The love poems of this brilliant poet have repeatedly touched the thinnest strings of our soul. How much sincerity and feelings in his lyrics, how much experience and excitement! The tenderness of touch, the fleeting moments together - only Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, who turns 210 today, could describe love experiences in poetry so exquisitely and subtly. About the place occupied by women in Tyutchev's life, his son Fedor Fedorovich wrote: "Fyodor Ivanovich, all his life until last days fond of women, having among them almost fabulous success, he was never what we call a libertine, don Juan, ladies' man. Nothing like this. In his relations there was not even a shadow of any dirt, anything vile, unworthy. In his relations with women, he brought such a mass of poetry, such a subtle delicacy of feelings, such gentleness, that he looked more like a priest bowing to his idol than a happy owner. with whom fate brought Tyutchev together.The same attitude became the source of family tragedies and the unfulfillment of his many talents.

Tyutchev's first love

Poems with the mention of the word "love" appeared in Tyutchev at a relatively early age. But at the age of seventeen, the young man was still little versed in the subtleties of love experiences, which is why this word in his poems did not yet express those feelings that would take possession of him a little later: “Love of the earth and the charm of the year ...”, “Love of delight and spring!” , "The gift of grateful love ...", etc. Tyutchev's first poetic confession is addressed to Amalia Lerchenfeld, better known by the name Krudener. But before talking about specific and well-known recipients, I would like to make a small digression.

Everyone knows the lines: Well, as the first love, Russia's heart will not forget you! ..“Who the heart of Russia remembers, of course. But who is Tyutchev’s first love?

In these lines, the words "first love" hide the name of Katyusha Kruglikova, who at that time was twenty years old. Fedor and Katyusha lived in the estate Armenian lane, 11. Fedor - as the son of the owner of the estate, Katyusha - as a courtyard girl. The relationship between the lovers went far, and became one of the reasons why Fedor's mother procured permission for early graduation from the university. Katyusha was given freedom, and then provided with a dowry and married.

In 1822, Fedor was sent to St. Petersburg to serve in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs. In the summer of the same year, a relative of the Tyutchevs, Count A.I. Osterman-Tolstoy, took Fyodor to Munich, where he arranged for the Russian mission. 45 years later, Fyodor Tyutchev wrote: "Fate was pleased to arm itself with Tolstoy's last hand (A.I. Osterman-Tolstoy lost his hand in the Battle of Kulm) in order to resettle me in a foreign land." "In a foreign land" he spent twenty-two years.

"I remember the golden time..."

When, upon arrival in Munich, in 1823, Fyodor Tyutchev met Amalia, she had just received the right to be called Countess Lerchenfeld. Fifteen-year-old Amelie was so charming, and nineteen-year-old Theodore was so helpful and sweet, that a quivering love quickly arose between them. They wandered through the green streets of Munich, went into cozy cafes and art galleries. Sometimes they went out of town, to the hilly banks of the blue Danube. Later, in the mid-1830s, from the memories of joint walks, a poem dedicated to Amalia appeared "I remember the golden time":

You looked carelessly into the distance ...
The edge of the sky is smoky extinguished in the rays;
The day was fading; sang louder
River in the faded banks.

And you with carefree gaiety
Happy seeing off the day;
And sweet fleeting life
A shadow passed over us.
In the autumn of 1824, Theodore proposed to Amelie. The sixteen-year-old countess agreed, but... Amalia came from an old and wealthy family. Her mother was Princess Teresa Thurn-und-Taxis (1773-1839), sister of Queen Louise of Prussia. Father - Count Maximilian Lerchenfeld (1772-1809). The father died when the daughter was one year old, and since the child was illegitimate, then, at the request of the father, the baby, as an adopted daughter, was raised by the wife of Count Lerchenfeld. Some argue that Amalia's father was, in fact, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. This explains the strangeness of the story.

Queen Louise had a daughter, Charlotte, who became the wife of Nicholas I, and received the name Alexandra Feodorovna. Thus, Amalia von Lerchenfeld was a cousin, and, perhaps, a sister of the Russian Empress. Naturally, for Amalia's relatives, the young non-staff member of the mission, moreover, untitled and not rich, was not an attractive party. Theodore was refused. Such a turn of affairs deeply upset and even offended Tyutchev. According to family tradition, he even had a duel of honor, probably with one of Amalia's relatives, but, fortunately, everything ended well. On November 23, 1824, he writes a poem beginning with the words:

Your sweet gaze, full of innocent passion,
Golden dawn of your heavenly feelings
I couldn't, alas! appease them -
He serves them as a silent reproach.

In 1825 Amalia Lerhenfeld became the wife of his colleague Baron A.S. Krudener (1786-1852). Amalia was not enthusiastic about the forced marriage: Alexander Sergeevich was distinguished by a difficult character, on his part it was a marriage of convenience, moreover, he was twenty-two years older than his wife. But Amalia had her own characteristics. Firstly, the right to be called Countess Lerchenfeld had a limitation: she could not use the coat of arms and genealogy. It dampened the joy. Secondly, deprived of parental warmth in childhood, Amelie learned to take a sober look at what was happening and use her natural charm. "She wanted to reward herself for the marriage forced on her, and surrounded herself with a brilliant society in which she played a role and could command." Even in Munich, a secular lady appeared, and the "young fairy" remained in the memory of the poet. Fedor Ivanovich lamented: "My God, why did they turn her into a constellation! She was so good on this earth!" In St. Petersburg, where Baron Krüdener was appointed in 1836, the constellation shone in full force and turned into the constellation of the socialite. Her "radiant presence" fascinated, hovering around her "strange secret" attracted. Everyone paid attention to the regal turn of the head and posture. In addition, the baroness had a good voice, sang beautifully and played music. Admirers of Amalia Krudener were not only poets A.S. Pushkin, P.A. Vyazemsky (1792-1878). Among them was Emperor Nicholas I (1796-1855). Following him, his minister A.Kh. Benckendorff (1783-1844). There were other court admirers ...

Before Amalia left, Theodore asked her to convey some poems to his friend Prince I.S. Gagarin, who gave them to Pushkin. Twenty-four poems of the "Munich Cycle" were published in two issues of Sovremennik under the signature "F.T." So Amalia, to some extent, is Tyutchev's poetic godmother. However, it is sad when insurmountable obstacles stand in the way of lovers, but judging by how the family life of Tyutchev's wives developed, fate protected Amalia. She maintained friendly relations with Fedor for life, shone in the world and was surrounded by numerous and influential admirers. All this would hardly have been possible if Amalia had married Tyutchev.

Looking ahead, I will say that Amelie visited Tyutchev two months before his death. She knew the hopelessness of dear Theodore's condition and came to say goodbye. The next day, Tyutchev wrote to his daughter Darya: “Yesterday I experienced a moment of burning excitement as a result of my meeting with Countess Adlerberg, my good Amalia Krudener, who wished to see me for the last time in this world and came to say goodbye to me. In her face is the past of my best years came to give me a farewell kiss." It was the spring of 1873...

"Those days were so beautiful, we were so happy!"

Soon Fedor Ivanovich met the von Bothmer family, in which, according to contemporaries, the writer would find many intriguing topics for his future novels. The Bothmer were characterized by a constant thirst for adventure, a restless desire to change places, and an unstable mental state. Eleanor's brothers Max and Friedrich occupied a prominent position in Bavaria, the reveler Hippolyte went to India for happiness, Felix served in Russia.

It is difficult to remain indifferent, looking at the portrait of Emilie-Eleonora von Bothmer. But the portrait is not an exaggeration of a glamorous artist. Many considered Eleanor "infinitely charming." Few could resist the charms of the von Bothmer sisters. Tyutchev was not one of the persistent ones either.

The acquaintance took place in Munich at a difficult time for both. Tyutchev in February 1826 had just returned to the mission from an eight-month vacation, on which he was sent after an unsuccessful matchmaking with Amalia Lerchenfeld. Eleanor, who by this time had lost her husband, a Russian diplomat, former Chargé d'Affaires in Weimar Alexander Peterson, and left with four sons (Karl, Otton, Alexander and Alfred) in her arms, came to the inheritance mission. Tyutchev, on duty, was supposed to help her in this matter. The rapprochement took place rapidly: literally a month later, on March 5, 1826, they entered into a “secret marriage”: Eleanor was a Lutheran, which created certain difficulties. In March 1826, Eleanor and Theodore Marriage quickly ceased to be "secret" and caused bewilderment: why did the diplomat who shone in the world need to associate himself with a widow three years older than him and burdened with children from a previous marriage.

In fact, both Eleanor and Theodore needed this meeting. Eleanor, of course, had to arrange her life, and there was hope that Theodore, if not now, then in the future, would be able to provide for her family. With Theodore, the "pain of unclosed wounds" inflicted by the matchmaking on Amalia made itself felt. All his life Theodore needed not only female love, but also maternal care. Eleanor, who grew up in a family where, besides her, there were eleven more children, and she was the eldest, could combine these roles. Besides, Theodore knew how to charm when he wanted, and he wanted to. The near future showed that Eleanor was very passionate: her partially preserved letters present the first wife of the poet as a woman who loves, is sensitive, and idolizes her husband. Officially, the marriage was formalized at the beginning of 1829, and in April their first daughter, Anna, was born.

The turn of the 1820-1830s was the golden age. In 1846, Theodore told Anna: “If you had seen me fifteen months before your birth ... We then made a trip to Tyrol - your mother, Clotilde, my brother and I. How young everything was then, and fresh, and beautiful! The first years of your life, my daughter, which you hardly remember, were for me years filled with the most ardent feelings. I spent them with your mother and with Clotilde. Those days were so beautiful, we were so happy! "

Many years later, Fedor Tyutchev will meet Clotilde and remember this time. There is reason to believe that the poem "I met you and all the past ..." is dedicated to her.

The rapprochement of the 22-year-old Tyutchev with the 17-year-old Countess Clotilda took place in the spring of 1826 after the return of Fyodor Ivanovich from Russia, where he was on a long vacation (almost a year). Somehow Clotilde drew the attention of her Russian friend to one poem (in the collection "Tragedies with Lyrical Intermezzo"), which began with the line "Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam ...". The poems were permeated with a sense of longing for two separated lovers. This topic was taken to heart by the romantic girl. The name of the German poet was unknown to young people and could not be kept in their memory. Fyodor Ivanovich also liked it, and he translated the poem in a variegated verse, atypical in Russian poetry, and sent it to the Ateney magazine, without indicating the name of the original author. In 1828, the unusual versification of Tyutchev's text was noted in an article by D. Dubensky:

In the gloomy north, on a wild rock
The lonely cedar turns white under the snow,
And he fell asleep sweetly in the frosty mist,
And his blizzard cherishes his sleep.
He dreams about the young palm tree,
What is in the far reaches of the East,
Under a fiery sky, on a sultry hill
It stands and blooms, alone ...

So thanks to Clotilde, the first meeting of Fyodor Tyutchev with the work of Heinrich Heine took place. The poem "From the Alien Side", with this name it will enter Russian literature, became the first publication of Heine's poetry in Russian. Fyodor Ivanovich and Clotilde will meet the author of the poem that attracted attention in two years. Later on the poem "Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam ..." many Russian poets-translators will pay attention.

Clotilde understood the complexity of the position of her older sister and, most likely at the insistence of Eleanor, ... “conceded” Fyodor to her. Scheler's portrait of 1827 confirms that Eleanor, although she was three years older than Tyutchev, retained a sweet femininity. The somewhat infantile Fyodor, accustomed to maternal care, still needed it and willingly accepted the cares of the widow...

I met you - and all the past
In the obsolete heart came to life;
I remembered the golden time -
And my heart felt so warm...

Like late autumn sometimes
There are days, there are hours
When it suddenly blows in the spring
And something stirs in us -

So, all covered with spirit
Those years of spiritual fullness,
With a long forgotten rapture
Looking at cute features...

As after centuries of separation,
I look at you as if in a dream -
And now - the sounds became more audible,
Not silenced in me...

There's not just one memory
Then life spoke again -
And the same charm in us,
And the same love in my soul! ..

The living room of the Tyutchevs, which has become one of the most attractive corners of Munich, is also evidenced by a letter from G. Heine, who at that time became close to the family of Fyodor Ivanovich, to one of his friends on April 9, 1828: “ Do you know the daughters of the Earl of Bothmer? One, no longer very young, but infinitely charming, secretly married to a young Russian diplomat and my best friend Tyutchev, and her very young beautiful sister - these are the two ladies with whom I am in the most pleasant and best relations. Both of them, my friend Tyutchev and I, we often dine partie carrée(Foursome (French)), and in the evenings, when I meet a few more beauties, I chat to my heart's content, especially about ghost stories. Yes, in the great desert of life I can find some beautiful oasis everywhere.».

The idyll did not last long. In 1834, Fedor began an affair with Ernestine Dernberg, a woman of remarkable appearance, well educated and, moreover, rich. What made her single out Tyutchev from the crowd of fans, a man who did not make a career at the age of 30, untitled, in addition burdened with family and debts? Theodore knew how to charm. His subtle, witty judgments, secular manners, brilliant education did not leave anyone indifferent. Conversation with him was a cascade of verbal creativity. Most likely they were introduced by Karl Pfeffel, Ernestine's brother and a close acquaintance of Theodore, captivated by the wit and surprise of Tyutchev's judgments, writing about this to his sister, which inspired interest in her soul.

Ernestine arrived in Munich in the winter of 1833 with her husband Baron Friedrich von Dernberg (1796-1833). Here, at one of the balls, Karl introduced them to his acquaintance, the Russian diplomat Teodor Tyutchev. Whether it was at the same ball or at one of the ensuing ones, Ernestine's husband did not feel well and, leaving home, turned to Theodore, who happened to be nearby: "I entrust my wife to you." Subsequent events showed that fate was pleased to pass its sentence in the form of ordinary secular courtesy. The "malaise" turned out to be serious. Baron Friedrich von Dernberg died a few days later.

Karl soon discovered that Ernestine and Theodore's relationship was becoming more tender than it should have been. He had repeatedly visited Theodore's family, enjoyed the favor of his wife Eleanor, and understood the ambiguity of the situation in which he had fallen.

Eleanor, on the other hand, made desperate attempts to save her family: she ran the household, raised children, took care of Theodore himself, who demanded attention no less than a child. The "careless" Theodore himself did not overshadow his existence with the question of where the money comes from. He, like a wayward child, did only what aroused his interest. Due to the careless attitude to the service, the career stood still. Moreover, his passion for traveling around Europe for various meetings and attending lectures required additional and considerable expenses. It so happened that Theodore's family was largely supported by his parents, for whom the son's marriage to a widow with three children was, to put it mildly, unexpected. Moreover, unpleasant requests for help fell on the shoulders of Eleanor, who at that time had not even been presented to her parents. Disagreement with her husband, lack of money (in order to save money, Eleanor altered old things, secretly from her acquaintances went shopping to the outskirts of the city, where prices were lower), endless worries about children and the house led to the fact that at the very beginning of May 1836 she tried commit suicide by stabbing himself in the chest with a masquerade knife. She was rescued by accident.

Eleanor wrote to her husband's brother Nikolai: " I don't mind taking him for a walk, he seems to be doing stupid things or something like that. Idleness is a tricky thing. ... Theodore frivolously allows himself small secular intrigues, which, no matter how innocent they may be, can become unpleasantly complicated. I'm not jealous, and I don't seem to have any reason to be, but I'm worried when I see him go crazy; with such behavior, a person can easily stumble".

Envoy Prince G.I. Gagarin wrote to St. Petersburg, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count K.V. Nesselrode: " With very remarkable abilities, with an outstanding and highly enlightened mind, Mr. Tyutchev is now unable to fulfill the duties of secretary of the mission due to the perniciously false position in which he has been placed by his fatal marriage. In the name of Christian mercy, I beg Your Excellency to get him out of here..."

Theodore was "extracted" to Petersburg. It would seem that the end of the novel has come. However, fate was not so favorable to the participants " love triangle". It was only the end of the chapter.

The novel continued after Theodore's appointment in August 1837 as senior secretary at the mission in Turin. Eleanor was supposed to come to him next spring, but for now the lovers met in Germany and Italy. Of course, Italy is not Germany, but Europe is so "small", especially for lovers. One of the meetings in Genoa, which lasted two weeks, was supposed to be the last: with a living wife, further meetings for Ernestina were meaningless. In memory of this meeting, the poet wrote Ernestine the poem "December 1st, 1837":

So here we were destined
Say the last sorry...
Forgive everything that the heart lived,
That, having killed your life, it was incinerated
In your tortured chest!
I'm sorry... After many, many years
You will remember with a shudder
This land, this shore with its midday radiance,
Where is the eternal shine and long color,
Where late, pale roses breathe
The December air is warm.
Meanwhile, having received official documents and money, Eleanor sailed to her husband, intending to get on the ship to Lübeck, and from there on a carriage to Turin. Then, with underdevelopment railways, it was the most convenient way. Many passengers were loaded onto the ship not only with their families, but also with the crews. The journey turned out to be unfortunate. On the night of May 18-19, 1838, a fire broke out on the steamship "Nicholas I". I.S. wrote about how everything happened. Turgenev in the story "Fire at Sea". He was then 19 years old. In the same story, he also described Eleanor with her children. It is hard to imagine what the weak, defenseless woman went through when everything around her burned and collapsed, and she stood, clutching her children to her. But it is possible that it was her helplessness that saved her, because the first boats lowered in a panic turned over. Later, the captain managed to stop the panic by placing armed sailors between the two remaining boats and a crowd. On these two boats, passengers were transported ashore over several voyages. Here Turgenev met Eleanor: " Among the ladies who escaped the wreck was one Mrs. T..., very pretty and sweet, but bound by her three daughters and their nannies; so she remained abandoned on the shore, barefoot, with barely covered shoulders. I thought it necessary to play the amiable cavalier, which cost me my coat, which I had kept until then, my tie, and even my boots..." During the shipwreck, Eleanor almost did not suffer physically. But "a night full of horror and struggle with death" did not pass without a trace. Eleanor received a severe nervous shock that required treatment and rest. However, fearing for her husband, Eleanor did not dare to linger on treatment in Germany for more than two weeks and went with him to Turin.

Italy met Eleanor with heat, dust and new worries. Documents and money were lost in the shipwreck. At first we lived in a hotel. Then I had to look for an affordable apartment outside the city, cheap furniture and things at auction. Theodore moped and withdrew from everything. This took away the last strength from the fragile Eleanor ... she was fading away, and on August 28, 1937 she was gone. Who knows, perhaps Eleanor did not fight her illness because love had left - why live? .. Eleanor was buried not far from Turin in a rural cemetery. At the end of her life, Eleonora's daughter Daria managed to find her mother's grave - then the monument was still intact.

In one of his letters to his parents, Theodore wrote: ...I want you to know that never has a person been so loved by another person as I am loved by her. I can say, having verified this almost by experience, that for eleven years there was not a single day in her life when, in order to strengthen my happiness, she would not agree, without a moment's hesitation, to die for me. It is something very sublime and very rare when it is not a phrase.". He turned gray overnight. Ten years later, the lines appeared:

Less than a month and a half after the funeral of his wife, Tyutchev wrote to V. A. Zhukovsky, who sympathized with him, who at that time arrived in Italy in the retinue of the heir to the Russian throne: “ There are terrible times in human existence... To survive everything we have lived - lived for twelve whole years... What is more common than this fate - and what is more terrible? To survive everything and still live ... There are words that we use all our lives without understanding ... and suddenly we understand ... and in one word, as in a failure, as in an abyss, everything will collapse».

Still languishing longing desires
Still longing for you with my soul -
And in the darkness of memories
I still catch your image ...
Your sweet image, unforgettable,
He is in front of me, everywhere, always,
unattainable, immutable,
Like a star in the sky at night...

However, it's easy to love ghosts: you don't have to take care of them. By the way, after the death of Eleanor, Clotilde took her daughters to her for a long time, for whom she was a godmother.

It remains only to add that the secretary of the Russian mission, Baron von Maltitz, repeatedly made proposals to Clotilde to marry him. However, he received consent only in the spring of 1838, when Clotilde realized that Theodore's heart was occupied by Ernestine Dernberg. To his congratulatory letter addressed to Maltitz, Theodore enclosed the verses that he was sure Clotilde would see:

We walked with you together the path of fate disturbing.
A shadow lay on our faces like sadness.
We sat down to rest on a roadside stone
And our eyes suddenly opened one distance ...
In April 1839 Clotilde became Baroness von Maltitz. She was 30 years old. In Munich, Clotilde and Theodor were almost neighbors: they lived through the same house. Clotilde was godmother to the children of Ernestine and Theodore. However, the relationship gradually deteriorated. Theodore was unnerved by the sight of Clotilde's family happiness. So he wrote to Ernestine: "I don't like myself very much in their company." Maltitz was transferred to Weimar, and by 1847 their relationship had ended.

Most of Clotilde's family life was spent in quiet, comfortable Weimar - the city of Goethe and Schiller. Von Maltitz, successfully combining the service of a Russian diplomat with the activities of a German writer and poet, surrounded Clotilde with love and attention. After her husband's death in the spring of 1870, Clotilde wrote: "I went through terrible hours of suffering and sadness, it seemed to me that my heart had died. I was spoiled by my husband. I was too accustomed to be loved." In 1870, Clotilde moved from Weimar to a town near Karlsbad. Baroness Clotilde von Maltitz died in Thuringia in the early autumn of 1882.

Ernestine von Dernberg and "Denisiev cycle"

However, Theodore did not grieve for a long time, for the untimely departed Eleanor. However, one can believe the poet, with his easily vulnerable, impressionable soul, that it was Ernestine's love that helped him bear the brunt of the loss. " Today's date is September 9 [according to the new style. - G. Ch.] - a sad number for me. It was the worst day of my life, and without you, it would probably be my last day.”, - Fedor Ivanovich wrote to Ernestina Fedorovna on the fifth anniversary of the death of his first wife.

But Ernestina decided to come to Italy to meet with Tyutchev only in December, for which the visit of the heir to the Russian throne to Genoa was used, and the poet was supposed to accompany him as the acting Russian envoy to the Sardinian kingdom. The arrival of the beloved woman caused Tyutchev a huge surge of spiritual strength, which was soon noted by everyone around him. From that time on, the lovers practically did not part, and on March 1, 1839, Fedor Ivanovich sent an official letter to Nesselrode, asking him to allow him to marry the widow Ernestina Dernberg and at the same time provide a long-term vacation. The marriage was allowed to him, but the vacation was postponed until the arrival in Turin of a new chargé d'affaires N. A. Kokoshkin, who was replaced by the poet. Not having received a vacation, the "young" decided to postpone the marriage.

Further, in the life of Tyutchev, events took place that his biographers for a long time interpreted in approximately the same way, but, as it turned out, was incorrect. Even I. S. Aksakov in the “Biography of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev”, without disclosing the details of the pre-wedding relationship between Ernestina and Fyodor Ivanovich (this was required by his ethics and a certain delicacy in relation to persons who were still alive by the beginning of the 1870s), described Tyutchev's state in the middle of 1839: " Tyutchev did not stay long in the capital of Piedmont, where, moreover, he was very bored and where then there was almost no political and social life. Correcting, in the absence of an envoy, the position of chargé d'affaires and seeing that there were actually no cases, our poet, one fine day, having an urgent need to go to Switzerland for a short time, locked the door of the embassy and left Turin without asking for a formal permissions. But this unauthorized absence was not in vain for him. They found out about her in Petersburg, and he was ordered to leave the service, and the title of chamberlain was also removed from him ...»

This version of the first biographer of the poet about how he left the embassy in Turin, for which he was removed from service and even deprived of the title of chamberlain, only slightly corrected by subsequent literary researchers, can now be significantly supplemented and refined based on an analysis of the facts known to us.

Without registering their marriage, Ernestina and Tyutchev, despite the refusal to leave Fyodor Ivanovich, nevertheless left Turin somewhere in late April - early May 1839. They spent May in Florence, in early June they made a two-week trip through Italy, with stops in Lucca (June 8-9), Carrara (June 10) and La Spezia, and arrived in Genoa, so memorable for them, on June 19. From there they went to Switzerland and on July 8 they crossed the Mont Cenis pass. It was an unforgettable journey for lovers. Ernestina, a rich widow, a beautiful and intelligent woman who had many admirers, nevertheless, had been waiting for her chosen one for six whole years. On July 17, 1839, their marriage finally took place in the Orthodox Church of the Exaltation of the Cross at the Russian mission in Bern. The priest Lev Kachenovsky was crowned, and one of the guarantors from the side of the groom was, now a messenger, Baron Alexander Krudener. From the crowd standing in the church, the beautiful eyes of Baroness Krudener looked encouragingly at the Tyutchev couple ...

We do not know whether Tyutchev reflected in his poems his moods and events of the first year of his life together with Ernestina Fedorovna. Almost nothing written in that year (if any) has survived. But we know the verses (presumably the end of 1837) addressed to her, in which he, the seer, expressed what he himself could only vaguely foresee, however, this verse could be addressed to any of the women who risked connecting their fate with the poet:

... Oh, if you dreamed then
What the future held for both of us...
Like a wounded one, you would wake up with a cry,
Ile would pass into another dream.

The enchanted Ernestina did not hear the warnings of fate and became Theodore's wife. Baroness Ernestina von Dernberg ceased to exist, Ernestina Tyutcheva appeared. By the way, after the marriage, Ernestina adopted Anna, Daria and Catherine, who, after the death of Eleanor, lived with her sister Clotilde von Bothmer. Ernestina loved her adopted daughters and maintained a warm, trusting relationship with them for life.

In September 1839, the newlyweds returned to Munich, and on December 1, 1839, the poet's parents, who were far from their son, finally received a letter from him explaining a lot: “ ...I am guarded by the devotion of a being, the finest God has ever created... I won't tell you about her love for me; even you might find it excessive. But what I cannot praise enough is her tenderness for children and her concern for them, for which I do not know how to thank her. The loss they have suffered is almost made up for them. We took them in as soon as we arrived in Munich, and two weeks later the children were as attached to her as if they had never had another mother. But I have never met a nature more conducive to children than her. Yes, this is a very noble and beautiful nature ...»

And here are similar lines about Ernestina Feodorovna, written by her husband on February 3 of the following year, 1840: “ My wife, who does not have much money, has enough to support us both and is ready to spend all her fortune to the last penny on me. Since last July, both I and the children, we live entirely on her account, and besides, immediately after our wedding, she paid twenty thousand rubles for me a debt ...»

A month later, Ernestina Fedorovna gave birth to a daughter. " My collection of young ladies was enriched by another girl ... The child was baptized with the name of Mary by a Greek priest", the poet wrote to his parents. But at the same time, Munich's inaction was beginning to worry him. " I'm tired of the existence of a man without a homeland, and it's time to think about finding a shelter for the impending years“, he lamented in another letter. But it will take another long three years before his dreams of returning to his homeland come true.

For acquaintances, the future of Ernestine did not cause illusions. Fyodor Ivanovich’s sister, after meeting Ernestina, wrote: “The daughter-in-law is a very pleasant woman, attractive in appearance, expressive face, ... she loves Fyodor extremely, it seems, ardently, smart and sweet, but in no way similar to the first. And I felt sad for her, as I saw them together, the human heart is strangely arranged - it suffers, loves and forgets ... I remember Fyodor's first passion, so mutual; looking at them, one should believe that they will love each other for a century - here and there, but it turned out differently " .

And so it happened. Ernestine's family life, with some variations, repeated Eleanor's family life. The same happy start, then family life and the birth of children, Theodore's inability, inability and unwillingness to live with the cares of the family and a new hobby. Of course there were differences:

Ernestine, being a wealthy woman, could afford to support her family for a long time. Soon after the wedding, Theodore wrote to his parents: "Since last July, both I and the children, we live entirely on her account, and besides, immediately after our wedding, she paid twenty thousand rubles for me a debt ..." The debt amounted to an amount equal to more than two years' salary of the senior secretary of the mission! At first, the content of a loved one gave Ernestine joy. But the process dragged on. After all, Theodore was dismissed from service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deprived of the rank of chamberlain on June 30, 1841, and until March 1845 he remained out of work for "long-term non-arrival from vacation." Ernestine felt that Theodore was simply leaving her with the children destitute and defenseless, which she did not want to allow. With her sober and clear mind, the poet's wife understood: they could not live without a solid salary and had to return to Russia. At the end of September 1844, Tyutchev arrived in St. Petersburg with his wife and younger children. It was decided to leave the older girls in Germany for the time being. The second, Russian, life of Fyodor Ivanovich began. Tyutchev - 41 years old;

Theodore not only had an affair, he formed a second family with Elena Denisyeva, a pupil of the Smolny Institute. A "secret marriage" with Denisyeva was concluded in July 1850. Then his wife Ernestina, still unaware of the misfortune that had befallen her family, wrote to P.A. Vyazemsky that Fyodor Ivanovich "hired himself a room near the Train Station and stayed there several nights." This was confirmed in a poem written 15 years after the event and a year after Denisyeva's death: "Today, friend, fifteen years have passed ..." The secret was great: for almost forty years the poem was kept in the Georgievsky archive, and was published thirty years after death of the poet under the heading "July 15th, 1865" In May 1851, a girl was born to Denisyeva, who was named Elena in honor of her mother. At the insistence of her mother, she was recorded in the name of her father. The mother was happy, not realizing that this would emphasize the "illegal" origin of her daughter and prove fatal for her ...

It all started with the fact that in the fall of 1845, Fedor Ivanovich arranged for his daughters Daria and Ekaterina at the Smolny Institute. Despite high patronage, they were pensioners of the imperial family, Fyodor Ivanovich considered it useful to meet and support a good relationship with inspector Anna Dmitrievna Denisyeva, on whom much depended on the fate of the students. Anna Dmitrievna had a niece, Elena Denisyeva, who was a volunteer at the Smolny Institute. A verbal portrait of Elena of that time has been preserved: "... nature endowed her with great intelligence and wit, great impressionability and liveliness, depth of feeling and energy of character, and when she got into a brilliant society, she herself was transformed into a brilliant young lady who, with her great courtesy and friendliness, with her natural gaiety and very happy appearance, she always gathered around her many brilliant admirers. Visiting the inspector, he could not help but pay attention to her niece. Meetings could also take place on "neutral" territory, since Elena often visited her friends outside the walls of the institute. Everything happened as in a fairy tale, where the "pathetic sorcerer" bewitched the young beauty. Elena not only fell in love, she threw herself into the pool with her head, forgetting everything...

Tyutchev's poem "Oh, how deadly we love", written in 1851, was a kind of "result" of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev's relationship with Elena Denisyeva:

Oh, how deadly we love We are the most likely to destroy What is dear to our heart! How long have you been proud of your victory? You said she's mine... A year has not passed - ask and tell, What is left of her? Where did the roses go, The smile of the lips and the sparkle of the eyes? All scorched, burned tears Its combustible moisture. Do you remember when you met At the first meeting fatal, Her magical gaze and speech, And the laughter of a child is alive? And now what? And where is all this? And was the dream durable? Alas, like northern summer, He was a passing guest!

Fate's terrible sentence Your love was for her And undeserved shame She lay down on her life! A life of renunciation, a life of suffering! In her soul depth She had memories... But they changed it too. And on the ground she became wild, The charm is gone... The crowd, surging, trampled into the mud That which bloomed in her soul. And what about long torment, Like ashes, did she manage to save? Pain, the evil pain of bitterness, Pain without joy and without tears! Oh, how deadly we love! As in the violent blindness of passions We are the most likely to destroy What is dear to our heart!

The confrontation of families lasted 14 years. Ernestine's reaction was different from Eleanor's. At first she pretended that nothing had happened. By virtue of her character and upbringing, Ernestina could not stoop to a domestic scandal and be in the role of an abandoned wife. Of course, she was deeply shocked, but for all the time of discord she did not directly discuss the situation that had arisen either with Theodore or with her relatives. In 1853, Anna, the poet's daughter from her first marriage, recorded Ernestine's words addressed to her father: " I don't love anyone else in the world but you, and this and that! no longer so!"Ernestina tried to spend as much time as possible in Ovstug or abroad, taking her children with her. Sometimes she left for six months, sometimes for a longer period. At this time, communication was limited to correspondence. In 1854, trying to establish family life, Eleanor wrote to Anna:" I have thought a lot about what you said in one of your previous letters about how good it would be for us to spend a few years abroad. If only I could be sure that I would get permission to take Dmitry away from Russia for two years ... I would not hesitate for a minute and convince your father to ask for a place that would give him the opportunity to spend two or three years abroad. In essence, I would like it not to be a place, but rather, a kind of assignment that would not entail any irrevocable decisions, because I least of all think about leaving Russia forever, but for a thousand different reasons it it is necessary to break with certain bad habits that have arisen in Petersburg, and I see no other means for this, how to remove him from there - to remove him for several years. If it is feasible, I would prefer not to return to Russia now, but, on the contrary, to wait for your father, try to get your father’s friends to get a place for him ... I beg you, let everything remain between us ..."Fyodor Ivanovich made attempts at reconciliation, but for obvious reasons they were not successful. Ernestine could not live on two houses. Relations began to slowly recover only after the death of Denisyeva in August 1864, when Fyodor Ivanovich came to his wife in Geneva.

A.A. Ivanov "Portrait of E.A. Denisyeva", 1851

And what about Elena Denisyeva? She gave everything for the happiness of loving Fyodor Ivanovich and being his common-law wife. Her father abandoned her, friends and acquaintances stopped meeting, the doors of houses were closed for her, where they had previously accepted with joy. A career did not take place: she expected to become a maid of honor. There was not enough money, the attention that she devoted entirely to Fedor Ivanovich had to be shared with the children. Tyutchev began to visit the apartment less often, which he rented for Denisyeva. About Denisyeva’s state of mind, her sister’s husband and almost Denisyeva’s only friend, Alexander Ivanovich Georgievsky wrote: the church blessing of marriage; but that she was married, that she was the real Tyutcheva, she was firmly convinced of this, and, apparently, none of her confessors dissuaded her from this, probably for the same motives as I did, i.e. out of deep pity for her." As for pity, Georgievsky apparently did not write the whole truth. He knew that an attempt at dissuasion could lead to hysteria, unsafe for others. All this undermined the health of Elena Alexandrovna, she died of consumption. She was not even forty years old. The memory of a woman who recklessly followed her love and paid for it with her life is preserved in poems that are called the "Denisiev cycle". This cycle led an inconspicuous existence for a long time. Many poems were kept in archives, dedications were hidden, there were no comments.

In general, poems dedicated to women who remained at some distance from him differ from poems that are addressed to his wives. Dedications to Amalia Krüdener and Clotilde Bothmer are graceful elegy poems. They leave a feeling of light, sadness, lightness. The poems of the "Denisiev cycle" are at the other extreme. They leave behind a feeling of depression.

After the death of Denisyeva, relations gradually improved, although they did not return to the former ones. Theodore also had new loves (after all, neither age nor illness deprived him of the rarest gift - the ability to love and be loved), but they no longer led to such catastrophic consequences.

In the autumn of 1866, Tyutchev was already carried away by a new woman, whom he had known before, but then the time had not come for the manifestation of any feelings on his part. Elena Karlovna Bogdanova (nee Baroness Uslar), a graduate of the class of A.D. Denisyeva in 1842, was only a year older than Lelya Denisyeva and knew her well. Apparently, this was the first reason for the transition of an old acquaintance into a friendly one. From the first marriage, Elena Karlovna had two sons and a daughter, from the second marriage, which ended in the suicide of her husband due to embezzlement, she had one son. The widow, left without an estate near St. Petersburg and almost without funds, moved to the capital. A woman of rare intelligence, great erudition, sweet and hospitable, she soon began to invite well-known Petersburg writers to her small apartment in Buturlin's house on Sergievskaya Street. The most frequent visitors to her living room were the famous censor A. V. Nikitenko, the poetess, the writer of romances E. K. Zybina with her mother, the poets A. N. Apukhtin, A. N. Yakhontov and F. I. Tyutchev. With the owner of the salon, Fedor Ivanovich had long conversations about the Smolny Institute, Anna Dmitrievna Denisyeva, and especially about his Lela. Elena Karlovna was still very attractive in those years. Contemporaries noted her slender figure, beautiful black eyes, graceful movements, and finally, refined manners, the ability to attract attention. All this impressed Tyutchev, an admirer of female beauty. But, most likely, the poet's passion did not find a response in the somewhat cold soul of Bogdanova, which is why it evoked only an involuntary smile from those around her. And the very courtship of an already elderly person was, if I may say so, mainly caring and material in nature. Letters-notes, most often preceded by the arrival of their author to the widow, were often accompanied by a kind of gift - "a bottle of cream and a pound of butter." Tyutchev often put at the disposal of Elena Karlovna his own carriage with a coachman for her trips for a walk, petitioned for her widow's affairs, the affairs of her sons. Two poems related to the end of the 1860s were also dedicated to Bogdanova. One of them, a humorous impromptu poem, was most likely written in Bogdanova's living room:

I wish that in my grave
As now on my couch, I lay,
Century after century would pass,
And I would listen to you all eternity and be silent.

« One day, - recalled Count P. S. Sheremetev, - book. P. A. Vyazemsky came to dine with my mother and brought Tyutchev with him, who came by chance to him in Tsarskoye. Since the Vyazemskys did not have lunch that day, he brought him. They entered together. Tyutchev entered with the words: "Ne me prenez pas pour un Tarta-a-ar ...", pronouncing the words with a big drawl and understanding the proverb: "An uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar." My mother remembers well that she was not in a good mood that evening and it was Tyutchev who was the cause. Not that he came without a call, of course, but he had a story that was much talked about then. He became interested in an institute girl, a certain Denisyeva, who also fell in love and soon died of consumption. All this greatly infuriated my mother, and she could not even hide her indignation and was very little amiable. Tyutchev was already an old man. My father was unhappy and said that the whole story had nothing to do with her. Tyutchev was very accommodating, trying to pay attention to the hostess of the house, and she was jarred that the old man crumbles in pleasantries. She was then 18 years old».

In the life of F.I. Tyutchev there was another woman, for whom the poet experienced a heartfelt feeling in his declining years. This is Alexandra Vasilievna Pletneva, the widow of the famous critic and poet, publisher of Sovremennik P. A. Pletnev. The well-known Russian lawyer A.F. Koni directly called her "passion" of Tyutchev. He even kept part of the correspondence between Shedor Ivanovich and Alexandra Vasilievna, which he inherited from his widow. Koni made a beautiful portrait of Pletneva, whom he knew well: “ Not aging mentally, despite the gray hairs that framed her expressive, mobile face with lively, intelligent eyes, she lived with all the interests of modernity ... (...) According to a versatile education, according to subtle aesthetic development and by a deep sense of duty in herself and respect for him in others, she combined in herself the best features of a Western European person. Adamant in her convictions, gentle and condescending in personal relationships, harmlessly witty, she was able to resent any untruth that did not concern her personally ...» Naturally, such a woman, favorably distinguished by her virtues, which the poet appreciated, from women of high society, could not help but attract attention from Fyodor Ivanovich. Suffering over the loss of dear people brought Tyutchev and Pletnev closer together. They understood each other's grief. Fyodor Ivanovich often came to Alexandra Vasilievna, and if he was unwell, she herself visited him. In one of his letters in March 1870, Tyutchev wrote to Pletneva: For the love of all that's holy, don't think that you're somehow responsible for my recurrence. At any rate, the journey which I have made to see you has brought me nothing but good. Oh, yes, you should have given me a particle of your Christian patience, in the present circumstances I really need it - and yet I feel that your presence would be even more necessary to me ...» In the same year, 1870, Tyutchev created beautiful poems dedicated to Alexandra Vasilievna, full of deep feelings and compassion, admiration and gratitude to a person with a rich soul and a sensitive heart.

Whatever life teaches us
But the heart believes in miracles:
There is an unrelenting strength
There is also imperishable beauty.

And the withering of the earth
Flowers will not touch the unearthly,
And from the midday heat
The dew will not dry on them.

And this faith will not deceive
The one who only lives by it,
Not everything that bloomed here will wither,
Not everything that was here will pass.

But this faith is for the few
Grace is available only to those
Who is in the temptations of strict life,
How could you, loving, suffer,

Aliens heal ailments
He knew how to suffer,
Who laid down his soul for others
And endured everything to the end. A few days after the death of F. I. Tyutchev, Alexandra Vasilievna, who was present at his funeral, told her friend: “. ..to write about it as about the past, the soul does not yet tolerate. He has taken up so much space in my life. From 1968, when I returned to live in St. Petersburg after a 5-year absence, I saw him almost every day until 1973. Now I have returned from the church, where I prayed for him with Ernestina Fedorovna. Eternal memory to him!»

The poet is tired of losses, experiences. He has already come a long time ago full world and agreement with his wife, who called him affectionately jokingly "Beloved". After the stroke that happened to him on January 1, 1873, he increasingly became a prisoner of his own sofa. But what still surprised everyone around him was the continuous work of thought, the alternate interest in politics and poetry. Already completely shattered by paralysis, Fedor Ivanovich, feeling the approach of the end, addresses Ernestina Feodorovna with poetic lines of love and recognition:

The executing God has taken everything from me:
Health, willpower, air, sleep,
He left you alone with me,
So that I can still pray to him.

Probably, for such eternal moments, the women who loved Theodore forgave him everything. In the early morning of July 15, 1873, he died. July was beautiful, just as marvelous as the fatal one in which, twenty-three years ago, on the same day, July 15, the last romantic poet met his last love - Elena Denisyeva. The women in the poet's life were so different, but they all loved him until the last days - him and theirs.

Karl Pfeffel, the same one who introduced his sister to Theodore back in 1833, upon learning of his death, wrote to Ernestine: “You know how I loved him and how I admired him! ... Our hearts, which have been beating in unison for so long understand and hear each other in front of your husband’s grave, as they understood and heard each other 40 years ago, when together we fell under the spell of a just extinct wonderful mind "...

Ernestine outlived her Theodore by 21 years and died at a ripe old age. And for us, she was preserved young and beautiful, as in the portrait of the early 1840s. Born Baroness von Pfeffel, in her first marriage, Baroness von Dernberg had by this time become Ernestina Tyutcheva, having lost the right to the title and gaining the right to immortality in the poems of her beloved Theodore ...

In 1850, in the journal Sovremennik, N.A. Nekrasov published an article "Russian Minor Poets", devoted mainly to the analysis of Tyutchev's poems. Nekrasov's review made a very strong impression on Tyutchev. After all, Nekrasov by "secondary poets" does not mean the quality of their works, but only the degree of fame of their creator. And about Tyutchev's poems, he wrote: "... every lover of Russian literature will put this little book in his library next to the best works Russian poetic genius"

There are two forces - two fatal forces,
All our lives we are at their fingertips,
From lullaby days to the grave, -
One is Death, the other is the Human Judgment...


These lines were written by the poet at the age of 66 and they contain the philosophy of the life lived. Philosophy at the break of the heart and soul. In the case of Fyodor Ivanovich, even Death did not put an end to the human Court in his relationship with his beloved women ... Yes, this Court continues to this day. Although Fedor Ivanovich himself justified himself before God, before people long ago with his poems, deep thoughts, consonant with the modern generation, because they are humanly eternal ...

And finally, I will add that the poetic talent of Fyodor Tyutchev was not appreciated for a very long time. Tyutchev did not consider poetry his main occupation, and was generally very absent-minded. He could write down a poem on a piece of napkin and leave it on the table, he could even, without writing it down, tell someone and immediately forget it. The first book of Tyutchev's poems was published only in 1854, when the writer was already 51 years old. And even this publication would not have taken place if Turgenev Tyutchev had not been persuaded to publish his poems.

Bonus. Imitations

- I love the storm in early May,
When spring, the first thunder ...
I read F. Tyutchev's poems
And I think about

What if just as inspiring
I'll write a similar verse
That in a reader is imperishable
I can add myself...

Looking for a plot
And the exact rhyme for the word "rain",
I climbed into the Poet's Handbook,
And he gave me the rhyme "leader".

I doubt this rhyme
To be honest, I've become a little...
For a number of such associations
Don't get stuck anywhere!! ...

Let's leave Tyutchev imperishable!
I'd rather endure it.
Dampness hurts my knees
Besides, I don't like rain.

I'm running from work in the rain
To my home, not feeling my legs ... ...
Well, why a thunderstorm to the people,
Who got wet to his underpants?!

Outside it's damp and disgusting
Inside is cozy and warm.
Rain as an alternative
Knocks on the window pane.

I listen to the rolls of thunder
And a light line flows:
-I love the storm in early May,
Under a blanket, with a glass of cognac...

© Copyright: Grigory Podolsky, 2007
Publication Certificate No. 107061002296

"I love the storm in early May".
I love blizzards in December.
I love how it foams while playing
young wine in October.

I love April fogs.
July is a heady spirit of hay.
And March cats novels
at night they caress my ears.

I love how bee in September
warm honey flows from the honeycombs.
And like poplar in June
fluff starts a round dance.

I love January frosts
and August sticky heat.
And how I love thunderstorms in May -
wrote in the first line.

I love, love you nature!
But here's what I catch myself
that I am at any time of the year
I love sex the most!

parodist51 (Boris Gurevich)

A. I. Georgievsky persuaded Tyutchev to go with him to Moscow, hoping to “re-draw him into the mental and political interests that he had lived until now,” but the poet preferred a trip abroad, where his wife and daughters were at that time.
September 5, 1864 Tyutchev arrived in Geneva, where he stayed with his family until mid-October. From here, the Tyutchevs moved to the south of France, to Nice, and lived there until the next spring. Recalling her stay abroad in the autumn of 1864, the poet's wife later said that she saw her husband cry in a way that she had never seen anyone cry. Ernestina Feodorovna's attitude towards the poet at that time is best characterized by her own words: "... His grief is sacred to me, whatever its cause."
Tyutchev's thought constantly returned to the lost. He is unable to perceive with the former liveliness and immediacy the beauties of Swiss nature that have always captivated him ...
Staying abroad did not cure Tyutchev of the "mental injury" that was inflicted on him by the death of Denisyev, and did not bring him out of his state of "terrible loneliness."

Tyutchev returned to St. Petersburg on March 25, 1865. He returned to the new graves. Shortly after his return, on May 2, the 14-year-old daughter of Tyutchev and Denisyeva Elena died of transient consumption, on the same day their third child, infant Nikolai, also died of this disease. Only the eldest son of Fedor Ivanovich and Elena Alexandrovna - Fedor Fedorovich Tyutchev - outlived his parents for a long time.
These losses were followed by others. In 1866, Tyutchev buries his 90-year-old mother. During 1870, the eldest son of the poet Dmitry and the only brother Nikolai died. In 1872 she died of consumption youngest daughter Tyutcheva Maria, wife of the hero of the defense of Sevastopol (1854–1855), Rear Admiral Nikolai Alekseevich Birilev (1829–1882). Tyutchev and many of his peers are missing, many regulars of the circle to which he belonged.

But Fedor Ivanovich never lost interest in "living life", in the surrounding reality. " living life”was connected for him primarily with socio-political interests.
The greedy interest in politics could not be shaken in Tyutchev by the first threatening symptoms in his state of health. In early December 1872, the poet lost his freedom of movement with his left hand and experienced a sharp deterioration in vision; he began to suffer excruciating headaches.
However, even after a blow that happened on a walk on the morning of January 1, 1873 and paralyzed the entire left half of the body, Tyutchev, “bedridden, with aching and boring pain in the brain, unable to either get up or roll over without someone else’s help, barely speaks. intelligible, truly amazed both doctors and visitors with the brilliance of his wit and liveliness of participation in abstract interests. He demanded that he be informed of all political and literary news ... "

The former clarity of Tyutchev's mind can be judged from the letters that the poet dictated, and some of them he wrote with his own hand during his illness. He also tried to write poetry. Of all such attempts, only one quatrain, addressed to the wife, is significant both in its content and in the power of verbal expression:

The executing god took everything from me:
Health, willpower, air, sleep,
He left you alone with me,
So that I can still pray to him.
(1873)

Least of all was Tyutchev able to "courageously submit" to the inevitable and come to terms with his illness. According to Ernestina Feodorovna, he experienced "a desperate and furious, uncontrollable, feverish desire to live." He demanded that everyone who came to inquire about his health be allowed to see him. In the memory book of his wife, the names of persons who visited the sick poet are noted almost daily. Among these visits, one in particular touched him. It was a visit to Countess AM Adlerberg, Krüdener's first marriage.

Amalia's relationship with Tyutchev, which lasted for half a century, suggests that she was able to appreciate the poet and his love. But she either could not, or did not want to connect her fate with him. Despite this, their friendship-love lasted a lifetime...
Her first husband A. S. Kryudener, whom she married back in 1825, successfully made his diplomatic career. Already in the 1830s. Amalia played a paramount role in the St. Petersburg world and enjoyed tremendous influence at court. After the death of A. S. Kryudener (1852), who was twelve years older than her, Amalia Maksimilianovna married a high-ranking statesman, Count Nikolai Vladimirovich Adlerberg (1819–1892), who was also the son of the most influential minister of the imperial court, Vladimir Fedorovich Adlerberg ( 1791-1884). At that time (1854) she was forty-six years old, but she still remained a beauty, and, by the way, her new husband was eleven years younger than her ...
For all that, Tyutchev, who quite often met and exchanged letters with Amalia and was a very insightful person, was hardly mistaken when he said the following about her: “I have some reason to believe that she is not as happy in her brilliant position as I am would like. What a sweet, excellent woman, what a pity for her. As happy as she deserves, she will never be."

Putting a lot on the line for the sake of her "career", Amalia Maksimilianovna still retained a living soul. This is clearly evidenced by her attitude towards Tyutchev. Many times, and moreover, completely disinterestedly (after all, Tyutchev had nothing to repay her with), she rendered important services to the poet. This greatly embarrassed him. In 1836, Fyodor Ivanovich said about one of her services: “Oh, what a misfortune! And what a need I had to be in order to ruin friendly relations like that! It's all the same, as if someone, wanting to cover their nakedness, found no other way to do this, how to cut out pantaloons from a canvas painted by Raphael ... And, however, of all the people I know in the world, she is undoubtedly the only one to which, with the least disgust, I would feel obliged.
It is permissible to doubt that Tyutchev was so hopelessly upset by Amalia's concerns about him: after all, they seemed to confirm her unchanging deep sympathy. In 1836, the poet half-jokingly, half-seriously asks his then friend Prince Ivan Sergeevich Gagarin: "Tell her that if she forgets me, misfortune will befall her." But Amalia could not forget Tyutchev. He himself continued to love her always, although it was already more of a tender friendship than love. In 1840, he wrote to his parents about another meeting with her in the vicinity of Munich: “You know my affection for Mrs. Krüdener and you can easily imagine what joy my meeting with her brought me. After Russia, this is my oldest love ... She is still very pretty, and our friendship, fortunately, has changed no more than her appearance.

It would hardly be a stretch to assume that Fyodor Ivanovich meant no less in the fate of the beautiful Amalia Maximilianovna, and perhaps more than she did in the fate of the poet. Among the constant and, of course, very intense worries that consumed Amalia's life associated with her high position, Tyutchev was for her, one must think, the brightest embodiment of everything in the world for which it is generally worth living.
But, of course, for Tyutchev, whose love always absorbed the fullness of his personality, Amalia Maksimilianovna remained a living expression of the past, blossoming in Germany "great youth holiday", which he speaks of in the already cited poem dedicated to their meeting in 1870 . in Carlsbad ("I met you - and all the past ...").

On April 1, 1873, exactly fifty years after the meeting over the Danube he sang (“I remember the golden time ...”), Tyutchev, already on the very threshold of death, wrote to his daughter Daria with a trembling hand: “Yesterday I experienced a minute of burning excitement due to my meeting with Countess Adlerberg, my good Amalia Krüdener, who wished to see me for the last time in this world and came to say goodbye to me. In her face, the past of my best years appeared to give me a farewell kiss.

Amalia Maksimilianovna survived Fyodor Ivanovich by as much as 15 years. But even as she approached her eightieth birthday, despite glasses and a snuffbox, she retained her quickness of mind, interest in life, regal manner and the gait of a young girl. Her house was the most secular and lively in Helsingfors (now Helsinki; Amalia's second husband, Count N. V. Adlerberg, in 1866–1881 served as Governor General of the Grand Duchy of Finland). Its influence on society was not questioned. When the mischievous noisy youth arranged home concerts and intended to draw up a program for the performance of romances and arias, Countess Amalia Maximilianovna, who usually looks at all the pranks and escapades through her fingers, asked not to perform romances to the verses of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev. The countess always pronounced this name with a slight hesitation, as if she wanted to say simply - Theodore, but she caught herself in time. And her eyes were wet and mysterious. The youth, surprised, but meekly obeyed. The charm of this majestic woman without age was too great! ..

On May 19, 1873, Tyutchev was transferred to a dacha in Tsarskoe Selo. He began to move around, albeit with the help of strangers. But on June 11, a second blow followed. Surrounding from minute to minute expected his death. However, he came to his senses and asked in a barely audible voice: “What is the latest political news?”
Tyutchev lived for a little more than a month. His hopeless condition was evidenced by the fact that he now lost the need for society and almost all the time was immersed in silence. His rare and short answers to the questions of doctors and relatives differed, however, in their former wit. Once, as if again wishing to evoke in himself the familiar feeling of life, he unexpectedly asked for French: "Make me feel a little life around me."

Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev died in the early morning of July 15, 1873. On July 18, the coffin with the poet's body was transported from Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg and buried in the cemetery of the Voskresensky Novodevichy Convent...

After the opening of the poet's will, a new shock awaited his relatives: the pension, which was due to Ernestine Feodorovna as a widow, was bequeathed by Fedor Ivanovich to a certain Hortensia Lapp, whom he took out of Germany as early as 1847 (three years before meeting Elena Denisyeva), having met her during his trip to Europe as a diplomatic courier (then Tyutchev visited Berlin and Zurich and visited a dozen charming European cities).
The details of this secret long-term connection have remained practically unknown; Hortensia Lapp and Fyodor Ivanovich had two sons: Nikolai Lapp-Mikhailov (died in 1877 in a battle near Shipka) and Dmitry Lapp (a regimental doctor, died a few months after the death of his brother and was buried in Odessa).
The widow and children of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev sacredly fulfilled last will husband and father: for twenty years, until the death of Ernestina Feodorovna, Hortensia Lapp received the pension bequeathed to her by the poet.

Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, a hereditary nobleman, graduated from the university at the age of 18 and entered the service of the State Collegium of Foreign Affairs - a freelance attaché of the Russian diplomatic mission in Munich. But today we will not dwell on his diplomatic career and his business qualities. Let's talk about the personal life of Fedor Ivanovich - it was full of tragedies and ... love.

Tyutchev got married in Germany. In 1826. His wife Eleanor Peterson was the daughter of a German diplomat, Count von Bothmer and the widow of a Russian diplomat, secretary of the Russian mission in Munich, A.K. Peterson. Eleanor had four sons from her first marriage. And 12 years later, when the Tyutchevs had three more daughters, Eleanor died.
The steamer "Nikolai I", on which the Tyutchev family sailed from St. Petersburg to Turin, suffered a disaster in the Baltic Sea. Fortunately, everyone survived. By the way, I.S. was on the same ship. Turgenev, who helped Eleanor and the children to escape. However, this disaster seriously crippled the health of Eleonora Tyutcheva. In 1838 F.I. I said goodbye to my wife forever and was very worried about her death.
“Never would a person be so loved by another person as I am loved by her, for eleven years there was not a single day in her life when, in order to strengthen my happiness, she would not agree, without a moment’s hesitation, to die for me” , - this is Tyutchev said about his first wife.
1.

Although…
A year later, Tyutchev already had a second wife - Ernestina, nee Baroness von Pfeffel, widow of diplomat Dernberg. A love affair with her began during the life of his first wife, Eleanor. They met at a ball in 1833 and did not remain indifferent to each other. Admittedly, the intelligent and educated beauty Ernestina completely overshadowed the sweet and charming, but dim Eleanor.
Loving Eleanor, of course, understood everything and tried with all her might to save the family. But the forces were unequal, out of desperation, Eleanor attempted suicide, but survived. And Tyutchev swore, swore that "he has everything there."
And then at the embassy they found out about the love affairs of their employee, and, in order to hush up the scandal, they sent Tyutchev to Turin. Temporarily leaving his family in St. Petersburg, he went to a new place of service, where Ernestina was already waiting for him.
Well, and soon it happened: the ship, salvation, the death of Eleanor, a new marriage.
And Ernestina ... She really loved Tyutchev all her life, in fact, she adopted and raised his daughters, remaining close to them until her last days. Ernestina was a very rich woman, and Tyutchev did not hide the fact that he lives on her money. Married to Tyutchev, Ernestina gave birth to three children: a daughter and two sons. It was for her that her son ordered, which I talked about. It was she who collected and copied the poet's poems from scraps of paper. And it was she who experienced Tyutchev's new love and - she forgave him ...

It would seem that what else a person needs: a loving and appreciating beautiful wife; beloved children; abundant life? And the career was quite successful. But, apparently, something was missing, so he was ...
Tyutchev fell in love again. To Elena Denisieva - the same age as her eldest daughters. And she fell in love with this ugly, much older than his man. In 1850, they entered into a "secret marriage" - for as much as 14 years. That is, all this time Tyutchev actually lived in two families. A scandal erupted in society, which least of all affected Tyutchev himself - he was still accepted in high society. But Elena Denisyeva paid in full for her "sin": she was refused in all the houses she knew; her friends turned away from her; refused and cursed his own father. She continued to love, give birth to children and consider herself Tyutchev's wife.
In the end, her health and psyche could not stand it, and in 1964 Elena died, leaving three children. However, two of them also died soon after.

And Tyutchev returned to Ernestine, who forgave him. In her arms he died in 1873.
Only for the rest of his life he blamed himself for Elena's death. In 1854, a cycle of love poems dedicated to Elena Denisyeva was published.

I am not a judge. And not a prosecutor. I just told you what I heard and read.

One of the most famous poems by Fyodor Tyutchev - “I met you, and all the past ...” - was written by him 145 years ago, on August 7, 1870. The poet dedicated it to the already 62-year-old Baroness Amalia von Krüdener at that time, for whom he carried love through his whole life.

young fairy

They met in Munich, being at that time, perhaps, still practically children. An untitled nobleman, secretary of the Russian embassy Fyodor Tyutchev (or Theodor Tyutcheff, as they called him in the German manner) then barely celebrated his 19th birthday. Amalia was 14 at all. However, the girl struck the future famous poet with her sophisticated beauty.

"And on the hill, where, whitening,

The ruin of the castle looks into the distance,

You stood, young fairy,

Leaning on mossy granite,

Infant foot touching

The wreckage of a pile of centuries;

And the sun lingered, saying goodbye

With the hill, and with the castle, and with you.

He would write such lines much later. The fact that they are dedicated specifically to the baroness is evidenced by a letter from Tyutchev's second wife Ernestina to her stepdaughter, Tyutchev's daughter from her first marriage, Daria Fedorovna. It was written after the death of both the poet and Amalia herself: “... I received a mail with my brother's message about the death of Countess Amalia Adlerberg ... I have never been friends with Count. Amalia, but she is one of my oldest acquaintances, my memory still sees her beautiful and slender, like a nymph, in Eglofsheim near Ratisbonne in 1827 ... And this young fairy, sung by papa in one of his freshest and most delightful poems at the time when he himself was young - and now she crossed to the other side, where they no longer grow old ... ".

But let's go back to the days of our heroes' youth. Of course, Fedor Ivanovich was fascinated and smitten. And even, according to historians, he tried to ask for the hand of the young baroness, although no evidence of this has been preserved.

According to one version, Tyutchev tried to ask for the hand of the young baroness. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

However, the girl's parents had other plans. A more profitable party was prepared for her - young Amalia was given in marriage to the "old and unpleasant" secretary of the Russian diplomatic mission, Baron Alexander Sergeevich Kryudener. Tyutchev in love was crushed. He immediately and secretly challenged the baron to a duel. But the happy groom refused, arguing over some minor violation of the dueling code.

Husband is a hated guardian

Fate separated them. Amalia gave birth to a son to the baron, and Fedor gave his family a real "surprise", secretly marrying the widow of Russian diplomat Alexander Peterson. Eleanor was almost six years older than Tyutchev, and had three children from her first marriage.

Did he love her or did he get married trying to forget his true passion? It is hard to say. In letters to his relatives, he explained his choice as follows: “... This weak woman has a strength of mind, commensurate only with the tenderness contained in her heart ... I want you who love me to know that no one has ever loved another like she loved me ... There was not a single day in her life when, for my welfare, she would not hesitate for a moment to die for me!”

Eleanor was almost six years older than Tyutchev. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Meanwhile, he had to deal with Baroness von Krüdener every now and then in society. Did they have a secret connection? No one knows, no authentic evidence has been preserved. However, the fact that the beautiful Amalia still agitated the poet's feelings is evidenced by at least the poems that he continued to dedicate to his first love.

"You love, you know how to pretend, -

When, in the crowd, furtively from people,

My foot touches yours

You give me the answer and do not blush!

All the same kind of scattered, soulless,

The movement of Perseus, the look, the smile is the same ...

Meanwhile, your husband, this hated guard,

He admires your obedient beauty.

By the way, it was thanks to Amalia that Tyutchev's poems saw the light in Pushkin's Sovremennik. The von Krüdeners were about to move to Russia, and before leaving, Fyodor Ivanovich asked the baroness to hand over the manuscript to Alexander Sergeevich personally. Amalia kept her promise, and all the poems she brought were published in a magazine under the modest signature of F.T.

romance with the emperor

With the arrival in St. Petersburg, the era of Amalia's true brilliance in the world begins. She was fascinated by both Turgenev and Pushkin. “Yesterday was evening at the Ficquelmonts. It was rather sluggish, - says Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky in a letter to his wife. - One Pushkin palpitoit de l`interet du moment (trembled with a flash of interest - fr.), Blushingly looked at Kryudnersha and somewhat curled around her.

Amalia was fascinated by Turgenev, Pushkin and even Nicholas I himself. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Joseph Karl Stieler

What about Pushkin! The emperor himself was carried away by the baroness! The whole court whispered about their far from platonic connection. By the highest permission of Nicholas I, she even received an estate with a park as a gift.

Meanwhile, Tyutchev developed a stormy secret romance with the widow of Baron Dernberg Ernestina. This novel ruined the wife of Fedor Ivanovich.

Ernestina became Tyutchev's second wife. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Upon learning of her husband's infidelity, Eleonora Fedorovna tried to commit suicide. She stabbed herself several times in the stomach with a dagger. However, the wounds were not fatal. Eleanor ran out into the street, where she lost consciousness. Neighbors brought her home. Tyutchev, who returned from his mistress, was shocked. He swore to his wife never to see Ernestine again. And he even temporarily took his family to Russia in order to be further from temptation. However, the woman's body was weakened by the shock experienced. And after some time she died from a common cold.

They say that Tyutchev turned gray in one night from grief. In a letter to a friend, the poet Zhukovsky, he asks: “What is more common than this fate - and what is more terrible? Survive everything and still live ... ”Having received this letter, Zhukovsky wrote a bewildered remark in his diary:“ He grieves for his wife, who died a painful death, and they say that he is in love in Munich.

Meanwhile, four months after Eleonora's death, Tyutchev and Ernestine Dernberg were secretly engaged.

However, the poet's family life did not work out this time either. Broken in soul, he practically from the very first days began to cheat on Ernestine.

Goodbye kiss

About the love of his youth, Amalia Theodore, however, never forgot.

“Do you ever see Mrs. Krüdener? Tyutchev writes to his parents. - I have every reason to believe that she is not as happy in her brilliant position as I would like. What a lovely, excellent woman, what a pity for her. As happy as she deserves, she will never be!”

The “young fairy” had already buried her first husband by that time and remarried, to Count Nikolai Adlerberg.

Their penultimate meeting with Tyutchev took place in Karlsbad, where all the European nobility rested. Here Amalia saw the aged Theodore, who had come to the waters to treat his gout.

It was after this meeting that the poet would write his famous “I met you…”

"I met you - and all the past
In the obsolete heart came to life;
I remembered the golden time -
And my heart felt so warm ... "

The last time Fyodor Ivanovich saw the Countess was two months before his death. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

The last time Fyodor Ivanovich saw the countess was on March 31, 1873, two months before his death. She came to visit him, having learned about the disease - an apoplexy. And forgive. Tyutchev wrote to his daughter Dasha: “Yesterday I experienced a moment of burning excitement as a result of my meeting with Countess Adlerberg, my good Amalia Krudener, who wished to see me in this world for the last time and say goodbye to me. In her face, the past of my best years appeared to give me a farewell kiss.

She outlived him by as much as fifteen years! O recent years Olga Nikolaevna, Queen of Württemberg, wrote to Amalia: “Now, at 76, despite glasses and a snuffbox, she is still pretty, cheerful, calm and respected by everyone and plays what she always wanted - a big role in Helsingfors.”

Amalia died in 1888 in the arms of her loving husband.

Fedor Tyutchev lived in three families

"Oh, how deadly we love..."

Love, love - says the legend -
The union of the soul with the soul of the native -
Their connection, combination,
And their fatal merger.
And... the fatal duel...

And than one of them is more tender
In the struggle of unequal two hearts,
The more inevitable and more certain
Loving, suffering, mleya sadly,
It finally wears out...

Probably, there is no person whose native language is Russian who would not know the name of Tyutchev, would not hear him “I love a thunderstorm in early May”, “Winter is angry in vain, its time has passed”, “We are not given to predict how our word will respond "and, of course, the textbook "Russia cannot be understood with the mind ..." But, perhaps, not everyone knows that Tyutchev spent more than twenty years of his life in Germany, that it was here that he formed as a poet, many of his masterpieces were written here and that the most famous, probably, Russian romance "I met you - and all the past in an obsolete heart came to life ..." is dedicated to a German woman.

His lyrics leave no one indifferent. An unsurpassed master of the poetic word, Fedor Tyutchev knew how to love without a trace. He did not understand the word "treason" and sincerely wondered why it was impossible to love two or three women at once, if he could not live without them? And 90 years ago there was a meeting in his life that gave life to an immortal poem.
I met you -
and all the past
In a dying heart
came to life...
I remembered the golden time -
And my heart felt so warm...

Who does not know these Tyutchev lines that make hearts tremble? They, like Pushkin's "I remember a wonderful moment ..." - from the depths of the soul, are close to everyone ... These poems, perhaps, would never have appeared if not for the meeting that happened almost 90 years ago.

... Fyodor Tyutchev, a graduate of Moscow University, was enlisted at the beginning of 1822 to serve in the State Collegium of Foreign Affairs. He goes to Munich, to the position of a supernumerary officer of the Russian diplomatic mission in Bavaria.

It is here, abroad, that his personal life begins, full of passions and sorrows, here he will begin to create amazing poems dedicated to his beloved. Here he meets his first love, marries for the first time, survives the death of his first wife, marries a second time, experiencing passionate feelings.

Amalia von Krüdener
At one of the social events, a 19-year-old boy meets the charming Amalia Lerchenfeld. She is the natural daughter of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. The beauty struck him with her education and depth of soul, despite the fact that she was only 14 years old. Tyutchev was bewitched by her. They exchanged watch chains - as a token of eternal love. But the parents of the young beauty found her another suitor - Tyutchev's colleague, Baron Krudener.

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... Tyutchev is 66 years old, and Amalia is 61. Fedor Ivanovich is a chamberlain of the court, chairman of the censorship committee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He came to Carlsbad for treatment. Among the Russian and European nobility resting here, he suddenly saw her. And again my heart fluttered. Together they wandered the streets of Carlsbad, recalling their first meeting at the ball, dreams that were not destined to come true. After one of these walks, the poet wrote down a poem. These words seemed to be dictated to him from above: “I met you…”


And three years later he, shattered by paralysis, was dying hard. Once, opening his eyes, he suddenly saw his Amalia by his bed. A tear slowly rolled down his cheek. Her hand was in his hand. She was crying too.

In her face, the past of my best years appeared to give me a farewell kiss, ”he dictated to the nurse a letter to his daughter, telling about this meeting. It was one of the last letters. Between these meetings there was whole life. Amalia was his first love, beautiful, romantic, but hardly the strongest.
Amalia outlived Tyutchev by 15 years. He dedicated poems to her: “I remember the golden time ...”, “Your sweet look”, “I met”, “I knew her back then ...”.

... Ernestine Pfeffel (Dernberg in her first marriage) and Elena Denisyeva. One is a wife, the other is a mistress. The first is a mature woman, and the second is a very young one. And both were so dear to him that parting with each of them was tantamount to death. Long years of suffering from an acute sense of guilt in front of both. He devoted a lot of love lyrics to both of them. From these verses it is clear: he loved each of the women to the limit of his soul. This life of separation lasted 14 long years. Carry and Lelya - his joy and pain.

Ernestine appeared in his heart when he was in his first marriage - with Eleanor. She is a little older, but more experienced, she has four children from her first husband. “Never a single person has loved another as much as she loves me,” Tyutchev wrote about Eleonora to his parents.

Eleanor, Countess Bothmer (1800-1838), in her first marriage, Peterson, close friend, beloved woman, wife of the poet Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev.

Still languishing longing desires
I still long for you with my soul -
And in the darkness of memories
I still catch your image ...
Your sweet image, unforgettable,
He is in front of me everywhere, always,
unattainable, immutable,
Like a star in the sky at night...

Eleanor gave him three daughters. Their serene marriage did not last long. At the ball, the young poet meets Ernestine Dörnberg, one of the first beauties of Munich. Ernestina's husband, dying, instructed Tyutchev to take care of the young widow. The poet fulfilled his will in full.
Ernestine, he shone a lot of poems, here is one of them: "I love your eyes, my friend ...".


Soon, well-wishers reported to Eleanor about their secret meetings. The woman, in a fit of desperation, grabbed her dagger and inflicted several wounds on her chest. The poor thing managed to pump out the doctor.

This love scandal nearly ruined the young diplomat's career. Tyutchev is sent to Turin - away from sin. He said goodbye forever to his Ernestina. But it happened differently. Eleanor died two years later. The poet turned gray with grief overnight. And even ten years after her death, he wrote in a poem dedicated to her: “I am still languishing with longing for desires ...” And a year after the death of his adored wife, he married Ernestina.

Baroness Ernestine Pfeffel (1810-1894), Baroness Dernberg in her first marriage, Tyutchev's second wife

I love your eyes my friend
With their fiery-wonderful play,
When you suddenly raise them
And, like lightning from heaven,
Take a quick circle...

At the end of 1844, Tyutchev, with his wife and two children from his second marriage, moved from Munich to St. Petersburg. His daughters from his first marriage, Daria and Ekaterina, studied at the Smolny Institute. Elena Denisyeva, a girl from an impoverished noble family, also studied there. She was 23 years younger than the poet.

Elena Aleksandrovna Denisyeva (1826-1864), the last love of the poet
Rejected by "society" and having gone through many trials, Denisyeva died early.

Their secret meetings began in 1851. Elena's father, having learned about this shameful connection, renounced her. For the poor thing, the doors of all decent houses were closed. They soon had a daughter. “I have nothing to hide, and there is no need to hide from anyone: I am more than anything his wife than his ex-wives,” she wrote, “and no one in the world has ever loved and appreciated him as much as I love and appreciate him, never no one understood him as much as I understand him ... "

What about Ernestine? She preferred to pretend that she knew nothing about the secret life of her husband. She often went abroad, spent most of her time with her children at Tyutchev's family estate in Ovstug, while her husband lived with Denisyeva in Moscow and traveled around Europe with her. The lovers had three children. He idolized her, considering her his last love, but he could not imagine his existence without Ernestine. However, their relationship with Ernestina in those years was reduced only to correspondence.

Oh, how deadly we love

We are the most likely to destroy
What is dear to our heart!

How long have you been proud of your victory?
You said she's mine...
A year has not passed - ask and tell
What is left of her?

Where did the roses go,
The smile of the lips and the sparkle of the eyes?
All scorched, burned tears
Its combustible moisture.

Do you remember when you met
At the first meeting fatal,
Her magical eyes and speeches
And the laughter of an infant is alive?

And now what? And where is all this?
And was the dream durable?
Alas, like northern summer,
He was a passing guest!

Fate's terrible sentence
Your love was for her
And undeserved shame
She lay down on her life!

A life of renunciation, a life of suffering!
In her soul depth
She had memories...
But they changed it too.

And on the ground she became wild,
The charm is gone...
The crowd, surging, trampled into the mud
That which bloomed in her soul.

And what about the long torment
Like ashes, did she manage to save?
Pain, the evil pain of bitterness,
Pain without joy and without tears!

Oh, how deadly we love
As in the violent blindness of passions
We are the most likely to destroy
What is dear to our heart!

These lines he wrote about Elena. She fell ill with consumption and died, giving birth to their youngest, Fedya. Tyutchev blames himself for her death, repentance does not leave. On the anniversary of her death, he will write a poem where he again recalls his love for Denisyeva: “Today, my friend, 15 years have passed ...”
Daughter Lelya did not live long, she, like her mother, also died of consumption. The next day, their son and Lena also died of the same disease.

The third child from Denisyeva was raised by Ernestina. And 62-year-old Tyutchev, trying to heal a spiritual wound, started an affair with a friend of his late mistress, Elena Bogdanova. His relatives learned about the existence of another common-law wife of the poet only from the will. He brought Hortense Lapp with him from Germany three years before he met Denisieva. To her and their common sons, Tyutchev bequeathed his general's pension, which, according to the law, was due to the widow - Ernestine.

That's what I wanted to tell you today about the poet's beloved, who became his muses and inspired him to create wonderful poems. We made sure that love lyrics reflected his personal life, full of passions, tragedies.

Now it is fashionable to talk about love. But here is an example of the love of a great man, Tyutchev. I would like to know your opinion, dear readers, about the life and love of this genius of Russian literature. Would you like your loved one to treat you the way Tyutchev treated his passions?