"I was driving home"
I was driving home, my soul was full
Unclear to myself, some new happiness.
It seemed to me that everything with such fate
They looked at me with such affection.

I was driving home... Two-horned moon
I looked out the windows of the boring carriage.
The distant bell of the morning bell
Sang in the air like a gentle string...

Spreading the pink veil,
The beautiful dawn lazily woke up,
And the swallow, rushing somewhere into the distance,
I swam in the clear air.

I was driving home, I was thinking about you,
My thoughts were anxiously confused and torn.
A sweet slumber touched my eyes.
Oh, if I never woke up again.

This beautiful romance was written by a man who deeply feels the beauty of the world around him. In his every word you feel tenderness, sensuality and the desire to meet your loved one. It was written by actress and romance singer Marie Poiret.
Who is she, Marie Poiret? And why is so little known about the history of this romance and its creator?
I came across an article by Olga Konodyuk, published on the pages of School of Life.ru
Let's get acquainted with the difficult life story of this woman, Marie Poiret.

Maria Poiret Maroussia did not marry of her own free will. Relatives were in a hurry to marry the 16-year-old bride to her “successful” groom, engineer Mikhail Sveshnikov. He was almost 50 years old. His candidacy suited everyone. Especially Maria’s older sisters, Evgenia and Alexandra, who still could not find grooms.
Both were unattractive. Maria always annoyed them. Short, slender blonde with blue eyes. Gorgeous! Moreover, as it turned out, she was talented. She sings well, writes poetry... Maria Poiret was born in Moscow on January 4, 1863 (145 years ago). She was the 7th child in the family. Marusya dreamed of running away from home even in her childhood. Her mother, Yulia Andreevna Tarasenkova, the daughter of cloth manufacturers, died when Marusa was barely eight years old. Father, Jacob Poiret, a Frenchman who founded a school of gymnastics and fencing in Moscow, died in a duel several years ago.
Now no one could keep Maria here anymore. And the uncle who lived in their family insisted on his niece’s marriage. From the very beginning, he was against Maria’s entry into the conservatory, where she dreamed of studying singing. But the girl, fortunately, had an unyielding and stubborn character. In response to the arguments of her old husband, who supported his wife’s relatives in everything, Maria only frowned and demanded that they not ask the impossible from her. Her uncle and husband said that if Maria did not listen to them, they would deprive her of her position in society (which by that time she did not yet have), her dowry (they gave her 10 thousand rubles!) and even send her... to a madhouse. The young woman could not find a place for herself with indignation, she either cried or laughed. But the relatives were not joking. And very soon this young and inexperienced creature in everyday affairs found herself in a hospital room with her head shorn. Subsequently, her friend’s brother, a well-known entrepreneur in Moscow, Mikhail Valentinovich Lentovsky, helped her free herself from this hell. He affectionately called Maria “Lavrushka”, and she burst into tears out of shame for her “outfit”... Maria Poiret (stage name “Marusina”) played at the Lentovsky Theater for 10 years. She performed brilliantly in all operettas. She was lively and cheerful on stage, sang dashingly, driving her fans crazy. Could he then imagine that his “Lavrushka”, having become rich and famous, would support him financially for the rest of his life, sparing neither money nor his expensive jewelry. Soon her first poems were published on the pages of the newspaper “Novoe Vremya”. Maria rejoiced at this like a child. And in Tsarskoe Selo, Marie Poiret was enthusiastically received by the public as a performer of romances. Her romance “Swan Song” instantly becomes famous. By that time, Maria Yakovlevna was already playing on the stage of the Alexandria Theater. She is 35 years old, full of hopes and desires. It was the most wonderful time of her life. Maria is in love. Her admirer is Prince Pavel Dmitrievich Dolgorukov. They are both smart and beautiful. In 1898, Marie Poiret gave birth to a daughter, Tatiana. The only thing that darkened her life was the inability to marry the prince. Her ex-husband did not consent to the divorce. Maria herself goes to him, persuades him, but he is inexorable. Old man Sveshnikov, who settled in a monastery, not far from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, invites Maria Yakovlevna to register her daughter in her last name. Tatyana only inherited her father’s middle name, which Poiret asked to be included in the girl’s birth certificate at baptism. After 10 years, Marie Poiret’s relationship with the prince becomes strained; there is no former love and warmth. Maria and her daughter move to Moscow. She dreams of creating her own theater. But Maria Yakovlevna did not have the necessary acumen for such a task, a faithful and active assistant like Lentovsky. She enters the Maly Theater and continues to participate in concerts. Maria Poiret sang romances, including her own compositions. Among them is the romance “I was driving home, I was thinking about you...” (1901).

The romance is picked up by other singers, and now it is already popular. She wants to do something, act. Maria feels the breath of a new time. She travels to the Far East with charity concerts, where the Russian-Japanese War (1904-1905) is taking place. Manages to write poetry and correspondence. In 1904, Maria returned to Moscow with a great desire to perform in front of the public with new poems. Very soon fate will send Maria Yakovlevna a new test. In Moscow, she met the count, a member of the State Duma, a wealthy landowner, Alexei Anatolyevich Orlov-Davydov. She thought she was in love. Or maybe the approaching loneliness worried her... Maria's ex-husband had died by that time. Orlov-Davydov left his wife, Baroness De Staal, leaving three children. Unfortunately, his son and future heir to the entire fortune was seriously ill. Maria promises to give him an heir. She is 50 years old, but the Count believes in her fantasies. And one day she announced to her husband that she was expecting a child... Little Alexey, named after his father, was born when the count arrived from a long business trip. Only a narrow circle of people knew that Marie Poiret took the child in one of the shelters. But the peace in their family was short-lived. The “kind” man found out Maria Yakovlevna’s secret and began to blackmail first the count and then the countess, demanding money in return for silence. Many researchers of the singer’s strange fate wrote that it was a certain extra Karl Laps. Allegedly, he subsequently persuaded the count to start a case in court against his wife. Long before the trial, Orlov-Davydov whispered to his wife: “Masha, don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I will not spare any money or connections for this.” And she, as always, naively believed. And then this ill-fated day came. As she approached the courthouse, she heard the words: “We love you! We are with you! But Marie Poiret only lowered her head low. But then a whistle was heard, and someone’s hoarse voice was heard very close by: “Swindler! Look, Countess Marusya! I coveted millions!” Having learned that the plaintiff in her case was Count Orlov-Davydov, Maria Poiret almost lost consciousness. She hardly heard what was said in the hall. Maria Yakovlevna could not believe that her husband called her in front of everyone “an adventurer, an upstart who wanted to get into high society!” He immediately reminded her that her first husband sent her to an insane asylum for her obnoxious character. Maria did not turn around at his words, she seemed petrified. She just thought that she had never strived for wealth, she was not attracted to his titles. She wanted love, happiness... As a result of a long trial, the court acquitted Poiret, and the child was taken by his own mother, peasant Anna Andreeva. Who knows how much more people would have gossiped about this scandalous incident in the city if not for the events of 1917, which changed the lives of the participants in this drama. The former husband of Marie Poiret, Orlov-Davydov, fled abroad. In 1927, Pavel Dolgorukov was shot. The Bolsheviks turned Marie Poiret's St. Petersburg apartment into ruins. The former artist of the Imperial Theaters, and even Countess Orlova-Davydova, was denied a pension. After some time, at the request of V. Meyerhold, L. Sobinov and Yu. Yuryev, Maria Yakovlevna was nevertheless assigned a personal pension. She moved to Moscow. Maria Yakovlevna Poiret, at 70 years old, did not complain about life. Living in poverty, she sold miraculously preserved trinkets, some things to buy food and Poiret’s favorite coffee, which she always drank from a porcelain cup. The actress died in October 1933. Her name was quickly forgotten. But the romance of Marie Poiret, in which a woman’s heart loves and is sad, remains in the memory of many...

Words and music by Marie Poiret






I was driving home... Two-horned moon




Spreading your pink veil across the sky,

And the swallow, rushing somewhere into the distance,





Oh, if I never woke up again...

1901

Performed by Alla Bayanova

The romance was first performed by the author in a play based on A. N. Pleshcheev’s play “In My Role.” Part of the repertoire of Kato Japaridze.

The romances of Marie Poiret based on her own words “Swan Song”, “I Don’t Want to Die”, as well as to the music of other composers are known: “No, don’t say the decisive word” (B.V. Grodzky, G.K. Kozachenko), “Lush bloomed May, the roses shone with beauty" (A. N. Alferaki, G. A. Kozachenko).

Alla Bayanova

The same option is in the repertoire of Keto Japaridze (1901-1968). On the Pelageya disc (FeeLee Records, 2003) and in a number of other sources art. 9.:"Spreading the pink veil."

Pelageya sings with footage from the film "Turkish Gambit"

Maria Yakovlevna Poiret(1864 - after 1918)

Yesterday I posted in my diary a post on Marie Poiret's romance "Swan Song", which told in detail about her life and the history of creating romances. If someone looks at this post for the first time and is interested, please look in the “Retro Music” section and find a post on the romance “Swan Song”.


OPTIONS (2)

1. I was driving home

Words and music by M. Poiret

I was driving home, my soul was full
Unclear to myself, some new happiness.
It seemed to me that everything with such fate
They looked at me with such affection.

I was driving home... Two-horned moon
I looked out the windows of the boring carriage.
The distant bell of the morning bell
Sang in the air like a gentle string.

I drove home through a pink veil.
The beautiful dawn lazily woke up,
And the swallows, rushing somewhere into the distance,
We swam in the clear air.

I was driving home, I was thinking about you,
My thoughts were anxious and confused and torn.
A sweet slumber touched my eyes.
Oh, if I never woke up again...

In my opinion the best performance. Sings Rada Volshaninova

2. I was driving home

I was driving home... My soul was full
Some new happiness that was unclear to me.
It seemed to me that everything with such fate
They looked at me with such affection.

I was driving home... Dear moon
I looked out the windows of the boring carriage.
The distant bell of the morning bell
Sang in the air like a gentle string.

Spreading her pink veil, the beautiful dawn
I woke up lazily
And like a swallow, rushing somewhere into the distance,
I swam in the clear air.

I was driving home... I was thinking about you!
My thoughts were anxiously confused and torn.
A sweet slumber touched my eyes.
Oh, if I never woke up again!

John Shemyakin wrote quite well (in a humorous form, but the texture is true) about the history of the song and its author:
The minor Elizaveta Genrikhovna learned this hymn, enchanting with its unimaginable charm, for her extravagant grandfather. Everything Genrikhovna does for me is aimed at extracting all possible benefits and forgiveness from me who is crying. I'm sentimental. And in this state he is defenseless, sweet and unexpectedly generous to everyone.
I sincerely cried during the performance. First of all, because I will never tell my granddaughter that this romance was written by Maria Yakovlevna Poiret, a vaudeville actress with unimaginable power of enterprise.
There were two such masters of the trade of first and true love in the capital in those years: Masha Poiret and Motya Kshesinskaya. Masha Poiret wrote about “I was going home...”, based on Matilda Kshesinskaya’s story about a successful first rendezvous with a certain young man named Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov. After the rendezvous in Peterhof, it follows that Kshesinskaya goes home in the morning and is full of the brightest hopes for both. All sorts of late chamberlains look at her with affection and sympathy. Indescribable delight in the empyrean. Under the benevolent gaze of the sovereign, the ballerina falls asleep from tenderness right in the carriage. The hopes of the brilliant ballerina were fully justified. Everything is so incredibly successful! And Marie Poiret created a report-hymn to romance on this occasion. Listen to the romance again. Do you see how he sparkled with new colors of life and selfless girlish love?
Looking at her friend, Masha Poiret, who had to perform under the creative pseudonym Marusina (who in the capital at that time would go to the performances of a man named Poiret?), also somehow got together and married Count Alexei Anatolyevich Orlov-Davydov. In 1914. The count had some property, modestly valued at 17 million rubles, plus a house on the Promenade des Anglais. Plus the salary of the imperial master of ceremonies. Plus the count was trusting. He was interested in secret teachings and considered himself an initiated sage.
Masha Marusina married Orlov-Davydov in a deeply “interesting position.” She gave birth to a baby. The boy, the little Count Orlov-Davydov, the heir to the dynasty.
A year later, it turned out that Maria Poiret could not get pregnant due to some circumstances of her artistic youth, and she bought the child “according to some advertisement from midwife N.” For three hundred and fifty rubles. Well, the actress is fifty years old. What are the questions here?
Scandal, trial, divorce, then revolution. The Count will finally go into occultism. Maria received a pension from the Soviet government. Food was provided: jam, cereals, animal fats.
Lisa, sing a song to grandpa. Grandpa is as cynical as a ferret, but he adores you.

Or 1905

According to one version, the romance was composed for a play based on A. N. Pleshcheev’s play “In Her Role,” in which Maria Poiret played as a dramatic actress and is also performed by her. This version largely does not correspond to the facts: the play was not composed by Alexei Nikolaevich Pleshcheev, but by his son, also a writer Alexei Alekseevich Pleshcheev. But other sources support the version that the romance “I was driving home” was written for the play “In My Role”, staged at the very beginning of the twentieth century at the Aquarium Theater - Maria Poiret played the main role in the play and wrote the music for the production.

There are other opinions about the romance: for this performance, Marie Poiret composed the romance “Swan Song”, and not “I was on my way home”.

There are opinions that the romance “I was on my way home” was composed in 1905, when the actress was returning from the front during the Russo-Japanese War, was riding on a train, and a song was composed to the sound of the wheels...

Maria Poiret

The biography of Marie Poiret herself is so remarkable that it literally asks for a separate fiction novel - and there’s no need to invent anything: the very fate of Marie Poiret took such turns that you can’t help but think: is it really true? Yes, it's true. Her life coincided with such historical temporary troubles that turned the life of the entire country and its entire population upside down.

The grandfather of the future Russian actress, journalist, poetess, etc., ended up in Russia along with Napoleonic army in 1812, that is, he came as a conqueror. He came as a conqueror, but the metamorphoses of rapidly changing time captured him. And the result was just the opposite. The enemy country became his home, where the Napoleonic invader found family happiness. Victor Poiret, in order to live and feed his beloved family, went into business - he opened a gym in Moscow (the same one that Kutuzov gave to the French a little earlier in order to save the Russian army) His son Yakov continued the family business, becoming a teacher of fencing and gymnastics, he married the daughter of wealthy cloth manufacturers Yulia Andreevna Tarasenkova, with whom he had seven children, of whom two became especially famous: Emmanuel Yakovlevich Poiret (November 6, 1858, Moscow - February 26, 1909, Paris), who became a famous French cartoonist and worked under the pseudonym Caran d'Ache, and the youngest Maria.

Maria was born in Moscow. God rewarded her with many talents, which, it would seem, were not destined to come true - her old husband, engineer Sveshnikov (30 years older than his young wife), for whom they gave away a young talented 16-year-old orphan girl (her parents had died by this time), and I didn’t want to hear about theaters or songs: it wasn’t enough to have a chansonette wife, what would people say!.. And this dear, loving husband, wise from life experience, couldn’t think of anything better than to lock his wife in a madhouse. There all the young woman’s talents were supposed to disappear into obscurity. But my friend Anna, the sister of the outstanding dramatic entrepreneur and director M. V. Lentovsky, helped. By some miracle, M. Lentovsky managed to get Maria out of the dungeons. She, of course, did not return to her husband, but joined Lentovsky in his private troupe - she became a dramatic actress (based on Marusin’s stage), and without any stage education.

And then - life threw her in different directions, she served as an actress at the Alexandrinsky Theater (by this time there were dramatic performances of the St. Petersburg Imperial Troupe), wrote books, composed romances...

Love burst into her life, there were several civil marriages, in 1898 her daughter Tatyana was born, and then she passed off someone else’s child as her own - this is how her son Alexei appeared (one should not think that civil marriages in the Russian Empire were something flawed and shameful for women ; nothing of the sort; in the capitals of Moscow and St. Petersburg they have become a very common occurrence, symbolizing freedom of choice and the creation of a family not according to religious principles, but on the basis of personal qualities - honor, honesty, nobility and, of course, love; the church state was not legally recognized - but not by society; and this was understandable: the entire state was too diverse socially, it was impossible to clothe it in equal laws: the illiterate priestly province contrasted sharply with the intellectually refined capitals, and what can we say about the conquered mountain territories; who found themselves part of the Russian Empire; what common social and family foundations and decrees could be discussed in regions of a single state so different in culture and development; This concerned, naturally, not only the family side, it was a general condition - so it ended in a huge social collapse in October 1917).

I was driving home, my soul was full

Unclear to myself, some new happiness.

It seemed to me that everything with such fate

They looked at me with such affection.

I was driving home... Two-horned moon

I looked out the windows of the boring carriage.

The distant bell of the morning bell

Sang in the air like a gentle string...

Spreading the pink veil,

The beautiful dawn lazily woke up,

And the swallow, rushing somewhere into the distance,

I swam in the clear air.

I was driving home, I was thinking about you,

My thoughts were anxiously confused and torn.

A sweet slumber touched my eyes.

Oh, if I never woke up again

(Marie Poiret, 1901)

How did the dowry-free “Countess Marusya” glorify her surname? Maria Poiret

Her name was quickly forgotten. But the romance of Marie Poiret, in which a woman’s heart loves and is sad, remains in the memory of many...

Marusya did not marry of her own free will. Relatives were in a hurry to marry the 16-year-old bride to her “successful” groom, engineer Mikhail Sveshnikov. Not young, almost 50 years old, but modest and respectful. His candidacy suited everyone. Especially the older sisters Maria, Evgenia and Alexandra, who still could not find grooms.

Both were of large build and extremely expressionless faces. Maria always annoyed them. Short, slender blonde with blue eyes. Just like her mother, just as beautiful! Moreover, as it turned out, she was talented. Sings well, writes poetry...

Maria Poiret was born in Moscow on January 4, 1863 (145 years ago), she was the 7th child in the family. Marusya dreamed of running away from home even in her childhood. Her mother, Yulia Andreevna Tarasenkova, the daughter of cloth manufacturers, died when Marusa was barely eight years old. Father, Jacob Poiret, a Frenchman who founded a school of gymnastics and fencing in Moscow, died in a duel several years ago.

Now no one could keep Maria here anymore. And the uncle who lived in their family insisted on his niece’s marriage. From the very beginning, he was against Maria’s entry into the conservatory, where she dreamed of studying singing. But the girl, fortunately, had an unyielding and stubborn character. In response to the arguments of her old husband, who supported his wife’s relatives in everything, Maria only frowned and demanded that they not ask the impossible from her.

Her uncle and husband said that if Maria did not listen to them, they would deprive her of her position in society (which by that time she did not yet have), her dowry (they gave her 10 thousand rubles!) and even send her... to a madhouse. The young woman could not find a place for herself with indignation, she either cried or laughed. But the relatives were not joking. And very soon this young and inexperienced creature in everyday affairs found herself in a hospital room with her head shorn. Subsequently, her friend’s brother, a well-known entrepreneur in Moscow, Mikhail Valentinovich Lentovsky, helped her free herself from this hell. He affectionately called Maria “Lavrushka”, and she burst into tears out of shame for her “outfit”...

Maria Poiret (stage name “Marusina”) played at the Lentovsky Theater for 10 years. She performed brilliantly in all operettas. She was lively and cheerful on stage, sang dashingly, driving her fans crazy. Could he then imagine that his “Lavrushka”, having become rich and famous, would support him financially for the rest of his life, sparing neither money nor his expensive jewelry.

Soon her first poems were published on the pages of the newspaper “Novoe Vremya”. Maria rejoiced at this like a child. And in Tsarskoe Selo, Marie Poiret was enthusiastically received by the public as a performer of romances. Her romance “Swan Song” instantly becomes famous. By that time, Maria Yakovlevna was already playing on the stage of the Alexandria Theater. She is 35 years old, full of hopes and desires. It was the most wonderful time of her life. Maria is in love. Her admirer is Prince Pavel Dmitrievich Dolgorukov. They are both smart and beautiful.

In 1898, Marie Poiret gave birth to a daughter, Tatiana. The only thing that darkened her life was the inability to marry the prince. Her ex-husband did not consent to the divorce. Maria herself goes to him, persuades him, but he is inexorable. Old man Sveshnikov, who settled in a monastery, not far from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, invites Maria Yakovlevna to register her daughter in her last name. Tatyana only inherited her father’s middle name, which Poiret asked to be included in the girl’s birth certificate at baptism.

After 10 years, Marie Poiret’s relationship with the prince becomes strained; there is no former love and warmth. Maria and her daughter move to Moscow. She dreams of creating her own theater. But Maria Yakovlevna did not have the necessary acumen for such a task, a faithful and active assistant like Lentovsky. She enters the Maly Theater and continues to participate in concerts. Maria Poiret sang romances, including her own compositions. Among them is the romance “I was driving home, I was thinking about you...” (1901). The romance is picked up by other singers, and now it is already popular.

She wants to do something, act. Maria feels the breath of a new time. She travels to the Far East with charity concerts, where the Russian-Japanese War (1904-1905) is taking place. Manages to write poetry and correspondence. In 1904, Maria returned to Moscow with a great desire to perform in front of the public with new poems.

Very soon fate will send Maria Yakovlevna a new test. In Moscow, she met the count, a member of the State Duma, a wealthy landowner, Alexei Anatolyevich Orlov-Davydov. She thought she was in love. Or maybe the approaching loneliness worried her... Maria's ex-husband had died by that time. Orlov-Davydov left his wife, Baroness De Staal, leaving three children. Unfortunately, his son and future heir to the entire fortune was seriously ill. Maria promises to give him an heir. She is 50 years old, but the Count believes in her fantasies. And one day she announced to her husband that she was expecting a child...

Little Alexey, named after his father, was born when the count arrived from a long business trip. Only a narrow circle of people knew that Marie Poiret took the child in one of the shelters. But the peace in their family was short-lived. The “kind” man found out Maria Yakovlevna’s secret and began to blackmail first the count and then the countess, demanding money in return for silence.

Many researchers of the singer’s strange fate wrote that it was a certain extra Karl Laps. Allegedly, he subsequently persuaded the count to start a case in court against his wife. Long before the trial, Orlov-Davydov whispered to his wife: “Masha, don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I will not spare any money or connections for this.” And she, as always, naively believed.

And then this ill-fated day came. As she approached the courthouse, she heard the words: “We love you! We are with you! But Marie Poiret only lowered her head low. But then a whistle was heard, and someone’s hoarse voice was heard very close by: “Swindler! Look, Countess Marusya! I coveted millions!”

Having learned that the plaintiff in her case was Count Orlov-Davydov, Maria Poiret almost lost consciousness. She hardly heard what was said in the hall. Maria Yakovlevna could not believe that her husband called her in front of everyone “an adventurer, an upstart who wanted to get into high society!” He immediately reminded her that her first husband sent her to an insane asylum for her obnoxious character. Maria did not turn around at his words, she seemed petrified. She just thought that she had never strived for wealth, she was not attracted to his titles. She wanted love, happiness... As a result of a long trial, the court acquitted Poiret, and the child was taken by his own mother, peasant Anna Andreeva.

Who knows how much more people would have gossiped about this scandalous incident in the city if not for the events of 1917, which changed the lives of the participants in this drama. The former husband of Marie Poiret, Orlov-Davydov, fled abroad. In 1927, Pavel Dolgorukov was shot. The Bolsheviks turned Marie Poiret's St. Petersburg apartment into ruins. The former artist of the Imperial Theaters, and even Countess Orlova-Davydova, was denied a pension.

After some time, at the request of V. Meyerhold, L. Sobinov and Yu. Yuryev, Maria Yakovlevna was nevertheless assigned a personal pension. She moved to Moscow. Maria Yakovlevna Poiret, at 70 years old, did not complain about life. Living in poverty, she sold miraculously preserved trinkets, some things to buy food and Poiret’s favorite coffee, which she always drank from a porcelain cup.

The actress died in October 1933. Her name was quickly forgotten. But the romance of Marie Poiret, in which a woman’s heart loves and is sad, remains in the memory of many...