Alexandra Mikhailovna Kolosova (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Колосова, 16 February 1802,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

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. ...

, - 19 March 1880, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russian stage actress, later

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

and

memoirist A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

. She was the daughter of Elena Kolosova, a prima ballerina.

Life

The first Russian theatre star to receive education in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, Alexandra became highly popular for her roles in

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...

's comedies. As the

Alexandrinsky Theatre The Alexandrinsky Theatre (russian: Александринский театр) or National Drama Theatre of Russia is a theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Alexandrinsky Theatre was built for the Imperial troupe of Petersburg (Imperial tr ...

was launched in 1832, Kolosova joined the troupe with her husband, actor

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 ...

(whom she married in 1827) and for a decade the couple played there most of the leading roles. After retirement Kolosova-Karatygina devoted herself to literature: she made several translations (including ''Der Glöckner von Notre Dame'' by

Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer (23 June 1800 in Stuttgart25 August 1868 in Berlin) was a German actress, writer, director of the Stadttheater in Zürich for six years, and author of over 100 plays and libretto. Biography Charlotte Johanna Birch-Pfeif ...

, published in Russia as ''Esmeralda or Four Kinds of Love'') and wrote ''Memoirs'' which appeared posthumously in 1881, in ''

Russky Vestnik The ''Russian Messenger'' or ''Russian Herald'' (russian: Ру́сский ве́стник ''Russkiy Vestnik'', Pre-reform Russian: Русскій Вѣстникъ ''Russkiy Vestnik'') has been the title of three notable magazines published in ...

''. In it she addressed among other issues that of her relationship with

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, ...

, who first lampooned her in an epigram ("All things enchant us in Esther…", 1820), then sang her a paean in "An Epistle to Katenin" (1821).

References

Russian memoirists Actresses from Saint Petersburg 1802 births 1880 deaths 19th-century actresses from the Russian Empire Russian stage actresses Women memoirists 19th-century memoirists 19th-century translators from the Russian Empire {{Russia-actor-stub