Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
Situated near the Smolenskaya metro station, diagonally across from the B. Shchukin Theatre Institute, the two-storey mansion attracts attention with a memorial plaque on the wall. In this house with a rich history, including the fire of 1812 and the status of a famous cultural centre of the 20th century, the outstanding composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin lived from 1912 to 1915. Elizaveta Timoshina, musicologist, Moscow guide, research fellow at the A.N. Scriabin Memorial Museum, says: “Three years after his death, in 1918, a museum was created. But there are also a large number of places around that are connected with the composer’s biography. And I suggest that we walk through them today.”
Sivtsev Vrazhek and Denezhny lanes
From the museum, we walk along a series of narrow streets, crossing Arbat, to the Yesenin Cultural Center. Anna Izryadnova, the poet’s first wife, lived here, but there is another interesting story connected with the building. “On this site there used to be the house of Karl Monighetti, a doctor who worked in the cadet corps. Scriabin studied there from the age of ten. Karl Ivanovich noticed the talented cadet and invited him to visit. Later, Scriabin was friends with his children,” comments Elizaveta Timoshina.
The route then follows Denezhny Lane with a stop at another beautiful mansion, of which there are many in this area – each house is a portal to the past. Karl Gutheil, the first music publisher and friend of Sergei Rachmaninoff, who was often his guest, lived in this building. How are Alexander Scriabin and another great composer of the 20th century related? “They entered two departments together with Sergei Rachmaninoff: piano and composition. And they also studied together with Sergei Taneyev, who taught strict counterpoint. The future composers often missed classes on this subject, and Sergei Ivanovich called them the most lazy students. But despite this, he still recognized them as two brilliant musicians,” explains Elizaveta Timoshina. They were often compared, called the rulers of musical thoughts, but came to the conclusion that there were not so many points of contact between the creative styles of one and the other: each had a bright creative originality. It is even more curious that the life paths of the two geniuses were connected by Arbat.
Glazovsky Lane
Leaving behind the main house of the city estate of Mikhail Grachev, the founder of the gold and silver coin factory, and a remarkable wooden building of the 18th century with a carved yellow and white fence, we reach the next alley. It is impossible to pass by the mansion of the entrepreneur Otto List without being impressed. This is the first building in Moscow in the Art Nouveau style – it was created by the architect Lev Kekushev, one of the greatest masters of this style. His autograph was the image of a lion, and it has also been preserved on this house.
“At one time, Sergei Koussevitzky, a music publisher, composer and conductor who founded the Russian Music Publishing House, lived in this mansion. Scriabin and Rachmaninoff were on the founding council. Koussevitzky held meetings of the publishing house in his own house. Alexander Nikolayevich stayed with him in 1910 when he came from abroad,” continues Elizaveta Timoshina. At that time, the house became one of the centers of creative life in Moscow, and prominent cultural figures visited here, including Claude Debussy, Sergei Prokofiev, Feodor Chaliapin and Boris Pasternak. Across the street, exactly on the opposite side, is another remarkable building associated with the Koussevitzky couple – their apartment building in the Venetian style with Gothic elements.
Sivtsev Vrazhek and Bolshoy Afanasyevsky Lane
Further along a small circle, the route leads towards a historical street named after a ravine, along the bottom of which a small river Sivka flowed. Here, at the intersection of Sivtsev Vrazhek and Plotnikov Lane, there is a small two-story house in which the symbolist artist Nikolai Sperling lived at the end of the 19th century, who became a close friend of Scriabin in the last years of the composer’s life. “And now in the museum you can see paintings of this artist in the study of Alexander Nikolaevich. They inspired Scriabin to create his last works,” says Elizaveta Timoshina. Sperling’s paintings have many philosophical subtexts and sacred meanings that were close to the composer’s worldview. Among the works that can be seen in the museum are “Eastern Sage”, Tibi, Purissima and other works.
The final stage of the excursion is Bolshoy Afanasyevsky Lane, where the Church of Saints Athanasius and Cyril, Patriarchs of Alexandria, is located. It is also connected with a story from Scriabin’s life: the church was visited by his grandmother and aunt, with whom he lived nearby, in house 22, during his years of studying at the conservatory. And in the neighboring Starokonyushenny Lane, the composer’s beloved Natalya Sekerina lived, and in one of his letters he asked her to come to this church so that she could see his relatives.
The Arbat lanes hold a huge number of amazing stories that deserve deep and thoughtful study. Here are the houses where Alexander Herzen and Marina Tsvetaeva lived, the Burganov House Museum with a picturesque courtyard and other attractions. You can walk, contemplate, enjoy the atmosphere of antiquity and its eclectic proximity to modern architecture in any company and in any weather. And if you want to turn your trip into an exploration of the musical life of Moscow at the beginning of the 20th century, you can join the themed walking tours of the A.N. Scriabin Memorial Museum. You can buy tickets atMos.ru.
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