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Sofya Andreevna Bakhmeteva: biography. Biography Novel with A.K. Tolstoy

Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya: muse, wife, beloved

He is a noble nobleman, a prominent official, master of ceremonies of the imperial court, a stately, handsome man, moreover, a wealthy and talented, famous poet and writer. She is an ordinary noblewoman from the old but impoverished family of the Bakhmetyevs, the wife of a captain, not a beauty, but a woman with a brilliant mind, a connoisseur of literature and music. Ugly (very high forehead, heavy strong-willed chin), but there is something attractive, alluring in her.

They met in January 1851, he was 33 years old, she was a little younger. Leaving the masquerade ball, Alexey Konstantinovich repeated the words that suddenly came to himself: "In the midst of a noisy ball, by chance ..." This is how a genius poem was born: "I love you - I don't know, but it seems to me that I love you!"

There was no hesitation in life: Tolstoy fell in love immediately and forever, more precisely, for the entire period of earthly life, measured by his fate. But they got married only 12 years later. Why? Tolstoy possessed courage and enormous physical strength: he broke a bear on a hunt, threw a two-pound weight over the outbuilding, bent horseshoes. But he was absolutely powerless against his own mother. Obstinate and domineering, she was jealous of his hobbies. She invented illnesses, was treated abroad and insisted that her son be there.

When his mother found out about the appearance in the life of Alexei of a woman whom he was madly carried away, she was indignant and did everything to prevent this marriage. But there were also obstacles from Sofya Andreevna. The tragic events that preceded the first marriage were alive in her memory.

Among the friends of her beloved brother Yuri, a guard officer, two stood out: Horse Guardsman Lev Miller and Warrant Officer Prince Grigory Vyazemsky. She gave preference to the second, especially since he is a prince, and which of the girls of that time did not want to become a princess?

Vyazemsky could not resist the ugly, but charming Sophia and asked for her hand in marriage. She agreed and looked forward to the consent of the groom's parents. Although she was a noblewoman, she stood on the hierarchical ladder a few steps below, and the dowry for her was given a tiny one. The groom's parents were alarmed and strongly advised the loving son to cool down and not decide his fate "too hastily and imprudently." But Sophia's mother did not want to come to terms with the loss of such a profitable party for her daughter and rushed to persuade the groom's parents. They finally became obstinate and quickly found a bride for their son from their circle.

Sophia decides to play all-in. She goes to Vyazemsky's mother and throws herself at her feet. But she is adamant. And then the last argument appears: Sofya Bakhmetyeva is pregnant by Prince Vyazemsky. But this did not change anything either. The long scandal ended in tragedy. Yuri Bakhmetyev, wishing to avenge his sister's outraged honor, challenged the prince to a duel and was killed. In desperation, Sophia marries Lev Miller. But there is no love, and soon they diverge, however formally, without divorce. She began to appear frequently in the world, demonstrating her wonderful talents. She performed by Pergolesi, Bach, Gluck, Chopin. She sang. Her voice was enchanting.

In the winter of 1851, Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy proposed to her, but even in this case, objections from the groom's mother followed. History repeated itself! Nevertheless, their meetings did not stop. And Sophia, not devoid of practicality, meanwhile, was preparing a spare
variant with the writer Dmitry Grigorievich. They even traveled around Europe together. In the diary of Suvorin, who knew them, there is an entry: “When Grigorovich returned to the Bakhmetyevs, he found Mrs. Miller lying, weak. Count AK Tolstoy was sitting at her feet, passionately in love with her ... "" I did not want to interfere, "said Grigorovich," and we parted. "

The Crimean War broke out, and Tolstoy went to the theater of operations. Typhus was raging among the troops, and he became dangerously ill. Sofya Andreevna immediately arrived and literally pulled him out of the
Sveta.

Recovering further strengthened Tolstoy's love, and the death of his mother removed the main obstacle to their union. It was an almost perfect marriage. Alexei Konstantinovich found in Sofya Andreevna a new "mother", moreover, encyclopedically educated. She knew more than ten foreign languages, easily quoted Goethe, Shakespeare, Ronsard. She had an excellent literary taste, which Tolstoy fully trusted. She read a lot and went to bed only in the morning. They met for tea at two o'clock in the afternoon, and he usually said: "Well, Sophie, listen and criticize." And he read to her what he had written during the night. After years of living together, he confessed to his wife: "I cannot lie down without telling you that I have been telling you for 20 years now, that I cannot live without you, that you are my only treasure on earth, and I cry over this letter, as I cried 20 years ago. Blood freezes in my heart at the thought that I might lose you. "

But he did not lose her, but she lost him. In the last years of his life, Alexei Konstantinovich was tormented by illness, insomnia, headaches. He had to resort to morphine. He died of an overdose: he fell asleep and did not wake up. Three months before his death, he wrote to his wife: "For me, life consists only in being with you and loving you; the rest for me is death, emptiness, nirvana, but without tranquility and rest."

Alexey Konstantinovich lived for 58 years. Sofya Andreevna survived him for twenty years. After her husband's death, she lived on the memories of her love, re-read his letters and cried. She died in Lisbon, where she went to her niece, fleeing loneliness.

Soon after they met, Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy wrote to Sofya Andreevna: “I have not done anything yet - I have never been supported and always discouraged, I am very lazy, this is true, but I feel that I could do something good - if only I could be confident that I will find an artistic echo - and now I have found it ... it's you. "

He found not only an echo, but also a muse, and even a very beloved one. Sofia Andreevna is behind much of what Aleksei Tolstoy wrote. And he did a lot. He wrote several historical novels (the most famous - "Prince Silver" and "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich"); created the "History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev", was one of the "creators" of the famous Kozma Prutkov; wrote many lyric poems ("My bells, steppe flowers!", "You are my land, my dear land!"

It is curious that at the same ball another classic of ours, Turgenev, met Sophia Miller, but did not find anything remarkable in her ("The Face of a Chukhon Soldier in a Skirt"). But they corresponded for a long time, and Ivan Sergeevich later admitted: "Of the happy occasions that I didn’t let go of my hands in dozens, I especially remember the one that brought me together with you and which I used so badly."

Sophia Miller photography

"What Russian heart will not flinch, will not flutter, listening to Tchaikovsky's romance" Amid the Noisy Ball "?" - asked the temperamental music critic Vladimir Stasov at the end of the 19th century.

Amid a noisy ball, by chance,

In the alarm of worldly vanity,

I saw you, but a mystery

Your features were covered.

Many remember these poems by Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817-1875), and the melody of Tchaikovsky's romance merging with them. But not everyone knows that there are living events behind the poem: the beginning of extraordinary romantic love.

At a masquerade at the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theater in the winter of 1850–51, 33-year-old chamber-cadet Alexei Tolstoy saw a stranger. Kamer-junker was famous: his mother was the granddaughter of the last hetman of Ukraine, Kirill Razumovsky, and the daughter of the Minister of Public Education under Alexander I, his father was from the old Tolstoy family. But the darling of fate did not value his high position too much - his soul was given to poetry from his youth. In 1850 it was already published, already noticed.

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Who was that stranger in a black half mask - with a thin waist, ringing laughter, sad eyes? Her name was Sofya Andreevna Miller, nee Bakhmeteva. She also belonged to the high society - to an old surname (Varenka Lopukhina, Lermontov's beloved, is from their relatives), but impoverished.

She was an extraordinary woman, and her fate was also unusual. Contemporaries were struck by her education. She knew many foreign languages: according to some sources, fourteen, according to others - sixteen. Of course, knowledge of foreign languages was generally accepted in this environment, but Sophie Bakhmeteva was truly a polyglot. I read voraciously, absorbed the novelties of European literature and closely followed Russian literature. She corresponded with I.S. Turgenev, I.A. Goncharov, with novice authors, whose names appeared on the pages of magazines. “It seems to me that you really should be very kind,” Turgenev replied to her letter, “that you have a lot of taste and grace, and I feel that we can be friends. I would gladly trust you and your court with everything that interests me. "

Sophia Andreevna's facial features were somewhat large, heavy - this can be seen in the daguerreotypes and especially in the pictorial portrait, which always hung in the estate of A.K. Thick Red Horn. But the eyes were beautiful - lively, brilliant, intelligent. So the masquerade black mask ("... and your secret covered your features"), in which Tolstoy first saw her, came in handy for her. She also possessed an extremely beautiful ("like the call of a distant pipe"), "the voice of an angel penetrating into the soul."

Life was not kind to her, and she herself, not reckoning with the prejudices of her environment, was, perhaps, too daring for that ceremonial era. The love affair of young Sophie Bakhmeteva with Prince Vyazemsky, who seduced her, but married another, ended tragically. The brother of the abandoned girl, Pyotr Bakhmetev, challenged the offender to a duel and was killed. All her life, Sofya Andreevna considered herself to be guilty of the misfortunes and dishonor of her family.

The marriage of Sofya Andreevna with the colonel-cavalry guard L.F. Miller. The newlyweds hardly ever lived with each other. Nevertheless, Miller did not give his wife a divorce for a long time - even when her relationship with Count A.K. Tolstoy became known to the whole world and needed only legalization. "Poor child, since you were thrown into life, you have known only storms and thunderstorms," Alexey Konstantinovich will write to her.

Anna Alekseevna did everything to compromise her son's friend and distract Aleksey from the relationship that had lasted for seven years. The son did not dare to go against the will of the mother. Only after her sudden death, as well as the long-awaited divorce, the lovers got married, and Sofia Andreevna Miller became Countess Sofia Andreevna Tolstoy. Under this name, she entered the history of the literary nineteenth century, although it should be noted that in the future she will always be overshadowed by the complete coincidence of names with the younger Sofia Andreevna, the famous wife of L.N. Tolstoy and the owner of Yasnaya Polyana.

The wife of Alexei Konstantinovich did not have a chance to have children. Perhaps that is why she had a special love for stranger children. She was always surrounded by the children of her numerous relatives, and in the village of Pogoreltsy, not far from the Krasny Rog estate (this is in the Bryansk region), she opened a school for peasant girls, where they were taught to read and write and handicrafts.

By the way, the Tolstoy couple had a lot of luxurious estates. Melas on the shores of the Black Sea, where Alexei Tolstoy composed a poetic cycle "Crimean Essays", in Soviet times served as a sanatorium of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Quite recently, the St. Petersburg palace of Countess Tolstoy on Shpalernaya Street (here the Leningrad branch of the Writers' Union was located for many years) has been burned to the ground and is now being restored. In the village of Sablino near St. Petersburg, bus stops are still called "Grafsky meadow", "Grafsky descent", but passengers most likely do not suspect that this is a lingering memory of Count A.K. Tolstoy, about the estate "Pustynka", glorified by Vladimir Solovyov in his poem "White Bells". All these magnificent estates, even during the life of Alexei Konstantinovich, and especially after his death, passed into the hands of relatives and were slowly ruined.

The surviving correspondence testifies to the kinship of the souls of Alexei Konstantinovich and Sofya Andreevna, to their harmonious spiritual unity. "I've never been supported and always discouraged, I'm very lazy, it's true, but I feel like I could do something good, just to make sure I find an artistic echo," and now I've found it. .. it's you, "he wrote to Sofya Andreevna.

His mother and her entourage in every possible way encouraged his bureaucratic activities, predicted a brilliant state career for him, considering his literary pretensions to be a frivolous quirk. But the soulless and fruitless service plunged the poet into constant despondency and self-denial. And only Sofya Andreevna resolutely and without hesitation supported Tolstoy's intention to retire and devote herself entirely to creativity.

In fact, it is Sofya Andreyevna that Russian culture owes the literary flourishing of Count Tolstoy - after all, it began just in the 1850s, after that very memorable meeting "amid a noisy ball, by accident." He dedicated his poems to her - "Not the wind blowing from a height", "That was in early spring", "Don't trust me, friend", "Autumn. Our whole poor garden is sprinkled" and many others. But his wife was not just a Muse. She is a constant assistant, a strict critic and even an editor of his works. Who knows, Kozma Prutkov would have been born if not for Sofya Andreevna? Aleksey Tolstoy composed comic poems, parodies and plays under the collective pseudonym of Kozma Prutkov together with his cousins Zhemchuzhnikovs. Their ardent admirer was Sofya Andreevna, who, in addition to all her virtues, also had a good sense of humor.

The history of Russian literature is rich in the names of women who inspired the creators. But this union was, perhaps, the only one of its kind - it was distinguished by some rare mutual understanding. Sofya Andreevna accompanied her husband on all his travels. Even to the Crimean War, where Tolstoy volunteered, she went with him. There, at the front, Tolstoy caught typhus, and Sofya Andreevna nursed him in the infirmary.

Alexey Konstantinovich died on September 28, 1875 at the age of 58 at his estate, Krasny Horn. He suffered from severe headaches that the then medicine could not cope with. Only morphine saved. Doses increased and Tolstoy died from what is now commonly called "drug overdose."

Sofya Andreevna survived her husband by 20 years. After his death, she, showing good business qualities and professionalism, supervised the publication of the works of A.K. Tolstoy. And in her literary salon on Shpalernaya, all the artistic color of the capital gathered. At the end of her life she was very friendly with Dostoevsky. He revealed his literary ideas to her, and she invited him to play the role of the schema-monk in a home play based on her husband's play "The Death of Ivan the Terrible".

“Today,” wrote Tolstoy on August 8, 1854, “such a beautiful night, so many stars are reflected in the water, the air is warm ... When I see such a night, although I continue to love nature as much, it seems to me that there is something- the best thing that should be our goal ... This feeling is very strong in me - and it always was, but it hurts a lot. There are a lot of flowers around us, and the air smells fragrant, and the eyes enjoy ... I feel the insufficiency of life ... And although I do not speak about it, this feeling is very sincere in me. "

Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy met Sofya Andreevna Miller by chance "in the midst of a noisy ball ...", "in the anxiety of worldly vanity ...". This was the beginning of an extraordinary romantic love.

At a masquerade at the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theater in the winter of 1850-51, 33-year-old chamber-cadet Alexei Tolstoy saw a stranger. Kamer-junker Tolstoy was a noble, darling of fate, who did not value his high position too much, and from his youth devoted himself to poetry.

A stranger in a black half-mask - with a thin waist, ringing laughter, sad eyes - Sofya Andreevna Miller, nee Bakhmeteva, belonged to the upper world - to the old name (Varenka Lopukhina, Lermontov's beloved, from their relatives), but impoverished. Sofya Andreevna was an extraordinary woman, and her fate was also unusual. Contemporaries were struck by her education. She knew many foreign languages: according to some sources, fourteen, according to others - sixteen. Of course, knowledge of foreign languages was generally accepted in this environment, but Sophie Bakhmeteva was truly a polyglot. I read voraciously, absorbed the novelties of European literature and closely followed Russian literature. She corresponded with I.S. Turgenev, I.A. Goncharov, with novice authors, whose names appeared on the pages of magazines. Sophia Andreevna's features were somewhat large, heavy, but her eyes were beautiful - lively, brilliant, intelligent. She also possessed an extremely beautiful ("like the call of a distant pipe"), "the voice of an angel penetrating into the soul."

Life was not kind to her, and she herself, who did not take into account the prejudices of her environment, was, perhaps, too daring for that era. The love affair of young Sophie Bakhmeteva with Prince Vyazemsky, who seduced her, but married another, ended tragically. The brother of the abandoned girl, Pyotr Bakhmetev, challenged the offender to a duel and was killed. All her life, Sofya Andreevna considered herself to be guilty of the misfortunes and dishonor of her family.

The marriage of Sofya Andreevna with the colonel-cavalry guard L.F. Miller. The newlyweds hardly ever lived together. Nevertheless, Miller did not give his wife a divorce for a long time - even when her relationship with Count Tolstoy became known to the whole world and only needed legalization.

"Poor child, since you were thrown into life, you have known only storms and thunderstorms," Alexey Konstantinovich will write to her.

Tolstoy was a broad-minded man. But his mother, Anna Alekseevna Tolstaya, stood firmly against his chosen one. A strong-willed woman, she had a great influence on her son. The mother did not want to come to terms with the fact that her son had an affair with a married woman. As often happens, she saw in Sofya Andreevna's intentions only selfish considerations and vanity. Anna Alekseevna did everything to compromise her son's friend and distract Aleksey from the relationship that had lasted for seven years. The son did not dare to go against the will of the mother. Only after her sudden death, as well as the long-awaited divorce, the lovers got married, and Sofia Andreevna Miller became Countess Sofia Andreevna Tolstoy. Under this name, she entered the history of the literary nineteenth century.

The wife of Alexei Konstantinovich did not have a chance to have children. Perhaps that is why she had a special love for stranger children. She was always surrounded by the children of her numerous relatives, and even opened a school for peasant girls, where they were taught to read and write.

The happiest and most fruitful period in the life of the Tolstoy couple is associated with the estate Desert. House-estate Pustynka was well known among the Russian intelligentsia of the second half of the 19th century. I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev, A.A. Fet, Ya.P. Polonsky, V.P. Botkin, D.D. Hume, I.S. Aksakov, K.K. Pavlova. Emperor Alexander II and his wife Maria Alexandrovna visited the Hermitage. Later, after the death of the count, the poet and philosopher V. Soloviev lived here for a long time, who was passionately and unrequitedly in love with the niece of his wife A.K. Tolstoy - S. A. Khitrovo.

I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev, A.A. Fet, P.I. Tchaikovsky called Pustynka a monastery, where the count worshiped his deity - S.A. Miller.

The surviving correspondence testifies to the kinship of the souls of Alexei Konstantinovich and Sofya Andreevna, to their harmonious spiritual unity.

"I've never been supported and always discouraged, I'm very lazy, it's true, but I feel like I could do something good, just to make sure I find an artistic echo," and now I've found it. .. it's you, "he wrote to Sofya Andreevna.

Sofya Andreevna resolutely and without hesitation supported Tolstoy's intention to abandon public service, retire and devote herself to creativity.

In fact, it is Sofya Andreyevna that Russian culture owes the literary flourishing of Count Tolstoy. He dedicated his poems to her - "Not the wind blowing from a height", "That was in early spring", "Don't trust me, friend", "Autumn. Our whole poor garden is sprinkled" and many others. But his wife was not just a Muse. She is a constant assistant, a strict critic and even an editor of his works. Who knows, Kozma Prutkov would have been born if not for Sofya Andreevna? Aleksey Tolstoy composed comic poems, parodies and plays under the collective pseudonym of Kozma Prutkov together with his cousins Zhemchuzhnikovs. Their ardent admirer was Sofya Andreevna, who, in addition to all her virtues, also had a good sense of humor.

Traveling to Europe in 1895, she fell seriously ill and died in Lisbon. After the difficult journey of the coffin to her homeland, Sofya Andreevna, according to her will, was buried in the estate of the Red Horn. Near the grave of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy.

Love of A.K. Tolstoy and S.A. Miller is immortalized in the lines of the famous romance by P.I. Tchaikovsky "Amid the noisy ball ..."

Despite the fact that she was born in the provinces, she was very educated and had an inquisitive mind. She knew fourteen foreign languages. I read voraciously, absorbed the novelties of European literature and closely followed Russian literature. In her youth, she had an affair with Prince Grigory Nikolaevich Vyazemsky, as a result of which she became pregnant. Bakhmetyeva's mother brought charges against the prince, the essence of which was that the prince was dragging out time to marry her daughter, and this offends maternal pride. If the prince refuses to marry, the lady's relatives challenge him to a duel. Gregory accepts the challenge and Sophie's brother, Peter, comes out with him. As a result of the duel, which took place in Petrovsky-Razumovsky, Peter dies.

First marriage

Sofya Andreevna Bakhmeteva marries Lev Miller, the nephew of Ekaterina Lvovna Tolstoy, whose sister was the mother of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev. Leo is a brilliant officer, a cavalry guard, but this does not bring happiness to young Sophie. The spouses live separately for a long time and communicate little.

An affair with A.K. Tolstoy

In January 1851, Sofia Miller met I.S. Turgenev and Count A.K. Tolstoy at a masquerade at the Bolshoi Theater. Sofya Andreevna was wearing a mask and intrigued Turgenev and they agreed on a second date. Ivan Sergeevich took the silent Tolstoy with him for the campaign. Seeing Sophia without a mask, Turgenev was greatly discouraged. Later he will say:

"What did I see then? ...

The face of a Chukhon soldier in a skirt! "

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Despite her ugly face, Sonya had a beautiful figure and, in addition, she was very charming and sociable. When later there was a pleasant conversation over tea, during which Turgenev got bored, and Alexei Konstantinovich, on the contrary, was fascinated by Sophia. He soon dedicates the following lines to her:

Amid a noisy ball, by chance,

In the alarm of worldly vanity,

I saw you, but a mystery

Your features were covered.

Later, these lines will be used in the famous romance by Tchaikovsky. However, while Aleksey Konstantinovich was composing romantic poems and writing letters to her, Sophia had a passionate affair with Grigorovich during a trip to Saratov.

In his declining years, Grigorovich recalled this "road" novel like this:

"Dear was used terribly, to the point of exhaustion. She was unusually passionate and kept asking for something new."

Soon unpleasant rumors reached Tolstoy. He immediately packed up and went to Smolkovo, the estate of the Bakhmetevs, in order to demand an explanation. Calmly listening to Alexei Konstantinovich, Sophia told him all her life. Tolstoy's anger changed to tenderness and he realized that he was the person who would save her from a bad past and give her family happiness. But Tolstoy's mother was against the marriage, who considered Sophia a terrible woman and her husband, who did not give her a divorce ... They met occasionally, in secret. Only when, during the Crimean War, Tolstoy falls ill with typhus, Sophia, without hiding, comes to nurse him. Finally, after the death of Alexei Konstantinovich's mother, 12 years after they met, they got married in Dresden, in a Greek church.

Married life with A.K. Tolstoy

At first, the life of the newlyweds was happy and harmonious. Tolstoy was never jealous of his wife for the past, he only pitied her infinitely.

"Poor child, since you were thrown into life, you have known only storms and thunderstorms ... It's hard for me even to listen to music without you. It's as if I'm getting closer to you through it!"

But Sofya Andreevna could not remain a quiet, modest wife all her life. She was bored. In the winter, I was bored in Europe, devastating for insane luxury. And in the summer I was bored at the estate. She called Alexei Konstaninovich by his last name: "What nonsense are you talking about, Tolstoy!" He annoyed her. She did not even consider it necessary to hide from him, which puts Turgenev as a writer much higher. Naturally, all this upset Alexei Konstaninovich very much and reflected on his health. He suffered from headaches, asthma, neuralgia. Someone advised him to relieve pain with morphine. This later ruined him - in 1875 he died of an overdose.

Further years of life and death

After her husband's funeral, Sofya Andreevna moved to St. Petersburg. In her living room, she arranges a literary salon, where writers, poets and influential people regularly gather. On one of these evenings, she strikes up a romantic acquaintance with Dostoevsky and he becomes her frequent guest, until his death in 1881. The remaining years Sofya Andreevna traveled a lot, talked and died in 1895, in Lisbon. According to her will, she was reburied at the Krasny Rog estate, next to Alexei Konstantinovich.

Small Lambir village Smolkovo. A couple of broken streets, tiny houses, an abandoned farm. In the center - a new church, built on the site of the old one ... In the 18th-19th centuries, these lands belonged to the Bakhmetyev family. The village is directly related to the great Russian literature. Here lived Sofya Andreevna Bakhmetyeva - the wife and muse of the famous writer Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy. It was to her that he dedicated the famous poem "Amid the Noisy Ball". A seemingly not at all attractive woman managed to captivate Ivan Turgenev, and already in old age she was friends with Fyodor Dostoevsky. Sophia tried to live only by her own rules and often challenged social norms. Moralists of the time considered her licentious and hypocritical. Be that as it may, to this nondescript, but very intelligent person, mankind owes the immortal works of the great Russian classics. About the fate, love and morals of Bakhmetyeva - in the material of Anna Opravkhat.

Little Sophie was born in 1827 into a family of almost ruined landowners. She spent her childhood in the ancestral village of Smolkovo. Father Andrei Nikolaevich tried his best to give his daughter a decent education. She possessed an inquiring mind, read a lot, followed the novelties of European literature, was fond of philosophy, learned 14 foreign languages! Already in her youth, she could easily enter into an argument with any professor. Nature did not award Sophia with a bright appearance. “At that time, delicate, aristocratic facial features were valued,” says Nikolai Vasiliev, a professor at Moscow State University named after Ogarev, who wrote the book “Russian Writers in the Mordovian Territory (Late 18th - Early 20th Centuries): Reference Dictionary”. - And Bakhmetyeva was a chubby, snub-nosed "chukhonka", as Ivan Turgenev noted, with small eyes. Only a slender figure "saved" the situation. " Nevertheless, men liked Sophie. Many were just crazy about her intellectual development. In her youth, the girl started an affair with Prince Grigory Vyazemsky. Parents turned a blind eye to it. The plight forced them to speculate with their daughter. The family hoped that the rich boyfriend would marry the young mistress. This did not happen even after Sophia became pregnant. The Vyazemskys did not want to be related to the bankrupt landowners. The defiled dowry turned out to be of no use to anyone. The girl even tried to talk to a potential mother-in-law, on her knees she asked not to turn away from her grandson. But nothing came of it. As a result, Bakhmetyeva's brother Peter challenged Grigory Vyazemsky to a duel, in which he died for the honor of his sister. The born girl was also named Sophia and, in order to avoid gossip, was formalized as the daughter of the deceased Paul ...

Today in Smolkovo nothing reminds of past passions ... But it was here that Alexei Tolstoy wrote the first chapters of the famous novel "Prince Silver" ...

Sophie herself was tormented for a long time with guilt for the death of her brother, and then she married captain Lev Miller, who, by the way, was a cousin of Fyodor Tyutchev. But this marriage turned out to be unhappy. The spouses practically did not communicate and lived separately for a long time. Contemporaries even considered the union of Miller and Bakhmetyeva fictitious. Sophia was often alone at social events, she could openly leave the ball with any young man she liked. “Closer to the second half of the 19th century, the mores of Russian society were not too strict,” notes Professor Vasiliev. - People could get divorced, enter into extramarital relations. But no one could afford to openly cheat on her husband. However, young Sophie adhered to her own morality. She didn’t care what others thought. ”

In January 1851, 24-year-old Bakhmetyeva arrived for a masquerade at the St. Petersburg Stone Theater, where Count Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy appeared with Tsarevich Alexander. At 34, he was still not married. Many believed that the reason for the protracted bachelor life was the writer's mother, Anna Alekseevna Perovskaya, who raised her son alone and did not want to share him with anyone. To protect Alexei from falling in love, the woman more than once sent him to study abroad. “Rumors about Perovskaya’s despotism are perhaps greatly exaggerated,” says Nikolai Vasiliev. - Even the most loyal mother does not want to let go of her child and is jealous of him for another woman. Yes, Anna Alekseevna was a very strict parent, but this does not mean at all that she alone is to blame for Tolstoy's unsettled personal life. Many trials fell to its lot. Alexei's father, Konstantin Petrovich, was not a man of a distant mind, and he also loved to drink hard. He did not take part in raising his son. Perovskaya herself managed to put Alexei on his feet. Of course, because of all this, her character hardened ... "

Sofya Bakhmetyeva was not distinguished by her beauty, but she shone with intelligence and ingenuity

Meeting with Bakhmetyeva changed the life of Alexey Tolstoy

Masquerades were incredibly popular in those days. Hiding her face, a decent young lady could afford what she would never have dared to do in ordinary life. Tolstoy and Bakhmetyeva met in a theater restored after a fire, among many Venetian masks of tigresses, cats and griffins ... The heir to the throne disappeared into a crowd of ladies in chic ball gowns, and Alexei found himself in the company of his old friend Ivan Turgenev. Suddenly a tall girl came up to them and started talking about some nonsense. Sophie was hiding under the mask. Her melodious voice intrigued both. It became clear to everyone that the young lady liked Turgenev more. A few minutes later, the stranger disappeared, leaving the writers in disarray. Soon, Turgenev met with Bakhmetyeva in an informal setting and was deeply disappointed with her appearance. Later, the writer wrote: "I saw a Chukhon soldier in a skirt ..." Then the plot developed even more interesting. Sophie tried to win the sympathy of Turgenev, but he preferred only friendly communication. He liked to talk with a well-read person. The young lady wanted more. But years later, Turgenev admitted that he was still attracted to the ugly Sophie. Meanwhile, Alexei Tolstoy fell in love with the girl. At night, after the first meeting, he wrote a poem about her:

“In the midst of a noisy ball, by chance, In the alarm of worldly vanity, I saw You, but Your mystery covered my features. Only the eyes gazed sadly, And the voice sounded so marvelous, Like the ringing of a distant pipe, Like the sea playing the shaft. I liked your camp thin And all your pensive look, And your laughter, and sad and sonorous, Since then it sounds in my heart. In the hours of lonely nights I love, tired, to lie down - I see sad eyes, I hear a cheerful speech; And so sadly I fall asleep, And in the dreams of the unknown I sleep ... Do I love you - I do not know, But it seems to me that I love! "

Sophia seemed special to Tolstoy. Windy, living with passions, she turned the head of the delicate and well-mannered Alexei. After the ball there was a new meeting. Sophia said that her marriage to Lev Miller has long brought only suffering, but she cannot get a divorce. The writer promised to wait for his beloved at least all his life and be faithful. Of course, Alexei Konstantinovich understood that Sophia was not the woman one could dream of. She, without hesitation, went to bed with him at the very beginning of the relationship. But literally inhuman passion did not allow to give up. Tolstoy constantly came to Smolkovo to meet his beloved. Sophie herself did not have the same strong feelings for the new fan. The mother of Alexei Tolstoy intervened in the matter, who soon learned that her son had fallen in love with a vicious woman. Anna Alekseevna was sure that Bakhmetyeva wanted to get a good job at the expense of their condition. The count himself knew about the obscene behavior of his beloved, so the arguments of the parent did not affect his feelings in any way. He continued to dream of a wedding with Sophia. The writer spent three years on the road. He lived in Petersburg, then in Krivoy Rog with his mother, then in Smolkovo. He had to travel thousands of kilometers to meet "the woman of his whole life." In 1853, Tolstoy decided to take part in the Crimean War. He served as an officer in a rifle regiment. One by one the servicemen were dying of typhus. Alexei Konstantinovich was also struck by a terrible illness. Doctors just shrugged their shoulders and predicted a quick death. But fate decreed otherwise. At the height of his illness, when the writer was delirious and did not recognize anyone around, Bakhmetyeva appeared in the hospital. Seeing her, Tolstoy quickly went on the mend. Sophie looked after him, spoon-fed him, washed him, helped him learn to walk again. It was then that a deep feeling settled in the soul of the frivolous lady. Bakhmetyeva achieved a divorce from Miller, and soon the mother of Alexei Konstantinovich died. All obstacles on the way to the joint happiness of lovers have been removed. In 1863, 12 years after they met, they finally got married.

Tolstoy dreamed of completely devoting his life to creativity, but in society this was considered bad form. Despite the fact that his works were appreciated in secular circles, friends advised him to make a career as a diplomat. The earl's origin obliged to correspond to the title. Sophia had become a real muse for the writer by that time. Her opinion was decisive. After Tolstoy went on indefinite leave with the rank of state councilor and the court rank of jägermeister, the couple settled in the Krasny Rog estate. There, in 1867, Aleksey Konstantinovich wrote a poem "Against the Current", in which he urged every creative person to do what he loved in spite of everything. Already in marriage, Sophie told her husband about her illegally born children - Sophia and Pavla, who are considered her nephews. Tolstoy forgave his beloved and even agreed to take on their upbringing. Family life made the woman, accustomed to adventures and intrigues, bored. But love and respect for the spouse did not allow them to commit reckless acts anymore. Sofya Andreevna watched over the house, received guests. Sometimes she could not stand it and made scandals out of the blue. Any little thing could infuriate her. Alexey Konstantinovich took the whims of his beloved for granted, and over time his feelings only became stronger. Tolstoy constantly wrote letters to Sophie, where he spoke of how much he was afraid of losing her. The count's health was getting worse. He suffered from asthma and neurological diseases. Constant headache forced to resort to the help of "fashionable remedy" - morphine. Gradually, the injection dose had to be increased. Sofya Andreevna was worried and asked her husband to be more careful with "this dangerous thing." But Alexey Konstantinovich only joked it off, saying that it is better to fall into eternal sleep than to suffer from pain. On the morning of September 28, 1875, Sophie was unable to wake her husband up. Tolstoy died of an overdose of morphine at the age of 58. The writer was buried in Krivoy Rog - in the family crypt not far from the Church of the Assumption. After the death of her husband, Sophia was engaged in the publication of his works, created a whole literary salon, where all the metropolitan nobility gathered. Later she met Fyodor Dostoevsky. The great writer often consulted with an educated friend, showed her his works, shared literary ideas. Bakhmetyev-Tolstaya devoted the rest of her life to travel. In 1895, in Lisbon, she fell seriously ill and died there at the age of 68. Sophie was buried next to the grave of her husband Alexei Tolstoy ...

The graves of Sophia and Alexei Tolstoy are located in the Bryansk village of Krasny Rog

The fate of Bakhmetyeva's son Pavel is unknown. Daughter Sophia married the poet Mikhail Khitrov, gave birth to five children in marriage: Elizabeth, Andrei, Gregory and Maria. She had an affair with the famous philosopher Vladimir Soloviev. Also, the young lady maintained close relations with Afanasy Fet and other artists. Sophia Andreevna's nephew Dmitry Tsertelev became an outstanding poet and literary critic. She had no children with Alexei Konstantinovich ...

This story once again reminds the inhabitants of Mordovia that in our region there are absolutely amazing places where great people lived, loved and worked. One of these is the village of Smolkovo. Once upon a time, dramatic fateful events unfolded there, which served as the basis for brilliant literary works. In this settlement, different destinies are intertwined. For example, the cousin of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Lev Zhemchuzhnikov, was hiding there from the court. He fell in love with a serf of a Ukrainian landowner and wanted to redeem her. But the strict master did not agree. Then Zhemchuzhnikov kidnapped the girl and fled with her to Smolkovo. Today, few local residents know what happened in the place where their houses are. Perhaps one of them is a relative of Sofia Bakhmetyeva, a woman who inspired Russian classics to create masterpieces.