Prince Alexander Alexandrovich Shakhovskoy (russian: link=no, Александр Александрович Шаховской; 5 May 1777, in

Smolensk Governorate Smolensk Governorate (russian: Смоленская губерния, Smolenskaja gubernija), or the Government of Smolensk, was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR. It ex ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

– 3 February 1846, in Moscow, Russian Empire) was a Russian playwright, writer, poet,

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken a ...

, critic, memoirist and administrator (the head, in 1802–1826, of the

Imperial Theatres Imperial Theatres of Russian Empire ( rus, Императорские театры Российской империи) was a theatrical organization financed by the Imperial exchequer and managed by a single directorate headed with a director; was ...

); arguably the most influential figure in the Russian theatre in the early 19th century. Shakhovskoy, who debuted in 1795 with the comedy ''Zhenskaya shutka'' (Ladies' Joke) and enjoyed his first success with ''Novy Stern'' (The New Stern, 1805), wrote more than a hundred comedies and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

s, as well as opera librettos and

divertissement ''Divertissement'' (from the French 'diversion' or 'amusement') is used, in a similar sense to the Italian 'divertimento', for a light piece of music for a small group of players, however the French term has additional meanings. During the 17th and ...

s. ''Aristophanes'' (Аристофан, 1825) is considered to be his most accomplished work. Shakhovskoy's way of lampooning in his plays revered figures, like

Nikolai Karamzin Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (russian: Николай Михайлович Карамзин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kərɐmˈzʲin; ) was a Russian Imperial historian, romantic writer, poet and critic. He is best remembered for ...

and

Vasily Zhukovsky Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (russian: Василий Андреевич Жуковский, Vasiliy Andreyevich Zhukovskiy; – ) was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19t ...

(whom he became great friends with in the 1820s), was commented upon by one of his admirers,

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

in ''

Evgeny Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is a novel in verse written by Ale ...

'' ("...And there caustic Shakhovskoy / Let out his comedies' noisy swarm"). Prince Shakhovskoy tutored (and was instrumental in their respective career development of) several leading Russian actors and actresses, including

Vasily Karatygin Vasily Andreevich Karatygin (russian: Василий Андреевич Каратыгин) (–-) was a leading actor of Russian Romanticism. Karatygin joined the Bolshoi Theatre in St Petersburg in 1820 and moved to the Alexandrine Theatre in 1 ...

Alexandra Kolosova Alexandra Mikhailovna Kolosova (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Колосова, 16 February 1802, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, - 19 March 1880, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russian stage actress, later tran ...

, Ekaterina Semyonova, Ivan Sosnitsky, Yakov Bryansky, Maria Varberkhova and Nikolai Dyur, among others.Yartsov, A.A
The Life of Prince A.A. Shakhovskoy.
''Russky Arkhiv'', 1896. – Vol. 1. – Issue No.3 – Pp. 351—360.

References

External links

Prince Shakhovskoy
at

Lib.ru Lib.ru, also known as Maksim Moshkow's Library (russian: link=no, библиотека Максима Мошкова, started to operate in November 1994) is the oldest electronic library in the Russian Internet segment. Founded and supported ...

(Russian) Russian dramatists and playwrights People from Smolensk 1777 births 1846 deaths {{Russia-writer-stub