Fyodor Alexeyevich Burdin (russian: Фёдор Алексеевич Бурдин, April 11, 1827 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

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. ...

– February 24, 1887 in Moscow) was a Russian

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, best remembered for his parts in 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 ...

productions of plays by his best friend

Alexander Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Остро́вский; ) was a Russian playwright, generally considered the greatest representative of the Russian realistic period. The author of 47 origina ...

, whose rise to fame had a lot to do with Burdin's enthusiasm about the playwright's work, his connections in high places and considerable entrepreneurial talents.Фёдор Алексеевич Бурдин
at the Russian Biographical Dictionary.Фёдор Алексеевич Бурдин
at biografija.ru

Career

Burdin, who routinely staged in his home the premiere readings of Ostrovsky's plays and took upon himself the role of their primal reviewer, enjoyed the right to choose the leading parts for himself, which he often did at the expense of productions' quality. Lauded for his role as a catalyst in the general development of the Russian theatre in the mid-19th-century, Burdin the actor was unpopular with theatre critics, notably Apollon Grigoriev who coined the term 'burdinism' to denote what he saw as the contemporary Russian stage actors' worst flaws: pompousness and penchant for banality. Burdin translated numerous French

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; several 'originals' that he wrote were, in effect, re-makes of the current French theatre repertoire. In 1876 his 2-volume ''Collection of Plays Translated from French'' came out in Saint Petersburg. He also authored the ''Brief Textbook of the Art of Drama'' (1886, Moscow), addressed to the young actors, as well as several memoirs, including "Emperor Nikolay Pavlovich as Remembered by an Actor" (Воспоминания артиста об императоре Николае Павловиче, ''Istorichesky Vestnik'', 1886. Vol. 23. No. 1) and "Remembering A. N. Ostrovsky" (Из воспоминаний об А. И. Островском, ''

Vestnik Evropy ''Vestnik Evropy'' (russian: Вестник Европы) (''Herald of Europe'' or ''Messenger of Europe'') was the major liberal magazine of late-nineteenth-century Russia. It was published from 1866 to 1918. The magazine (named for an earlier ...

'', 1886, No. 12).

References

External links

Russian male stage actors Russian memoirists Male actors from Moscow 1827 births 1887 deaths 19th-century male actors from the Russian Empire 19th-century memoirists {{russia-actor-stub