Stanislavsky Konstantin Sergeevich

Stanislavsky Konstantin Sergeevich

January 17, 1863 – August 7, 1938

Childhood and youth

Konstantin Sergeyevich was born on January 17 (5), 1863 in the capital's Alekseev family, which belonged to a dynasty of large industrialists. Stanislavsky is a stage name that he used in his mature years.

The Alekseev family was large: Kostya had nine other brothers and sisters. The parents, who knew nothing of the need, paid great attention to the upbringing of their children. They were taught by the best teachers in literature, natural sciences, foreign languages, dance, and music.

At that time, it became fashionable to arrange home amateur theaters, and the Alekseev family was no exception. They organized small performances for close friends and relatives, in which little Kostya invariably took part.

Stanislavsky's acting debut

From early childhood, Kostya Alekseev showed brilliant acting skills. The boy was not interested in studying much, he was only interested in the theater. After studying for three years at the gymnasium at the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages, he persuaded his parents to take him away from there. After leaving the gymnasium, Konstantin began working at a factory owned by his father and proved himself to be a skilled entrepreneur and manager. At the same time as working at the factory, he was engaged in theater, took plastic and vocal lessons.In December 1884, Stanislavsky made his acting debut on the amateur stage at the house of philanthropist Andrei Karzinkin. In N. V. Gogol's play "Marriage" he played the role of Podkolesin. In 1888, Stanislavsky, together with Fyodor Komissarzhevsky and Fyodor Sologoub, founded the Moscow Society of Art and Literature (MOIiL).

Acting jobs

Konstantin Sergeevich's acting work on the stage of the IIL was highly appreciated by the audience and theater critics. Over the ten years of the society's existence, he has played many roles:

• Paratov in the "Penniless";
• Don Carlos and Don Guan in "The Stone Guest;
• The Baron in The Miserly Knight;
• Zvezdintsev in "Fruits of Enligh tenment"

and others

The Stanislavsky system

Stanislavsky developed his own system, according to which the actor had to "live" the role, bringing to the viewer the main ideas of the play. Stanislavsky's famous phrase "I don't believe it!" referred to the actor's insufficiently natural and unconvincing performance.

He also owns well-known expressions:

• "There are no small roles, there are small actors";
• "Love art in yourself, not yourself in art";
• "An actor must learn to make the difficult familiar, the familiar — easy and the easy — beautiful";
• "There is only one reason for the actor's non—appearance at the performance - death."

Personal life

In 1889, Konstantin Sergeevich married the actress Maria Lilina (nee Perevoshchikova), whom he met at the Society of Art and Literature. The couple have been married for almost 50 years.

Three children were born in their family: daughters Kira and Ksenia (the latter died when she was very young, having contracted pneumonia) and son Igor. Igor Konstantinovich subsequently married the granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy. Kira Konstantinovna worked as the director of the House-Museum of her famous father.

Stanislavsky had another son, Vladimir Sergeevich Sergeev, whom his maid gave birth to. The illegitimate child was adopted by Konstantin Sergeevich's father. In adulthood, Vladimir Sergeevich became a historian and professor at Moscow State University.

Opera Studio at the Bolshoi Theatre

In 1912, a studio was opened at the theater, where Stanislavsky taught acting according to his own system. In 1918, Konstantin Sergeevich created an opera studio at the Bolshoi Theater, where he also taught. Stanislavsky treated his actors with great respect and took care of them. He listed his earnings and the earnings of his wife, actress Maria Petrovna Lilina, to the actors. Stanislavsky managed to write three books on the theory of theatrical art, one of which remained unfinished.

The first book by Konstantin Stanislavsky

Konstantin Stanislavsky's first book is "My Life in Art". Its author began writing in 1923, when he turned 60 years old. In February 1924, the first edition of the book was completed and in May of the same year, an English translation was published by one of the American publishers. Upon his return to Moscow, Stanislavsky immediately began preparing the Russian edition of My Life in Art. This preparation soon turned into such a radical revision of the book that in many ways it can be considered a re-written one. 1 In 1926, the Russian edition of the book was published.

The last years of his life

The last years of Konstantin Stanislavsky's life were associated with teaching and directing activities. 2

In 1928, at the anniversary evening of the Moscow Art Theater, Stanislavsky, who was playing on stage, had a heart attack , after which doctors forbade him to go on stage.

Stanislavsky returned to work only in 1929, focusing on theoretical research, on pedagogical tests of the "system" and on classes in his Opera Studio.

He directed Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's operas May Night (1928) and The Golden Cockerel (1932), and directed the musical drama Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky (1929).

Stanislavsky died on August 7, 1938 at the age of 76 in Moscow

Interesting facts

• The alias appeared by accident.
• Stanislavsky became a father at the age of 20.
• Stanislavsky demanded that the actors play like the last time.
• After the revolution of 1917, a crisis began in the Stanislavsky Theater.
• American director Lee Strasberg founded an acting school based on the principles of the Stanislavsky system