Children of great parents. Heirs of entire eras and strata of culture of a huge country. That worthy foundation on which all modern theater and cinema is built. Many generations that were born and died for the sake of art. Today we’ll talk about one of them.
"I was little at first"
With these words, which served as the name of the book written by our hero in 1998, a biography of Peter Merkuryev, a descendant of the famous Meyerhold and Merkuryev dynasty, which was born at the very height of the Great Patriotic War - June 17, 1943, opens.
True, the horrors of war partly passed the born boy, since the place of his birth was the small Siberian town of Kolpashevo, in the Tomsk region. The former workers' village, which had just received the status of a city, was located right in the geographical center of the country, among the taiga, on the banks of one of the largest rivers in the world, the Ob.
There, among the dense forests of cold and inaccessible Siberia, the character of the son of the evacuated family Vasily Vasilyevich Merkuryev and Irina Vsevolodovna Meyerhold was tempered.
It is clear that fierce fighting, death, bombing and famine did not reach Kolpashevo. However, the family of Peter Merkuryev still did not escape another, no less bitter fate - the nightmare of repression of the 30s of the last century.
Great grandfather
Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold, the eighth child of a former citizen of Prussia, with his real name by birth resembled a medieval knight. The future grandfather of Peter Merkuryev, then Karl Casimir Theodor Meyergold, was born on February 9, 1874 in the city of Penza, where the family of his father, a purebred German by blood, but a classic Russian merchant by extravagant nature, had emigrated. Merkuryev’s great-grandfather, who was very rich in the production of vodka produced at his own factory, rolled balls and magnificent feasts unprecedented in the Volga region, which made him famous throughout the district.
However, Mayergolds kept their children half-starving and in constant fear of punishment. It was in this cauldron that an ever-insecure, fussy, doubting, but constantly splashing talent, anxiety and creative beginning personality of the future genius of the scene, a great director and teacher of the last century was born.
Grandma Olya
With Olga Mikhailovna Mount, a well-bred modest girl, the future grandmother of Peter Merkuryev, Vsevolod Meyerhold met in 1892, during their joint participation in amateur performances. Both at that time were not even eighteen years old.
On April 17, 1896, they married and lived together for almost thirty years, having given birth to three daughters in marriage, the youngest of whom, Irina, in 38 years will become the mother of our hero.
Zinaida Reich
The ex-wife of the great Sergey Yesenin, Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich, was an extraordinary and fatal woman.
It is enough to recall at least a few piercing lines that the legendary poet dedicated to her:
You remember, you all, of course, remember
As I stood, approaching the wall;
Excitedly you walked around the room
And they threw something sharp in my face ...
They met in the fall of 1921. Vsevolod Meyerhold was twenty years older than her. After meeting with Zinaida, the grandfather of Peter Merkuryev fell ill with a real love fever, completely distraught from the surging feelings.
Very soon, he left his wife Olga and three daughters and went to Reich, immediately appointing her immediately to the first roles in his theater, despite the fact that the girl never met theatrical stages before meeting with Meyerhold and had no experience in serving high art .
1939 year
The marriage of Vsevolod Meyerhold and Zinaida Reich lasted eighteen years.
In 1934, JV Stalin watched the play “The Lady with the Camellias”, which was staged by Meyerhold, and his wife, naturally, played the main role. The production did not please the leader. A sharp criticism fell upon the theater of Grandfather Merkuryev.
Zinaida Reich without any participation wrote to Stalin in all respects a letter insane at that time:
How can you, Georgians, judge the Russian theater? It wouldn’t hurt you to take lessons in understanding the stage art from Meyerhold! ..
With these lines, Reich practically signed a death sentence for herself and her husband.
In 1938, their theater was closed. In June 1939, Meyerhold was arrested for treason. On the night of July 15, Zinaida Nikolaevna was brutally murdered in her apartment with her husband, and Vsevolod Emilievich himself was shot on February 2, 1940 as an enemy of the people.
Father
The personality of Vasily Vasilyevich, the father of Peter Merkuryev, cannot be described in a few words, so this wonderful person was wide and multifaceted.
Quite a lot has been written about him; articles and books are devoted to his work. However, they are unable to capture and describe all the semitones of his nature.
Vasily Vasilyevich Merkuryev was a native of the Pskov province. Born April 6, 1904 in the city of Ostrov, from an early age he showed creative inclinations. Which was not surprising, since in the family of his parents, Vasily Ilyich and Anna Ivanovna, everyone not only loved, but also knew how to sing.
Even during his training at a parish school, the boy began to attend a drama club. His first performances in amateur productions also took place there. Vasily’s talent did not go unnoticed by teachers. It was at their insistence that the sixteen-year-old father of Peter Merkuryev got a job in the local theater.
Having become a famous theater actor, Vasily Merkuryev was truly able to become famous only in the cinema, playing in the film "Heavenly Quiet", a musical comedy about military pilots, released in 1945, when the whole country celebrated the end of the war.
Mom
Irina Vsevolodovna, daughter of the great Vsevolod Meyerhold, was a daring, lively and beautiful girl.
Fate brought Vasily Vasilyevich with her in 1934. This happened at the Lenfilm film studio, where the mother of the future actor, Peter Merkuryev, served as an assistant director.
The rapidly begun relationship lasted forty-four years. Their relationship was truly unique. Despite their age and constant employment in the theater, they managed to remain youthfully in love with each other.
Of course, in Irina Vsevolodovna from time to time, the severe character of her father manifested itself. She was always categorically right, and her father, Vasily Vasilyevich, had to put up with it constantly. Only the family of Peter Merkuryev never left the atmosphere of some kindness pervading everything around and mutual concern.
Their son always recalled with pleasure the unusual relationships of their parents:
They always went to the doctor together.
The doctor asks: "Vasily Vasilyevich, how does it hurt?"
-You understand, I will sigh, and something starts ...
Then he fell silent and asked: "Irisha, how does it hurt?" And mummy calmly told the doctor, and dad only, agreeing, nodded his head ...
Musician's way
A descendant of a truly great dynasty of servants of the art of theater and cinema, he grew up and matured in the most natural and inevitable way, constantly surrounded by the personalities of his famous ancestors, parents, their talented students and also made famous friends.
Peter, like a sponge, absorbed their wonderful stories, rehearsals, which he had to visit, the whole atmosphere of theater and cinema. However, he himself never wanted to become an actor and follow in the footsteps of his father. Moreover, Vasily Vasilievich himself, who had undergone so many severe trials in his life, also did not want acting fate for his son.
Even as a young man, Peter was already passionate about music and decided to connect his life with this art, having studied first at the Leningrad Conservatory and received the specialty of musicologist, and then the choir conductor after graduating from the Moscow School of Music. Then he taught at the Vesna children's choir school, while continuing his studies. This time at the Kharkov Conservatory.
For almost 18 years, Peter Vasilievich presided over the Union of Composers, managing the issue of musical education of children. And from 1989 until his last days he held the post of deputy chief editor of the newspaper "Musical Review", devoting himself to his beloved business.
I must say that the relationship between Peter Merkuryev and the children whom he taught and raised was built in the same way as once in the family of his parents: first of all, in an atmosphere of all-consuming kindness. His pupils replaced his family, he never had his own heirs.
Actor path
Despite his musical career, the acting path still did not pass Peter Merkuryev.
His film debut happened at the age of fifteen, in the 1958 film Neva Melodies, in which he played the main role. He was invited to shoot, not even suspecting that he was from the famous acting family.
Merkuryev Sr., having looked at the picture, was satisfied. He said to his son:
You know, it works out for you, and it won’t go away from you ...
And so it happened. Despite the reluctance of Peter himself to be an actor, he was constantly invited to shoot films, and later TV shows. He starred, as a rule, in secondary or episodic roles. Nevertheless, his type and expressive game always liked the audience.
Among the characters of the films of Peter Merkuryev, one could most often see refined and creative people, moreover, regardless of whether this person was a scientist or a simple worker. Peter invariably left an imprint of his great acting dynasty on his every role.
Over his life, Merkuryev Jr., who had great portrait similarities with his illustrious grandfather, Vsevolod Meyerhold, was lucky to play him twice - in the 1980 film "I Am an Actress" and in the television series "Yesenin".
In total, as an actor, he starred in 63 films and series.
For some reason, Peter Merkuryev’s personal life did not work out. Therefore, he went headlong into work and creativity. Living today and not making plans for the future, he studied music, acted in films, wrote a book about his family. Not a day without work. When he was advised to rest, he answered:
I will rest only when everyone around me will have well-being ...
According to the recollections of colleagues and friends of Merkuryev Jr., he was glorious and talented. Thin, but at the same time unsophisticated personality.
But the most important thing for him was, first of all, to remain a man.
The actor died on September 27, 2010, at the age of 67.