Kotzebue August von

August von Kotzebue is a German writer and publicist. The story of the fate of this very popular person at one time could well become an exciting plot for some dramatic production or fiction novel. "My fate was so extraordinary and amazing," Kotzebue wrote in his memoirs, "that it would present interest even as a story or a novel."

Biography

Born in Weimar, Kotzebue graduated from the University of Jena in 1781.

1781: Invitation to Russian service

Kotzebue received an invitation to Russian service as a secretary in one of the departments under the command of Engineer General F.V. Bauer. After his death in 1783, Kotzebue was sent to Revel "as an 8th class assessor in the Court of Court," and in 1785 he received the post of manager of the "Revel Provincial Magistrate." This position did not inspire much enthusiasm from Kotzebue. Therefore, he zealously sought all kinds of ways to get a more attractive place in the embassy services in Germany with the help of the patronage of various famous persons (among whom was, for example, G. R. Derzhavin) ^[1].

Kotzebue failed to fulfill his desired goal, and in 1795, having lost hope of a change in his professional fate, he retired and settled in his own estate near Narva. After two years, Kotzebue was invited to Vienna to the post of director of the court theater and "court drama writer." Soon, not loving administrative work and gravitating with it, he received at his own request a resignation from this kind of activity, but retained the desirable obligation of a "court drama writer" with permission to "live wherever he wishes."

1800: Arrest, exile to Kurgan and happy release

After living for some time in Weimar, Kotzebue in 1800 decided to make a trip with his wife, a Russian native to her homeland. They wanted to see their wife's relatives and two older sons brought up in St. Petersburg in the Cadet Corps. The family went to St. Petersburg, but an unforeseen thing happened at the border. Kotzebue, at the order of the emperor, as if dissatisfied with various liberal ideas of the writer and the "political agitator" who suspected him, was arrested and immediately exiled to Siberia, to the city of Kurgan, without any proceedings.

Kotzebue's exile in Siberia was certainly a ridiculous accident, fitting well into the style of Paul I's reign. Indeed, the writer, well-known by that time in Europe, was sent into exile directly from the border "without any investigation and trial," without explaining the reasons and without informing his family.

The link, for the playwright who survived the severe psychological shock, fortunately turned out to be short-lived. In essence, she was brought together to the months of the road, as they say, "back and forth." On June 18, 1800, he was taken to the city of Kurgan, and there he was already waited for the dispatch of liberation at the highest command.

As a result of a lucky accident, Kotzebue was forgiven, awarded a lifetime pension of 1200 rubles, an estate in Livonia, the rank of court adviser and the appointment of the director of the German Theater in St. Petersburg. Last, however, Kotzebue wanted the least. "A happy accident" turned out to be the playwright's own creation - a play "Peter III's Life Coachman" ("Der alte Leibkutscher Peters des Dritten," 1799). A play translated into Russian by young people then by the translator N. S. Krasnopolsky and presented to him in order to promote his own career (with dedication translation) to the sovereign, had an incredible action. The emperor really liked it, and as a result, Kotzebue turned out to be at large.

1813: Appointment as consul general to Königsberg

Upon accession to the throne of Alexander I, Kotzebue retired and returned to Germany with the intention of doing only literary activity. But for a number of reasons, he nevertheless returned to the Russian service, having received the rank of state adviser, and in 1813 he was appointed consul general to Königsberg, where he held this post until 1816.

1819: German student kills Kotzebue

Since 1817, by order of the emperor, Kotzebue began to supply information about the spiritual and political life of Germany, the authorities interested in such services. The sovereign instructed him to draw up "bulletins" about new ones that came out in Europe, writings in the fields of religion, morality, legislation, politics, military affairs, pedagogy, science and literature. One of his reports, which criticized the liberal direction in state rule (his views changed over the years), went to press, causing a wave of discontent from German youth. He began to be called a spy selling the fatherland. However, Kotzebue's reputation in public and literary circles because of his immoderate and unfair attacks on famous persons were compromised much earlier, during the publication period him of the journal Literary Weekly (Literarisches Wochenblatt). Then he did not spare adherents of the ideas of German patriotism, wrote about the dangers of freedom of the press and autonomy of universities, advocated the abolition of the liberal university charter, etc. As a result, a storm of indignation and hatred against the "Russian spy" arose in the student environment provoked Mannheim University student Karl Zand to extreme measures. March 23, 1819 he stabbed Kotzebue with a dagger. The playwright's death was a tragic accident, as his role as a "dangerous enemy of the homeland" was greatly exaggerated. Such is Kotzebue's briefly dramatic but largely adventurous biography.

Literary heritage

The writer left a huge literary legacy, a considerable part of which was occupied by plays that became very popular and bypassed many theater scenes in Europe. They also successfully went to Russian theaters, including the Hermitage. So, at the request of the emperor in January 1801, the French troupe played one of Kotzebue's best dramatic works, "Hatred of People and Repentance," at the premiere of which the author was present.

"You can imagine," Kotzebue recalled, "how much my heart was beating for the whole performance of 'Hate and Remorse'. The deep impression made by this song on the sovereign, I owe mainly to the beautiful, impeccable game of Mrs. Valville. Aufresne, an old man who had more than seventy years and enjoyed tremendous success in Germany, played the role of an old man. The sovereign was sitting near the orchestra itself, which amazed me very much. During the entire performance, a knight of the Order of Malta of St. John of Jerusalem stood behind his chair. "

Kotzebue's plays were staged at the German Theater, translated into Russian and published. It is no coincidence that in 1801, at the initiative of A.F. Malinovsky, the publication of collected works began in a Russian translation entitled: "The August von Kotzebue Theater, containing a complete collection of short stories, tragedies, comedies, dramas, operas and other theatrical works of this glorious writer." The case was not limited to this multi-volume publication, as others followed.

Operas were also written on the texts of Kotzebue's plays. Among them:

• Indian Family in England (opera by Giuseppe Sarti)
• "Grateful Son" to music by G. Gedike,
• "Ulenspiegel" is supposedly with music by Tepper de Ferguson.

Attitudes to Kotzebue's plays varied in different circles. Avid theater-goer S.P. Zhikharev, "full," according to him, mocking at the performance of the play "Confusion" at the German Theater in St. Petersburg, and, also deeply surviving the drama "Hatred of People and Repentance" with the brilliant actor A. S. Yakovlev in the role of Meinau, nevertheless, was not a great "hunter to the 'kotzebyatina'." The poet, Prince D.P. Gorchakov, christened the "Kotzebyatina" of the play. A.S. Pushkin considered Kotzebue's works an example of bad syllable and taste, and called them after Gorchakov nothing more than "kotzebyatina." And Kotzebue's personality provoked hostility from him. They fought against the "prosaic" and "cloying sensitivity" of Kotzebue's plays and German romantics. So, a sharp antipathy to the person Kotzebue and his creations permeated the work of F. Schlegel "Arc de Triomphe to the Theater President von Kotzebue" (1800).

At the same time, Kotzebue's plays were appreciated by I.V. Goethe. He referred to the most successful of them as "Relatives," "Reconciliation of Two Brothers," "Two Klingsbergs," where "the author managed to look at everyday life with a fresh eye, see its interesting aspects and, moreover, juicy and truthfully portray it." He considered Kotzebue, along with A. V. Iffland, a talented and popular author, appreciating in him the ability to "clearly distinguish genres," noting the "wealth of plots." However, the boundaries of Kotzebue's talent as a "second-line" writer were well known to Goethe. 'There's no denying that Kotzebue knew life well and looked at everything with his eyes open. Modern tragedies are by no means foolish nor devoid of known poetic abilities, but they are bypassed by the gift of an easy, lively image and strive for what surpasses their powers, why would I call them forced talents. "

Goethe, willingly accepting Kotzebue's plays on the stage of the Weimar Theater during his management, quite shared the hostility of romantics to him as a person. Many of his contemporaries had similar feelings for Kotzebue. "Exorbitant ambition, petty vanity, a tendency to ridicule, squabble and intrigue, illegibility in the means to achieve his goals - these features of his spiritual appearance explain to us the reasons for the antipathy of many of his contemporaries. "

Whatever the assessments of Kotzebue's personality and creativity, he, according to N.A. Polevoy, "guessed the secret of captivating his age." His touchingly sensitive plays and action-packed edifying comedies, reflecting the worldview of the era, significantly influenced the development of Russian theater of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries.

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