Alexander Sumarokov
Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov (Russian Александр Петрович Сумароков, scientific transliteration Aleksandr Petrovich Sumarokov; * 14 Novemberjul / November 25 1717greg in Moscow, .. .. † 1 Oktoberjul / October 12 1777greg ) was a Russian poet, writer and dramatist of the 18th century.
Biography
Alexander Sumarokov was born in a noble family. He received his education at home and while on duty in the noble corps, where he began to rewrite Psalms in poems and the example of Vasily Trediakowskis odes to write to the imperial house on behalf of the Corps. From 1740 he served in the military office under Burkhard Christoph von Munnich, then as an aide to Count Alexei Razumovsky.
He achieved fame by his 1747 written and played at the court of first tragedy called Chorew. Sumarokows pieces were played by the theater troupe Yaroslavl by Fyodor Volkov. When in 1756 a regular theater in St. Petersburg was founded Sumarokov was appointed its director. He remained for a long time, the main author of the plays performed there, and is therefore referred to often as the "father of Russian theater ." On Chorew followed by eight tragedies, comedies twelve and three opera libretti.
In parallel, Sumarokov, which was characterized by a highly productive working methods developed in other fields of literature. After several years an active member of the academic journal " Monthly seals " was, in 1759 he founded his own and the nation's first private journal called " Sticky Fingers " that had a satirical and didactic content. Between 1762 and 1769 he published fables, 1769-1774 poems.
Despite its proximity to the imperial court, the patronage of senior officials and well-known worldwide, is Sumarokov complained often about the lack of appreciation, censorship and poor education of the public. In 1761 he lost his position at the court theater in 1769 and moved to Moscow. At the court forgotten, impoverished and run down, he died on October 12, 1777 and was buried in the cemetery of the Donskoi Monastery.
Work
The work Sumarokows developed as part of the classicism in the form that had this thought in France in the late 17th and early 18th century. Contemporaries referred Sumarokov therefore often than Russian or Russian Molière Jean de La Fontaine. The literary activity Sumarokows was extremely varied and included all genres: philosophical, spiritual and triumphal odes, elegies, songs, epigrams, satirical works, etc. He used diverse techniques of poetry and experimented with rhyme and stanza structures.
Sumarokov differed from Lomonosov, however, by his pursuit of a less " charged " topic. He brought motives personal, sometimes even intimate nature in his work. Sumarokov created a large number of lyrical works in the genre of love songs, wrote comedies and satires. As he himself wrote, he saw his task as " to correct the morals " by peaks against officials, landowners and other groups. He held Lomonosov for a semiofficial poet and distanced himself from him.