Customer Reviews

Class Treason: A Russian Grandee marries his serf - By: K. van Amelorde, 08 Aug 2008
In Russia it seems everybody knows the story of Count Nicholas Sheremetev, one of the richest manin Russia, secretly married 32-year-old Praskovia Kovalyova, his former serf. It is a popular legendary romantic fairy tale.

The heroine is Praskovia Ivanovna Kovalyova who was one of the best opera singersin eighteenth-century Russia. She was born into the family of a serf smith. They were owned by the Counts Sheremetevs,who had made their fortune as military leader of Peter the Great. 200.000 serfs were own with body & soul by the Sheremetevs. Count Nikolai loved the theatre & kept a serf theatre. Its brightest star became Parskovia.In this 1780 performance Sacchini's opera La coloniethe actress for the first time appeared under the stage name Zhemchugova, "The Pearl", (zhemchug means "pearl"in Russian). She became the count's mistress; not unusal but this was more. She became a wifein all but name. Already quite scandalous. However, this all went further. Freed by the count,in 1801 she became secretly his wife & mother of his son Dimitry. She died shortly afterwardsin 1803. The count had already asked & received official recognition of his marriage. This marriage scandalized society & angered Nikolai's family. His two nephews wanted of course to inherit his vast fortune.T he plaque on Praskovia's grave is a monument for the count's love: This plain marble, unfeeling & impermanent, Hides the priceless remains of a wife & mother. Her soul was a temple of virtue, In which peace, piety, & faith resided, Where pure love & friendship dwellt. He diedin 1809.

The book is not just the wonderful love story but gives a deep inside into the word of the Russian Grandees & the glitterung world of the Courtin the 18th century contrasting deepy with the lives of peasants & serfs. Serfdom reached its height at the end of the eighteenth century. By then 34 out of 36 million peasant families were either landlord serfs or state peasants. Officially serfs were not slaves, although the dividing line could be rather hazy. In general, Russian serfs were considered property to be bought & sold. The author however believes that "serfdom never sank to the brutalizing & utterly dehumanizing level of slaveryin the Americas". Well, a bit too roamtic his notion & forgetting that the vast majority of Russian werein such a state. Serfdom & slavery might bein legal terms different, but the reality was very similar & both are utterly unacceptable.

Brilliant is his re-creation of the serf theatre. It was a great discovery for me.

Unfortunately, the absence of historical material about Praskovia herself leaves a deplorable gap, deplored first of all by the author himself. He than has to speculate about the emotional relationship between the serf turned singer & her owner.

Allin all, this is a wonderful book giving an inside into Russia at the end of the 18th century when glitter & glamour & poverty & misery are close by. 100% recommended!!!