoire."

with colleagues (ballerinas, choreographers, dancers) (in the first row, in the center to the left of the man in military uniform)

On February 13, 1900, theatrical Petersburg celebrated its tenth anniversary creative life Kshesinskaya on the Imperial stage. The sons of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich - Kirill, Boris and Andrey - were invited to dinner after the anniversary performance.

With the latter, the ballerina began a whirlwind romance. She was six years older than Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.

At the same time, Matilda officially lived with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich. In June 1902, Matilda Feliksovna had a son. The boy was named Vladimir in honor of the father of Grand Duke Andrei. Only, from which Romanov this child was born is still unknown. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich considered him his son until the end of his life. And again the word to V.A. Telyakovsky.

Matilda Kshesinskaya with her son Vladimir. 1916

From the diary of Vladimir Telyakovsky:

“Is this really a theater, and is it really me who is in charge? Everyone is happy, everyone is happy and glorifying an extraordinary, technically strong, morally impudent, cynical, insolent ballerina, living simultaneously with two great princes and not only not hiding this, but, on the contrary, intertwining and this art in its stinking, cynical wreath of human carrion and depravity told me that Kshesinskaya herself says that she is pregnant; wanting to continue dancing, she remade some parts of the ballet in order to avoid risky movements. It is still unknown who the child will be assigned to. Some speak to Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and some speak to Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, others speak about the ballet Kozlov."
In 1904, she left the stage, but retained the right to roles in performances and did not allow anyone else to dance them. In 1908, Matilda Kshesinskaya successfully tours the Paris Grand Opera and amazes the audience with her 32 fouettés!

And at the same time she immediately starts an affair with her partner Pyotr Vladimirov, who is 21 years younger than her, which ends in a duel in the forest near Paris between the latter and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.

And then there was a revolution and everything went to pieces. Her luxurious mansion was plundered, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich died in Alapaevsk: dying in an abandoned mine, he clutched in his hand a small gold medallion with a portrait of Matilda Kshesinskaya and the inscription “Malya”. On February 19, 1920, she sailed to Constantinople on the Italian liner Semiramis. In January 1921, in France, they married Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, and Matilda received the title of Most Serene Princess Romanovskaya.

In 1929, Kseshinskaya opened her ballet studio in Paris, where students from as far away as England, the USA, and Spain took lessons from her.

"Russian", Covent Garden, London, 1936

Matilda Kshesinskaya in the last years of her life. 1954

1969

Son Vladimir

1950s(?)

“In 1958, the Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe came to Paris. Although I don’t go anywhere else, dividing my time between home and the dance studio where I earn money to live, I made an exception and went to the Opera to see the Russians. I cried with happiness. This was the same ballet that I saw more than forty years ago, possessing the same spirit and the same traditions...” - this is what she wrote in her memoirs.

She died at the age of 99 in 1971 and was laid to rest in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois in France.

Matilda Kshesinskaya's grave at the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery

In 2010, the history of the relationship between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Prince Andrei Romanov was prepared TV Broadcast from the series "More Than Love".

Matilda Kshesinskaya and Prince Andrei Romanov, TV show "More than Love"

Who was she anyway: a courtesan or a great talent? Heterosexual or smart device? Probably all together, but one thing is clear, her role in the art of Russian theater and the “art” of Russian life was far from the last... but such is Russia.

Original post and comments at

The amazing Matilda, who charmed the men of her time, was not only a delightful dancer and an extravagant woman of her time, challenging with her whole life the public morality of the time, like Anna Karenina - she was also a mother. And here there is much less similarity with the heroine of Tolstoy’s novel. Details of the fate of the mysterious ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and her son.

Herself expectant mother writes in her memoirs: “I continued to dance this season (during pregnancy), as I expected - until February, being in the fifth month of pregnancy. It was completely invisible from my work and even from my figure.”

The fate of the son of ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya: Infancy

The son was born on June 18, 1902 in a village in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, where his mother had a dacha. The birth was difficult, and only Matilda’s love of life and optimism allowed her to recall them with such ease: “My personal doctor, who was supposed to deliver the baby, was away, we had to call Professor Ott’s assistant, Doctor Dranitsyn, from Peterhof, he, together with the personal doctor of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, Zander, delivered the child. I was barely saved, the birth was very difficult, and the doctors were worried which of us would survive: either me or the baby. But they saved us both. I had a boy, it was early in the morning of June 18, at two o’clock. I lay there for a long time with a strong fever, but since I was strong and healthy by nature, I began to feel better relatively soon.”

She also described the choice of name surprisingly easily, although much can be read behind these lines from Kshesinskaya’s memoirs:

“A difficult question arose before me, what name to give my newborn son. At first I wanted to call him Nikolai, but I couldn’t do that, and I didn’t have the right to do it for many reasons. Then I decided to give him the name Vladimir, in honor of Andrei’s father, who always treated me so sincerely. I was convinced that he would have nothing against it. He agreed"

Baptized little Volodya Orthodox priest according to Orthodox custom, although the mother was from a Catholic family. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, the child’s father, presented his son with a cross made of Ural malachite stone. Matilda's sister became godmother.

“In my life at home, I was very happy: I had Volodya, whom I adored, I loved Andrei, and he loved me, my whole life was in them. Sergei behaved incredibly touchingly, he treated the baby as if he were his own and continued to spoil me very much.” - recalls the ballerina.

The fate of the son of ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya: Youth and flight

But the idyll in which Andrei grew up was disrupted by the revolution. Having distorted everything familiar to the boy, the entire established lifestyle his family with the luxury, splendor and glory of his mother, the seventeenth year made young Volodya and his family refugees. Until the twentieth year, they moved from city to city, spent the night wherever they had to, and miraculously did not catch typhus, which was rampant everywhere.

Finally, having arrived in France, they began to improve their life, but there was little money, and it was not possible to fully adapt to the new conditions. He did not hide, but flaunted his Russian origin the son of Kshesinskaya, mentioned his noble roots everywhere and even led activities to lead a community of Mirgan nobles in France. Personal life did not work out. The women who appeared in Vladimir's life did not like his mother.

After the German invasion of Russia, he was arrested on the southern coast of France, where his whole family fled from Paris.
Matilda failed to achieve the quick release of her son, and he refused to cooperate with the fascist troops. Nevertheless, after almost six months, Volodya was released.

The fate of the son of ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya: Heirs

After the end of the war, Vladimir’s life was not full of bright events. His health was seriously compromised, and information about later life Romanov are contradictory. Whether he actually collaborated with Churchill - historians are inclined to believe in the veracity of this version.

Towards the end of his life, the son of Nikolai’s mistress returned to his Soviet homeland, but as a British intelligence officer.
Romanov lived only a few years longer than his brilliant mother and rests in France. Vladimir did not leave behind either an official marriage or children, at least the biographers of the Romanov family do not know about this.