Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev's mother and Sheremetev. Count Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev: biography. Period of royal favors

In fact, in the life of the count, marriage and ownership of estates are not the most important thing. Or maybe not the most interesting thing.

On a dim November day in 1796, a government courier from St. Petersburg on lathered horses raced from the Tverskaya Zastava to the Kremlin. And whispers and rumors spread across Moscow:

– Do you already know? Mother Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna suffered an apoplexy.

- How! How! How! You probably know this?

- Oh yeah. I will say more. Under the new sovereign, Pavel Petrovich, Count Nikolai Sheremetev came into great power. Ours, Moscow. Peter Borisovich's son.

The rumors were confirmed.

Empress Catherine was still breathing when the heir, Tsarevich Pavel, settled down in the chambers of the Winter Palace and gave his first order:

- Tell Chief Marshal Baryatinsky to leave his service, go home, and not come to the palace at all.

Best of the day

Summoning the Chief Chamberlain Count Sheremetev, Pavel announced:

- You will correct the position of chief marshal.

The roots of this “changing of the guard” go back to the 18th century. Baryatinsky in 1762 participated in the deposition of Tsar Peter III, Paul's father. And Tsarevich Pavel was friends with Nikolka Sheremetev since childhood: they played together, studied, looked after their ladies-in-waiting. Once upon a time at a masquerade, young Grand Duke was dressed as a shah, and his friend Nikolka was dressed as a vizier. Strange are the ways of fate. Now the old children's game was acquiring the features of a sovereign reality. Paul became the emperor (as if the shah), and Nicholas became the chief marshal (as if the vizier), the first rank of the court, the manager of all court life.

Count Nikolai Petrovich was not pleased with this turn of fortune.

By nature he was a kind Moscow gentleman - a theatergoer, a hospitable person, a contemplator. I served, of course. What is it like in Russia without service? But he did not try to make a career and did not like the fuss of the courtier. Please participate every day in ceremonial exits, duties, celebrations, and liturgies. Mother Empress Catherine was strict about this. If you slip a little, say you’re sick, now you’ll have to pay a large fine: to the doctor for treatment, and to the priest for a prayer service for the health of the servant of God, Chamberlain Sheremetev.

And under my friend Pavel Petrovich, the court rules will probably be even stricter. Oh, I wish I could leave this cold Northern capital and run away to dear Moscow, to Kuskovo, to Ostankino. Wandering through the alleys of parks, inhaling the aromas of greenhouses, learning roles with actresses home theater. Decorate and nurture the domestic Versailles behind the Moscow outpost.

It is forbidden. Service.

The ancient Sheremetev family has stood at the royal throne for a century. Grandfather, Boris Petrovich, the first Russian field marshal. Favorite of Peter the Great. Hero of Poltava Victoria and many other battles. Once, having recaptured Riga from the Swedes, Boris Petrovich fell in love with a resident of Riga, the Lithuanian peasant woman Marta Skavronskaya, whom Peter I would later make empress. Doesn't our count have a hereditary penchant for peasant women? Is this the reason for his marriage to Parasha?

Nothing foreshadowed such a misalliance.

Nikolai Petrovich went through all the stages of noble upbringing - good manners, dancing, knowledge European languages. Of course – a trip to foreign lands: Holland, England, France. In Paris, he was presented to the future King Louis XVI and his august wife Marie Antoinette. They have fun and turn life into an eternal holiday. And they don’t know what’s ahead great revolution– a bloody executioner awaits both.

In the meantime, young Sheremetev is delighted with the Parisian theaters, with the magical kingdom of Corneille, Racine, Moliere. In the luggage of the Moscow nobleman there are countless Parisian plays, opera librettos, musical notations, sketches theatrical costumes and scenery designs.

In the theater chairs of Kuskov and Ostankin sat Catherine the Great, Paul I, the Polish King Poniatowski, a host of Moscow and St. Petersburg nobles, diplomats, and major dignitaries. Nikolai Petrovich “treated” him to his performances. His serf actresses, recruited from their ancestral villages, received real education and upbringing. The best European mentors taught them not only the performing arts, but also foreign languages, sciences, and secular manners.

Few aristocratic ladies who came to the Ostankino performance could compete in education with yesterday's Sharks and Malashkas who performed before them on stage.

On November 5, 1780, twelve-year-old Parasha Kovaleva-Zhemchugova performed for the first time main party V comic opera"The colony". Did thirty-year-old Sheremetev know that this was his fate? His happiness? Hardly. Parasha is the daughter of a hunchbacked blacksmith. Kindergarten. Actress. And again - strange, inscrutable are the ways of fate. One of Parasha’s roles is the soldier’s daughter Loretta in the opera of the same name by composer Demero. There, the opera count fell in love with an ordinary girl and offered her his hand and heart. An unpretentious, naive performance. But in life everything turned out exactly as it did on stage: the count fell in love with his peasant actress. The secret of this passion was kept long years- in Kuskovo, in Moscow, in St. Petersburg.

During the short reign of Paul I, Nikolai Petrovich was chained to the banks of the Neva. The necessary trips to Moscow and back are difficult for Parasha. The St. Petersburg climate accelerates her already fleeting consumption. In a letter to his sister, Varvara Petrovna Razumovskaya, the count complains: “Being constantly busy with my job, I have almost no time to think about own affairs. I’m extremely sorry that due to my poor health, which you know, I barely have the strength.”

And another letter to the estate manager:

“The main supervision is over musicians, dancers and other people. Children, Germans, Italians remain here in the house, who, in my absence, will have fun. Girls, actresses, dancers also remain here, for whom there is also supervision - so that there are no indiscretions. Be also obedient, don’t get drunk, don’t sing in other people’s churches.”

The assassination of Paul I in 1801 was difficult for Nikolai Petrovich. The count himself, of course, did not participate in the conspiracy - God forbid. But most likely he knew about the impending atrocity. All the St. Petersburg sparrows on the roofs were tweeting about him. Nikolai Petrovich, apparently, remained faithful not so much to Paul as to his own rule: to be on the sidelines, not to get involved in court intrigues.

The fifty-year-old count knew the new sovereign as a boy. Therefore, I felt freer with him. After the coronation, Alexander I leaves for St. Petersburg, and Nikolai Petrovich finally remains at home in Moscow.

He's getting married in a few weeks. No bell ringing. Quiet, mysterious. So that even Moscow mothers and brides did not know anything about the wedding of the richest groom in Russia.

Nikolai Petrovich prepared his wedding with Parasha ahead of time. Still, it’s not right for a count to marry a simple serf girl. He had long ago set his beloved free. And now - money is omnipotent - the count, in deep secrecy, is straightening out new papers for her. There is no more girl Parashka, no more theater actress Zhemchugova. There is a noble Polish noblewoman Paraskeva Kovalevskaya.

On November 6, 1801, wedding carriages stop at the church. But which church? The Sheremetev family tradition and Moscow legend say that this is the Church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya Street. And only recently was an entry found in the church book of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which once stood on Sapozhkovskaya Square near the Trinity Gate of the Kremlin. There the sacrament of this marriage took place.

The happiness turned out to be short-lived.

Just a year and a half later in St. Petersburg, Parasha will die in childbirth, leaving Nikolai Petrovich with a son, Dmitry. The Sheremetev Palace on the Fontanka was dressed in deep mourning. IN next century Palace resident Anna Akhmatova will write about this:

What are you muttering, our midnight?

Parasha died anyway,

The young mistress of the palace.

It smells like incense from all the windows,

The most beloved curl has been cut off,

And the oval of the face darkens.

Nikolai Petrovich's widowhood was difficult and painful. I neglected my service. He avoided amusements. Didn't go to the court. Everything reminded him of years of happiness - so complete and so short. Parasha’s clear voice sounded to him in empty halls and abandoned stages. And I kept dreaming about Moscow, the walls of the Hospice House in the scaffolding.

Long ago, back in 1792, Nikolai Petrovich began to build an almshouse near the Moscow Sukharev Tower. The place was called Cherkasy vegetable gardens and once belonged to the count's mother. The construction of the shelter was undertaken by the architect Elevzoy Nazarov, one of the Sheremetev serfs. And the great architect Giacomo Quarenghi completed the project. Under his brilliant pencil, a marvelous church rotunda, a high white colonnade, and the confident span of the palace wings were born.

Outside is a palace; inside is a refuge for the sick, homeless, and crippled.

In it, in the Hospice House, the Count now saw the meaning and justification of his entire life. He put a huge amount of capital into the maintenance of the almshouse - 500 thousand rubles. Yes, he bequeathed to her “for eternity” the village of Molodoy Tud with villages in the Tver province - eight thousand souls. From those funds it was necessary to feed and care for those in need, help families in trouble, and give dowries to poor brides. The dowry was awarded until February 23, the anniversary of the death of Countess Praskovya Ivanovna.

Then, already beyond the earthly life of the count, the wounded will be treated in the Hospice House - the heroes of 1812, the battles on Shipka and Plevna, the defenders of Port Arthur.

“An old man with a small white beard, who served in the modest position of guitarist in Art Theater, was one of the richest people Moscow - the owner of several dozen huge houses in the city center... The Maly Theater calmly survived numerous storms Soviet era Louise Fedorovna Alexandrova is a former lady of state under Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and former sympathy of Emperor Nicholas II. After her close relationship with the emperor became clear, she had to leave St. Petersburg and move to Moscow. Here Louise Feodorovna entered the Maly Theater as an actress for minor roles, and this saved her life. In the same Maly Theater, a certain Vladimir Aleksandrovich Shramchenko served as assistant to the head of the assembly department. Before the revolution, he was an official of special assignments under the Moscow Governor-General with the rank of State Councilor and was in charge of the department of foreign passports in the Moscow branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev

“He spent his childhood in the Sheremetev Palace in St. Petersburg. He did not study at the gymnasium; the best teachers in Russia visited him at home. The famous Russian poet Gumilev, who was shot by the Bolsheviks in 1921, taught him the Assyrian language. His father was a great music lover and even had his own orchestra. When Nikolasha was seven years old, they began to teach him to play the violin. I must say that the family museum of Counts Sheremetev had a magnificent collection vintage instruments, one of which - an excellent Amati violin - was presented to the boy. This violin survived the years of revolution and the years of destruction of old Russia, without parting with its owner, and now sounded happily in our orchestra. By luck (which is so common in stormy times) historical years), almost the entire Sheremetev family survived the revolution, with the exception of Nikolai Petrovich’s two older brothers, who died during the famous Ice Campaign of the white general Kornilov in southern Russia.”

Cecilia Mansurova

Cecilia Lvovna was married, and besides, 7 years older than Nikolai, she was considered the prima of the theater, and he was a modest violinist, but the young man’s persistence did its job, and she began to reciprocate the admirer. In 1924, the entire Sheremetev family managed to obtain permission to travel abroad - to Paris. Nikolai Petrovich also received a foreign passport, but at the very last moment... tore it up. The Sheremetev family went abroad, and Mansurova separated from her first husband and married the young Count Sheremetev.

However, only in fairy tales at this moment is it said that “they lived happily ever after.” Over the following years, the OGPU arrested Nikolai Petrovich ten times. And he never spent more than ten days in prison. His loving wife turned to her patrons for help and the count was released from the Lubyanka cellars. Arrests were repeated and repeated, but Cecilia Lvovna’s connections were stronger and Nikolai Petrovich continued to play the violin in the theater.

“When passportization took place in Moscow, Nikolai Petrovich, of course, went to get a passport. In the district passport department, where he came along with other Vakhtangovites, there was a young policeman. Having checked the list and found Sheremetev’s name among those to whom a passport was to be issued, the policeman doubted for a moment and, suspecting a mistake, asked:

“Wouldn’t you, citizen, be a relative of the Sheremetev counts?”

“I am Count Sheremetev himself,” answered Nikolai Petrovich.

The policeman was taken aback for a minute, then he jumped up and rushed to the office of the head of the passport department. After quite some time he returned back. His red face expressed an extreme degree of excitement. He was excitedly saying something to his workmates - the other policemen who were in the room. They all stood up from their tables, walked up to the barrier separating them from the visitors, and stared at the real living Count Sheremetev. There was absolute silence for several seconds. Then the proletarian heart of the passport official could not stand it.

“Take, take your passport, you lordly brat,” he hissed, turning purple and throwing the passport at Sheremetev’s feet. He added the strongest of all curses existing in the Russian language.”

“Remembering now all his behavior, his manner of treating people and talking, even his character, I could not say anything definite about them. I have never in my life met people who were so changeable, so many-sided, like him - Count Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev. Sometimes he could be simple-minded, even rude, with all his manners, conversation and even his suit reminiscent of a simple worker. By the way, our stagehands loved him extremely, and he was friends with many of them. Sometimes he gave the impression of a modest, silent and insignificant person. Sometimes he was brilliant and elegant, standing out even among our most brilliant young actors.

When the theater received guests from abroad - writers, artists, directors from France, England, Germany and other countries - Sheremetev was always allowed to go ahead, since he was the only one of us who spoke all the main languages ​​of the world fluently. And looking at him, when he - calm and relaxed, in an excellently tailored black suit - told the chief director of the Parisian Comedie Française in impeccable French about Vakhtangov and the history of his theater, it was difficult to believe that it was the same Nikolasha, who yesterday, in shabby trousers and a greasy black shirt, was discussing plans for a future hunting trip in the work “smoking room” with his fellow workers. He loved hunting, tennis and vodka very much. He drank a lot, but didn't get drunk. Except that when he had already drunk a lot, he became more talkative than usual. These were the only moments when you could hear from him something from his past, and even then not much.”

“We children adored him. When he came out of the entrance with his two cheerful red setters, we ran to him from all over the yard. Before our eyes, Uncle Colin’s thumb separated from his hand, described a circle in the air, and then grew back; the swallowed ball miraculously ended up in Mishka Rapoport’s pocket or Anya Goryunova’s ear.

Everyone loved him, too. He was handsome, elegant, knew etiquette well, and spoke several languages ​​fluently. And at the same time, he was simple, responsive and accessible, like a true aristocrat. When foreign guests came to the theater, Nikolai Petrovich was allowed to go forward. The theater was proud of its representative. And at the same time he teased him a little. I accumulated anecdotal stories about the count’s clashes with Soviet reality - like the incident in the police or, for example, in a kerosene shop, when the seller besieged him:

You'll have to wait! Not Count Sheremetev!

In the thirties, the theater received the former hunting lodge of the Sheremetevs in Plyoskov as a holiday home. Service staff, recruited from the count's old servants, and the residents of the surrounding villages remembered “Nikolasha” as a child, and when he first came on vacation with his wife, a commotion began among the locals. The cook prepared “their lordships” separately and served it himself. The peasants appeared with gifts and bowed from the waist. Tsilyusha, like a true countess, went out onto the balcony and accepted greetings and gifts. The resting actors enjoyed the situation and made sophisticated jokes.”

Based on materials from Yuri Elagin’s book “Taming Art” and

Patron of the arts, founder of the Hospice House in Moscow, count, senator, chief chamberlain of the court.

Origin and service.

The future patron of the arts was born into the noble family of Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev and Varvara Alekseevna, née Princess Cherkassy. He was enrolled in the Preobrazhensky Regiment as an infant and, with the rank of lieutenant, in 1768 he transferred to the court service as a chamber cadet. He received an excellent education at home and continued it with a four-year trip abroad: in 1771-1772 he traveled and visited theaters in England, Holland, Switzerland, studied at Leiden University in Holland, and studied cello in France. During the reign of Empress Catherine II, he was director of the Moscow Noble Bank for ten years. And in 1784 he was elected leader of the Moscow district nobility. Received the rank of senator in 1786. On June 28, 1794, Count Sheremetev was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. Paul I, who ascended the throne, made Count Nikolai Sheremetev commander of the Order of Malta in 1797 and chief chamberlain in 1798 and appointed director of theatrical performances.

Retirement and wedding.

In 1800, Count Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev retired and on November 6, 1801, got married in the Church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya, to his former serf Praskovya Ivanovna Kovaleva (theatrical pseudonym of Zhemchugov), the leading actress of his theater. Young Praskovya Kovaleva (June 20, 1768, Kuskovo, Russia - February 23, 1803, St. Petersburg, Russia), the daughter of a village blacksmith, lived in the count's house from the age of 8, where she received musical and acting education, learned French and Italian. Her debut took place in Grétry’s opera “The Experience of Friendship” and at the same time the Count chose a theatrical pseudonym for her - Zhemchugova. She received her freedom in 1798. After 3 years, all her relatives were also released, and her father was registered as a Moscow merchant of the third guild. The couple had a son, Dmitry, on February 3, 1803 - his mother died of tuberculosis 3 weeks after giving birth.

Charity.

After the death of his wife, Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev, fulfilling the will of the deceased, devoted his life to charity. According to Praskovya Ivanovna’s will, he donated part of the capital to help poor brides and artisans, and also began construction of the Hospice House in Moscow, which was opened after the death of its founder, in 1810. In 1923, the Hospice House became the Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. Sklifosovsky, later the Medical Museum research center.

By decree of April 25, 1803, Emperor Alexander I ordered that Count Nikolai Petrovich be given general meeting Senate gold medal with an image of his portrait on one side, and on the other the inscription: “as a pledge of universal gratitude to such an elegant deed and so that his memory is preserved and unforgettable in posterity,” and, in addition, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 1st degree.

In addition, Sheremetev’s funds were used to build a theater and palace complex in Ostankino, theater buildings in Kuskovo and Markovo, houses in Pavlovsk and Gatchina, the Champetre manor and the Fountain House in St. Petersburg. No less important is the role of Sheremetev in the construction of temples: the Church of the Sign of the Mother of God in the Novospassky Monastery, the Trinity Church at the Hospice House, the Demetrius Cathedral of the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery in Rostov the Great and others.

Count Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev died on January 2, 1809 and was buried in St. Petersburg in the family tomb of Counts Sheremetev in the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Senator. The son of Field Marshal General, Count Boris Petrovich Sheremetev and his second wife Anna Petrovna Naryshkina (née Saltykova), Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev was born on February 26, 1713, in Priluki. Godfather his was Hetman Skoropadsky. Great Peter honored his beloved comrade-in-arms by enrolling his newborn son as Lieutenant-Guards. in the Preobrazhensky Regiment as an ensign.

Count P.B. Sheremetev was a childhood friend of Emperor Peter II, with whom he grew up and studied.

On November 30, 1726, Empress Catherine I promoted thirteen-year-old P. Sheremetev to second lieutenant of the guard, and Peter II granted him, on the next day of his coronation, to lieutenant on February 25, 1728 and to captain-lieutenant of the same life guard on December 17, 1729 Preobrazhensky Regiment. Count Pyotr Borisovich did not get along with the temporary worker, Prince Ivan Alekseevich Dolgoruky, and therefore kept himself far from the court and, as much as he could, opposed the marriage of his sister, Countess Natalia Borisovna, with the tsar’s favorite, but this marriage took place.

While in active service in the regiment, Count Sheremetev was promoted to captain by Empress Anna Ioannovna on January 30, 1738.

Back in 1732, the Empress’s own niece, Princess Elizabeth-Catherine-Christina of Mecklenburg, arrived in Russia, baptized into Orthodoxy with the name Anna Leopoldovna. When her marriage to Prince Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg was decided, Empress Anna Ioannovna arranged for her a special court staff and on March 30, 1739, appointed, among other things, chamberlains of the princess’s room of the Lieutenant-Guards. Captain Count P. Sheremetev.

During the regency of Princess Anna Leopoldovna, on January 1, 1741, he was granted full chamberlain of the Imperial Court, with a salary of 1,500 rubles. in year.

Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who ascended the Russian throne on November 25, 1741, by decree of January 25, 1742, ordered Count P. Sheremetev to continue to be the actual chamberlain of the Imperial Court.

Upon the arrival, on February 5, 1742, in St. Petersburg of her own nephew, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein Karl-Peter-Ulrich, summoned by the Empress, who was chosen by her as heir to the Russian throne, the Duke, bestowing on some courtiers the Holstein Order of St. Anne, April 25, 1742 year, on the day of the Holy Coronation of Empress Elizabeth, he gave it to the actual chamberlain, Count P. B. Sheremetev.

On July 15, 1744, on the day of the solemn celebration of peace with the Swedish crown, Count Sheremetev was awarded the Order of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. On September 5, 1754, the actual chamberlain Count P. Sheremetev was promoted to lieutenant general, retaining the court rank. In 1758, he was allowed to wear the Order of the White Eagle given to him by the King of Poland, and on August 30, 1760, he was granted full general and adjutant general of Her Imperial Majesty.

Upon the death, on December 25, 1761, of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, Emperor Peter III, who ascended the throne, bestowed on December 25, General-Chief Count P. B. Sheremetev the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, and on the next day, on the 28th of the same December, he appointed his Chief Chamberlain of the Imperial Court. On the day of the accession of Empress Catherine II 28 June 1762of the year, The following decree was promulgated to the Governing Senate: “Gentlemen Senators! I am now going out with an army to confirm and reassure the Throne. I leave you, as my supreme government, with full power of attorney for the custody of the fatherland, people and my son to Count Skavronsky and Count Sheremetev, General -Chief Corfu and Lieutenant Colonel Ushakov, to be present with you, and for them, as well as for the actual Privy Councilor Neplyuev, to live in the palace with My Son.”

Before departing for Moscow for the Holy Coronation, Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna personally scheduled July 19, 1762. a list of senators who were supposed to stay in St. Petersburg and be present in the Senate office, as well as those appointed to accompany the Empress to the ancient capital. Count Pyotr Borisovich was placed among the latter and participated in all coronation celebrations in Moscow. On April 4, 1763, Count P.B. Sheremetev was dismissed, according to his wishes, on an annual leave.

Upon the division of the Governing Senate into departments, Count Sheremetev on January 23, 1764 was appointed to attend the 4th department of the Senate.

Due to the supposed opening in 1767, in Moscow, of a commission for drawing up a new code, from deputies from all institutions, classes and populations of Russia, on January 19, 1767, Count P. B. Sheremetev was elected as an attorney to select the head and deputy from the city of S. -Petersburg.

Participating in the meetings of the said commission, Count Pyotr Borisovich expressed his full readiness to free his peasants from serfdom.

Since 1743, Count Pyotr Borisovich was married to the daughter of the Grand Chancellor Prince Alexei Mikhailovich Cherkassky, Princess Varvara Alekseevna, whose fading health forced the couple to turn to the Monarchine on October 2, 1767 with an all-submissive petition for approval of their proposed division of some estates between their son, Count Nicholas, and daughters Anna and Varvara. The plan for such a division received the handwritten confirmation of Empress Catherine on October 22, 1767.

At the same time, Countess Varvara Alekseevna died, the loss of which, after 24 years of peaceful and harmonious marriage, had a grave effect on Count Pyotr Borisovich, who was even more defeated by fate in next year the death of his beloved daughter, Countess Anna (d. May 27, 1768), ex-fiancée a friend of his father, Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin. This family grief forced Count Pyotr Borisovich to ask the Empress for complete removal from all affairs and responsibilities.

Following such a petition, Empress Catherine signed the following decree of Rights on July 29, 1768. To the Senate: “The General-in-Chief, Chief Chamberlain of Our Court and Senator Count Sheremetev most humbly asked Us to dismiss him from all military and civil affairs. Throughout his long service to Our ancestors and to Us, We have always been pleased with his loyalty and zeal, We are most mercifully lenient to his request and dismiss him forever from Our military and civil service.”

In 1776, Count Sheremetev was elected to the leadership of the Ulan Moscow corps of courtyard and city people, and in 1780 he was elected to the Moscow provincial leaders of the nobility.

Having inherited from his father a huge fortune (more than 60 thousand peasant souls), which almost doubled with his marriage to the no less rich Princess of Cherkassy, ​​Count Pyotr Borisovich owned 140 thousand peasant souls in different provinces.

This wide wealth made it possible for him to live luxuriously and openly, gathering to himself both in St. Petersburg and Moscow all the highest Russian society and organize magnificent festivities for the Empress, who often honored him with her visits, as well as for other eminent persons of Europe, who from time to time appeared in Russia for a meeting or rapprochement with the court of Great Catherine.

Living mainly in Moscow, and in his luxurious palaces and dachas in the vicinity of the capital, where crowded meetings were mainly held, Count Pyotr Borisovich surprised not only his compatriots, but also all foreigners with his elegant life and the most varied, luxuriously furnished entertainments. In Kuskovo, where - according to the testimony of N. M. Karamzin - the hero-companion of the Great Peter, Count Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, once rested on his laurels, there his hospitable son subsequently treated the Roman Emperor Joseph, who traveled under the name of Count Falkenstein, and the Empress Catherine, who invariably favored him. This is how he describes it French ambassador Count Segur is one of the holidays organized for the Empress in 1787 by Count P. B. Sheremetev.

- “Although I am a small hunter of entertainment, I cannot keep silent about the celebration that took place in the Moscow region of Count Sheremetev, who treated Empress Catherine there. The entire road from the city to Kuskov was illuminated in the most magnificent way. The Count’s extensive garden and menagerie, decorated with great taste a large opera was presented in a beautifully built theater; not knowing the Russian language, I could only judge the music and ballet; the ballet amazed me with its pleasant harmony; , the beauty, the art of the dancers and the lightness of the men. Most of all, it seemed incomprehensible to me that the poet and musician who composed the opera, the architect who erected the theater, the painter who decorated it, the singers, actors and actresses, dancers and ballerinas in the ballet, the musicians who composed the orchestra - everyone. , without exception, were serfs of Count Sheremetev, who carefully took care of the upbringing and training of everyone, in accordance with their natural talents and inclinations. The same sumptuous luxury appeared at the dinner that was taking place; I have never seen such a huge amount of all kinds of gold and silver vessels, porcelain, alabaster and porphyry in private possession, which abounded in the count’s dining rooms. But the most amazing thing was that all this countless number of crystal dishes, covering the table at which about a hundred people were sitting, was decorated with expensive, genuine precious stones of various colors and types embedded in each thing.”

Staying outside of any official activities, Count P.B. Sheremetev died on November 30, 1787 and was buried in the Nevsky Lavra.

Having learned about the death of Count P.B. Sheremetev, the Empress expressed herself: “I am very, very sorry for him; he was very attached to me.”

According to contemporaries, Count P.B. Sheremetev was always distinguished by his charity. Every day an indefinite number of acquaintances and friends came to his table, but mostly poor employees and retired officials who, in addition, received a pension from him. On Christmas, New Year, Easter Sunday and other holidays, gifts were sent to friends, and to the poor - relief in money and provisions. In the summer the count lived in Kuskovo. Every Sunday half of Moscow went there, and, not to mention the count’s guests, the visitors treated themselves to tea, rolls and other things in the Japanese house and other gazebos, and to the common people wine and beer were brought from the hospitable host.

Sources: 1. The highest decrees of the Senate Archive, book. 102, l. 45; book 106, l. 43-46; book 109, l. 70; 2. Russian Armorial, vol. II, No. 10; 3. Ross. Genealogical Book of Prince Dolgorukov, vol. III, pp. 494-502; 4. Bantysh-Kamensky - Dictionary of memorable people of Russia, ed. Shiryaeva, 1836, vol. V, p. 318; 5. His - Lists of gentlemen, pp. 108, 197, 290; 6. Weidemeyer - Wonderful people V Russia XVIII centuries, part II, p. 44; 7. Notes of V. A. Nashchokin, ed. 1842, p. V; 8. Diary of A.V. Khrapovitsky, ed. N.P. Barsukov in 1874, p. 605; 9. Sheremetev family, members. A. P. Barsukov, ed. 1881, vol. I, pp. 1-14; 10. Collection of Imperial Russian Historical Society, vol. IV, p. 13; vol. VII, pp. 101, 150-151, 340; 11. Cases of the Moscow Archive of the Ministry of Justice; 12. Russian Antiquity, 1870, vol. II, p. 489.

P. I. Baranov.

(Polovtsov)

Sheremetev, Count Pyotr Borisovich

son of a field marshal, full. general, chief chamberlain under Peter III and Catherine II, senator; R. 26 Feb. 1713, † 1788 November 30.

(Polovtsov)

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- (1713 1788), count, general chief (1760), chief chamberlain (1761). Son of B.P. Sheremetev. Since 1780, Moscow provincial leader of the nobility. Owner of the Kuskovo and Ostankino estates. He created a ballet and painting school, and a serf theater. * * * SHEREMETEV... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1713 88) count, general chief (1760), chief chamberlain (1761). Son of B.P. Sheremetev. Since 1780, Moscow provincial leader of the nobility. Owner of the Kuskovo and Ostankino estates. He created a ballet and painting school, a serf theater... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (born in 1859) a lover and connoisseur of music. Also in mid-18th century V. Under Count Pyotr Borisovich, there was a choir of singers under the direction of composer Stepan Degterev. The church choir of his father Count D.N. Sheremetev, which was conducted by Lamakin ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev (1713 1788) count, general chief (1760), chief chamberlain, son of Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev. From childhood he grew up and was raised together with the future Emperor Peter II. He made a successful career that was not affected by... ... Wikipedia

Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev (1713 1788) count, general chief (1760), chief chamberlain, son of Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev. From childhood he grew up and was raised together with the future Emperor Peter II. He made a successful career that was not affected by... ... Wikipedia

SHEREMETEV- Alexander Dmitrievich, count, b. 1859, enlightened musical figure. Another ancestor of Sh., Pyotr Borisovich Sh., maintained in the 17th century. choir of singers under the direction of S. Degtereva (See); The church choir of Sha’s father, Dmitry N. Shva, was also very famous... ... Riemann's Dictionary of Music

Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Sheremetev. Boris Petrovich Sheremetev ... Wikipedia

Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Buturlin. Alexander Borisovich Buturlin ... Wikipedia

Alexander Borisovich Buturlin (July 18 (28), 1694 August 30 (September 10), 1767, Moscow) Russian military leader, count (1760), field marshal general (1756). Count A. B. Buturlin Son of the captain of the guard. In 1714 he was enlisted as a soldier in the guard, from 1716 to... ... Wikipedia

On July 9 (June 28, old style), 1751, Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev (Sheremetyev) was born - a representative of one of the most noble Russian families, the son of Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev, a highly educated courtier, favorite of Paul I, chief marshal of the highest court. He married the serf actress Praskovya Kovaleva-Zhemchugova, and in memory of her he built the Hospice House in Moscow (now the building of the N.V. Sklifosofsky Research Institute of Emergency Medicine). Entered the history of Russian culture as an extraordinary theatrical figure, patron of the arts, collector, musician, philanthropist and philanthropist.

Nikolai Sheremetev's father, Count Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev, was also famous for his love of art, music and theatrical productions. He had a large collection of paintings and art objects, his own home theater, which was also visited by royalty as spectators. Sheremetev Jr. was raised from childhood at the court of Catherine II, together with the future Emperor Paul I. Being a childhood playmate, he remained friends with the heir for life, and thanks to this, he subsequently had many privileges, but also suffered from the whims of this unbalanced man . Nikolai Sheremetev was one of the last to see Paul I alive on the eve of the murder (he shared his last dinner with him in the Mikhailovsky Castle) and subsequently sincerely grieved over his death.

Since childhood, young Sheremetev performed in his father’s home theater. At the age of 14, he performed the role of the god Hyminaeus, which had previously been performed by Tsarevich Pavel.

In 1769, the young Count Sheremetev went to get an education in one of the most prestigious educational institutions– Leiden University in Holland. In addition to his studies, he masters theater, stage, decorative and ballet arts, moves in the highest circles of European society, and gets acquainted with Mozart and Handel. Count Sheremetev was introduced to the courts of England, France and Prussia. Among his talents is also professional playing of musical instruments such as violin, cello, and piano. He knew how to read scores, conduct an orchestra, and in his youth dreamed of being a conductor.

Catherine II, as you know, did not favor people close to the heir Pavel Petrovich. Fearing a new palace coup, the empress sought to remove from the court those nobles whom Paul could trust and whose support he could count on in his desire to create opposition to the sovereign mother. Therefore, upon returning to Russia, Nikolai Sheremetev immediately received the position of director of the Moscow Bank and “settled” away from St. Petersburg - in provincial, patriarchal Moscow.

However, this did not upset the count at all. A faithful admirer of Melpomene, he immediately launched the construction of a new theater on his Kuskovo estate near Moscow. The extension to the Sheremetev house on Nikolskaya Street, where Pyotr Borisovich’s serf theater was previously located, turned out to be small for the grandiose plans of his heir. Initially, performances were given on two stages: on Nikolskaya and in Kuskovo, but soon Nikolai Petrovich completely moved to the estate. In Kuskovo he created a theater that none of the famous serf theaters of that time could compete with. The Sheremetev Theater was distinguished by correctly selected scenery, an excellent orchestra and, of course, actors. Nikolai Petrovich replenishes the troupe of serfs hastily recruited by his father with new “folk” talents. He sends his actors for training to artists from the Petrovsky Theater specially assigned for this purpose. Many actors undergo training in Moscow and St. Petersburg, receiving the most versatile education with the money of the gentleman-philanthropist: in addition to performing arts, vocal and music lessons, they study foreign languages, literature, poetry. Sheremetev himself creates his own theater orchestra, buys rich scenery, orders costumes, and invites the best musicians.

Kuskovo estate. Castle.

The new Kuskovsky Theater was officially opened in 1787 and enjoyed enormous popularity. All the nobility of Moscow came to his performances, and high-ranking spectators from St. Petersburg specially arrived for some performances. The owners of private theaters complained to the mayor that Count Sheremetev (already a rich man) was taking away their audience for his own amusement. But for Sheremetev the theater was not fun. The theatrical business gradually turned into the work of his whole life.

In addition to music and theater, Nikolai Petrovich was known as famous expert architecture. Over the course of two decades, a theater and palace complex in Ostankino, theater buildings in Kuskovo and Markovo, houses in Pavlovsk and Gatchina, the Champetre manor, the Fountain House in St. Petersburg and the Hospice House in Moscow were built with his funds. No less important is the role of Sheremetev in the construction of churches: the Church of the Sign of the Mother of God in the Novospassky Monastery, the Trinity Church at the Hospice House, the temple in the name of Dmitry of Rostov in Rostov the Great and others.

The Count’s ability to not chase after fashionable European architects and artists, but to discover talents in his serfs, is striking. Famous building The theater and palace complex in Ostankino was built by serf architects Count A. Mironov and P. Argunov according to the designs of Camporesi, Brenna and Starov.

The artist N. Argunov subsequently immortalized the memory of Sheremetev by painting portraits of himself and Praskovya Kovaleva (Zhemchugova). By the way, one of the Sheremetevs’ serf talents was violin maker I. A. Batov, whose instruments are rightfully compared to the works of such masters as Guarneri and Stradivari.

The palace in Ostankino was opened in the summer of 1795. The premiere took place on July 22. The heroic opera “The Capture of Ishmael” was prepared for the opening. Sheremetev's troupe becomes the best among serfs at that time, eclipsing even famous theater Count Vorontsov. The original layout of the Ostankino Theater hall made it possible to easily (literally within an hour) transform it into a ballroom. Today, the Ostankino Theater is the only theater in Russia that has preserved the stage technology of the 18th century - the stage, auditorium, make-up rooms and part of the engine room mechanisms. In terms of its acoustic qualities, it is the best hall Moscow.

In 1796, significant changes occurred in the biography of Count Sheremetev. His childhood friend, Paul I, ascends the throne. Nikolai Petrovich instantly becomes chief marshal and one of the most influential people in the country. They say that the first order of the newly-minted emperor was an order to urgently find and return to the court his confidant, Count Nikolai Sheremetyev. And I must say, Nikolai Petrovich was not pleased with this turn of fortune. By nature, he was a kind Moscow gentleman - a theatergoer, a hospitable person, a contemplator. He served, but did not try to make a career and did not like fuss as a courtier. And then he again turned into a toy in the hands of a wayward and eccentric autocrat, he found himself literally chained to the banks of the Neva, unable to do what he loved, come to Ostankino and Kuskovo, stage new performances, or personally control his troupe. Only in 1799 Sheremetev was appointed director imperial theaters, and then director of the Corps of Pages. Favors and honors rained down on the courtier as if from a cornucopia. For his many-sided activities at court, the count was awarded Russian and foreign orders more than once; he was granted titles, estates, and various privileges. But Nikolai Petrovich did not crave honors and glory from his sovereign. Paradoxically, the most ardent desire of the imperial favorite during these years was to arrange his personal and family life...

Count Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev glorified his name also known throughout the world love story, in which he acted as a handsome but unhappy prince. After all, the love of his life - serf actress Praskovya Kovaleva (on stage - Zhemchugova) - in all respects, was listed as a “Cinderella”...

She received the surname Zhemchugov at the whim of Nikolai Petrovich himself. Looking for precious talents among the crowds of serf children, the count preferred to name them accordingly: Granatova, Almazov, Biryuzova...

In fact, Praskovya was the daughter of a hunchbacked blacksmith - a “farrier”, and she came to the count’s theater at the age of seven, Parashka Kovaleva. The vocal girl was noticed by Sheremetev’s relative, Princess Marfa Mikhailovna Dolgorukaya, who took her as a pupil and gave the serf a good education. Parasha knew Italian and French languages, took singing lessons from the best masters, knew how to play the harp and harpsichord. Already at the age of 13, she shone on stage, performing the deeply touching role of Louise from Seden's drama The Runaway Soldier. From the age of 16, Kovaleva-Zhemchugova was deservedly considered the prima of the Sheremetev Theater, hypnotizing audiences with her soulful dramatic acting, unusual for such a young girl, and her flexible lyric-dramatic soprano. Zhemchugova easily transformed from a tragic heroine into a comedic talker, or into a young page - her slender, fragile figure allowed her to do this. And she always received a standing ovation. Count Sheremetev, as soon as he saw Praskovya on stage, fell madly in love with her.

Despite the protests of his relatives, Nikolai Petrovich made a vow: if he cannot marry his beloved, then he will not marry anyone. After his father’s death, he openly moved to a house specially built for Praskovya in Kuskovsky Park. Everyone knew about their relationship - in those days, landowners falling in love with young serfs did not surprise anyone. However, after his unexpected rise at court, Count Sheremetev had to change his “village” lifestyle. Together with Zhemchugova, he moved to the capital, and high society became agitated. Nikolai Petrovich was already 45 years old, he was single, and besides, he was fabulously rich and handsome. Many beauties of noble families burned with envy and hatred of the poor serf actress. After all, such a promising groom was leaving their hands! It was in Kuskovo that Praskovya Zhemchugova was elevated to Olympus - in prudent Petersburg, where connections and origin ruled the ball, the world spoke of her only as a courtyard girl.

The Count was terribly burdened by the awareness of guilt before his beloved. He more than once turned to Paul I with a request to allow, as an exception, an official marriage with Zhemchugova. The Emperor did not directly refuse Sheremetev, but looked at his favorite’s relationship with the actress as a strange eccentricity. He sincerely admired Praskovya’s performance on stage, but did not allow him to create a precedent by placing the actress, the daughter of a serf blacksmith, on a par with representatives of noble families.

The northern winds of St. Petersburg and constant travel from the capital to Moscow and back soon undermined the actress’s health. Praskovya caught a cold and lost her magnificent voice. In addition, her hereditary tuberculosis worsened. Having long ago received her freedom from the count, Zhemchugova lived in St. Petersburg as a simple kept woman - and the bitterness of this situation killed her.

Only after the death of Paul I did Count Nikolai Petrovich decide to use the trick of forging documents. He composes a legend about the origin of Praskovya Ivanovna Kovaleva from the family of Polish nobles Kovalevsky, who allegedly once lived on his estate Kuskovo. In 1801, fifty-year-old Count Sheremetev received from the young Emperor Alexander I a truly royal gift - a special edict that gave him the right to marry the Polish noblewoman Paraskeva Kovalevskaya. Perhaps there was some blackmail here: Count Sheremetev could not have been unaware of the impending conspiracy against Paul I, as well as the participation of the heir himself in it. Sheremetev did not participate in the conspiracy, but he did not warn Pavel about the danger that threatened him, although he was almost the last person to speak to him on the eve of the murder. Having actually betrayed his sovereign and benefactor, the chief marshal most likely counted on the gratitude of Alexander I. He soon received it.

The lovers secretly got married on November 8, 1801. According to the Sheremetev family legend, the ceremony took place in the Moscow Church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya Street. Only recently was a record of a wedding found in the church register of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which once stood on Sapozhkovskaya Square near the Trinity Gate of the Kremlin. There, most likely, the sacrament of this marriage took place.

Nikolai Petrovich did not tell anyone, not even his own brothers and sisters, that he was married. Despite imperial approval, Praskovya Sheremeteva would not have been accepted into high society- the title of actress was not at all better status a former serf, because at that time they even buried actors behind the cemetery fence.

In 1803, a son, Count Dmitry, was born into the Sheremetev family. Naturally, such an unforeseen turn stunned all the greedy relatives, who happily accepted the fact that Nikolai Petrovich would no longer leave behind a direct heir. “Our eldest relative is an excellent thing,” Anna Semenovna Sheremeteva, one of the contenders for Count Nikolai Petrovich’s considerable inheritance, angrily remarked in her memoirs.

With his marriage, Sheremetev finally secured for himself the title of madman, which he had been awarded for his entire life. But that didn't bother him anymore. Twenty days after the birth of her son, Praskovya Sheremeteva-Zhemchugova also died.

The count's life lost its meaning. In 1804, he finally dissolved his serf theater and became involved in charity work.

In memory of his wife, Sheremetev founded the Hospice House (almshouse) in Moscow (now the building of the Moscow Institute of Emergency Medicine named after N.V. Sklifosovsky).

The count began building the orphanage building back in 1792. The place near the Sukharev Tower was called Cherkasy Gardens and once belonged to his mother. The construction of the building was initially undertaken by the architect Elevzoy Nazarov, one of the Sheremetev serfs, a student of Bazhenov. But after the death of Praskovya Zhemchugova, the great architect Giacomo Quarenghi, a great admirer of the work of the late actress, completed the project. Under his brilliant pencil, a marvelous church rotunda, a high white colonnade, and the confident span of the palace wings were born. Outside is a palace; inside is a refuge for the sick, homeless, and crippled. The house consisted of a hospital for 50 “suffering from illnesses”, an almshouse for 100 “those in need” (50 men and 50 women) and a shelter for 25 orphan girls. A library with a reading room was also organized. In the side galleries there are chambers for the infirm, and at the top there is a special section for the poor who had no means of subsistence and lived here dependent on this house.

Having spent a huge capital on the construction of the building - more than one and a half million rubles, Sheremetev put another 500 thousand rubles for the maintenance of the almshouse and bequeathed to it “for eternity” the village of Molodoy Tud with villages in the Tver province - eight thousand souls. From these funds it was necessary to feed and care for those in need, help families in trouble, and give dowries to poor brides. The dowry was awarded every year - February 23, the day of the death of Countess Praskovya Ivanovna.

Then, already beyond the earthly life of the count, the wounded will be treated in the Hospice House - the heroes of 1812, the battles on Shipka and Plevna, the defenders of Port Arthur.

The building of Sheremetev's Hospice House is considered a masterpiece of Russian architecture, an excellent example of Russian classicism of the late 18th - 19th centuries. This is the only charitable institution in Russia that was built and maintained at the expense of one private individual.

Nikolai Petrovich survived his wife by only six years. He spent his last years in St. Petersburg, in his palace on the Fontanka (Fontanny House). Died on January 1, 1809. The count was buried next to his wife, in the Sheremetev tomb of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, in a simple plank coffin - Count Sheremetev bequeathed to distribute all the money allocated for the rich funeral of the highest persons to the poor.

“I had everything in life. Fame, wealth, luxury. But I did not find peace in any of this. Remember that life is fleeting, and only good deeds can we take with us beyond the doors of the coffin.”- it is said in his will to his son.

The son of Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev, Dmitry Nikolaevich, not only continued the traditions of patronage established by his father, but also developed them many times over. In his time, the saying “live on Sheremetev’s account” appeared among the people, since the count, being the trustee of the Hospice House, spent huge sums not only on it, but also on other institutions. At the expense of Count Sheremetev, Moscow churches, monasteries, gymnasiums, orphanages and, partly, St. Petersburg University existed. The count's help played a decisive role in the transformation of the Lazarus Church in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Throughout his life, Dmitry Nikolaevich provided financial support to artists, singers and musicians, often donating the halls of the Fountain House in St. Petersburg to the workshops of both famous and unknown painters.

The grandchildren of Nikolai Petrovich - the eldest son of Dmitry Nikolaevich Sergei and the youngest son Alexander - also became famous philanthropists. Sergei Dmitrievich Sheremetev was prominent statesman, collector and historian, and was also a member of many societies, including Russian society patronage of animals.

Count Alexander Dmitrievich Sheremetev (1859-1931) founded a private orchestra in 1882, with which he began giving public (public) symphony concerts in 1898. In 1908, he donated 20 thousand gold rubles to establish a scholarship to N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. On his initiative, memorial plaques to Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Mily Balakirev, Alexander Serov and Modest Mussorgsky were installed in St. Petersburg, and an all-Russian fundraiser was held for the monument to Tchaikovsky. Since 1910, public concerts of the Sheremetev Orchestra have become free. They were attended mainly by low-income audiences - those that later made up the audience of the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Opera and Ballet Theater. Kirov, MALEGOTA.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Sheremetev family still remained the richest in Russia, but 1917 happened. The youngest grandson of the famous philanthropist N.P. Sheremetev - Alexander Dmitrievich - ended up in Europe, where he decided to wait out the “time of troubles”, like many other Russian aristocrats. The wait dragged on; he never returned to Russia. Abroad, the representative of the richest Sheremetev family had nothing to live on. The grandson of a man whose wealth at one time exceeded that of the Emperor, ended his days in France in a shelter for poor Russian emigrants and was buried in a common grave, for lack of funds for a more dignified burial. Alas, this is how the glory of the world passes away!

The motto of the Sheremetev noble family was: “God preserves everything.” But today only archival documents make it possible to reconstruct the events of two centuries ago and pay tribute to people driven by noble ideas of enlightening society, helping the unfortunate and disadvantaged. Representatives of the count branch of the ancient Sheremetev family in highest degree there was an inherent need for selfless service to national culture - as a creation of good, noble deeds that compatriots and descendants will be proud of.