A. Vertinsky - I was driving home lyrics

John Shemyakin wrote quite well (in a humorous form, but the texture is true) about the history of the song and its author:
The minor Elizaveta Genrikhovna learned this hymn, enchanting with its unimaginable charm, for her extravagant grandfather. Everything Genrikhovna does for me is aimed at extracting all possible benefits and forgiveness from me who is crying. I'm sentimental. And in this state he is defenseless, sweet and generous to everyone, unexpectedly.
I sincerely cried during the performance. First of all, because I will never tell my granddaughter that this romance was written by Maria Yakovlevna Poiret, a vaudeville actress with unimaginable power of enterprise.
There were two such masters of the trade of first and true love in the capital in those years: Masha Poiret and Motya Kshesinskaya. Masha Poiret wrote about “I was going home...”, based on Matilda Kshesinskaya’s story about a successful first rendezvous with a certain young man named Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov. After the rendezvous in Peterhof, it follows that Kshesinskaya goes home in the morning and is full of the brightest hopes for both. All sorts of late chamberlains look at her with affection and sympathy. Indescribable delight in the empyrean. Under the benevolent gaze of the sovereign, the ballerina falls asleep from tenderness right in the carriage. The hopes of the brilliant ballerina were fully justified. Everything is so incredibly successful! And Marie Poiret created a report-hymn to romance on this occasion. Listen to the romance again. Do you see how he sparkled with new colors of life and selfless girlish love?
Looking at her friend, Masha Poiret, who had to perform under the creative pseudonym Marusina (who in the capital at that time would go to the performances of a man named Poiret?), also somehow got together and married Count Alexei Anatolyevich Orlov-Davydov. In 1914. The count had some property, modestly valued at 17 million rubles, plus a house on the Promenade des Anglais. Plus the salary of the imperial master of ceremonies. Plus the count was trusting. He was interested in secret teachings and considered himself an initiated sage.
Masha Marusina married Orlov-Davydov in a deeply “interesting position.” She gave birth to a baby. The boy, the little Count Orlov-Davydov, the heir to the dynasty.
A year later, it turned out that Maria Poiret could not get pregnant due to some circumstances of her artistic youth, and she bought the child “according to some advertisement from midwife N.” For three hundred and fifty rubles. Well, the actress is fifty years old. What are the questions here?
Scandal, trial, divorce, then revolution. The Count will finally go into the occult. Maria received a pension from the Soviet government. Food was provided: jam, cereals, animal fats.
Lisa, sing a song to grandpa. Grandpa is as cynical as a ferret, but he adores you.

I WAS DRIVING HOME, MY SOUL WAS FULL...

Words and music by Marie Poiret

I was driving home... Two-horned moon

Spreading your pink veil across the sky,
And the swallow, rushing somewhere into the distance,

Oh, if I never woke up again...

The romance was first performed by the author in a play based on A. N. Pleshcheev’s play “In My Role.” Part of the repertoire of Kato Japaridze. The romances of Marie Poiret based on her own words “Swan Song”, “I Don’t Want to Die”, as well as to the music of other composers are known: “No, don’t say the decisive word” (B.V. Grodzky, G.K. Kozachenko), “Lush blossomed May, the roses shone with beauty" (A. N. Alferaki, G. A. Kozachenko).

Anthology of Russian romance. Silver Age. / Comp., preface. and comment. V. Kalugina. - M.: Eksmo Publishing House, 2005


The same version is in the repertoire of Keto Japaridze (1901-1968) (Black Eyes: An Ancient Russian Romance. - M.: Eksmo Publishing House, 2004.). On the Pelageya disc (FeeLee Records, 2003) and in a number of other sources art. 9.: "Spreading the pink veil."

Maria Yakovlevna Poiret(1864 - after 1918)

Shadows of the past: Ancient romances. For voice and guitar / Comp. A. P. Pavlinov, T. P. Orlova. - St. Petersburg: Composer St. Petersburg, 2007.

OPTIONS (2)

1. I was driving home

Words and music by M. Poiret

I was driving home, my soul was full
Unclear to myself, some new happiness.
It seemed to me that everything with such fate
They looked at me with such affection.

I was driving home... Two-horned moon
I looked out the windows of the boring carriage.
The distant bell of the morning bell
Sang in the air like a gentle string.

I drove home through a pink veil.
The beautiful dawn lazily woke up,
And the swallows, rushing somewhere into the distance,
We swam in the clear air.

I was driving home, I was thinking about you,
My thoughts were anxious and confused and torn.
A sweet slumber touched my eyes.
Oh, if I never woke up again...

Take my heart into the ringing distance...: Russian romances and songs with notes / Comp. A. Kolesnikova. – M.: Sunday; Eurasia +, Polar Star +, 1996.

2. I was driving home

I was driving home... My soul was full
Some new happiness that was unclear to me.
It seemed to me that everything with such fate
They looked at me with such affection.

I was driving home... Dear moon
I looked out the windows of the boring carriage.
The distant bell of the morning bell
Sang in the air like a gentle string.

Spreading her pink veil, the beautiful dawn
I woke up lazily
And like a swallow, rushing somewhere into the distance,
I swam in the clear air.

I was driving home... I was thinking about you!
My thoughts were anxiously confused and torn.
A sweet slumber touched my eyes.
Oh, if I never woke up again!

Masterpieces of Russian romance / Ed.-comp. N.V. Abelmas. - M.: LLC “AST Publishing House”; Donetsk: “Stalker”, 2004. – (Songs for the Soul)., signature: music by an unknown author, words by M. Poiret.

NOTES FOR PIANO (6 sheets):

Kulev V.V., Takun F.I. Golden collection of Russian romance. Arranged for voice accompanied by piano (guitar). M.: Modern music, 2003.

Writes Oleg Shuster.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the popular actress Maria Yakovlevna Poiret, widely known under the artistic pseudonym Marusina, performed on the stages of theaters in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The unusual surname testified to the French origin of the actress. In fact, her ancestor was a Napoleonic soldier who fell behind the fleeing army and found shelter in Russia. The son of a former soldier, Yakov, who had already completely Russified, owned a fencing and gymnastics hall, and taught these disciplines to Russians. Leo Tolstoy himself went to his gym. The playwright Sukhovo-Kobylin, the writer Gilyarovsky and other famous people of that time visited here. The fame of the Poiret family is evidenced by the fact that it was mentioned by Gilyarovsky in the book “Moscow and Muscovites”, Gorky in “The Life of Klim Samgin”, and Nina Berberova in her memoirs.

Jacob's daughter Maria showed a liking for theater, music and literature very early on. But the path to what I loved was not easy. The family had seven children, and their parents died early. To make their fate easier, the older sisters married Maria off when she was just 16 years old. Maria's husband was engineer Sveshnikov, who was 30 years older. He categorically forbade her to engage in art. Having learned that she had disobeyed him, the engineer locked his young wife in a psychiatric hospital.

Maria's friend Anna was the sister of the then famous director and theater figure Mikhail Lentovsky. He was a friend of Maria's father. Together they rescued the girl from the hospital. She left her husband and began playing at the Lentovsky Theater. Already in the first vaudeville, which was called “The Hen - Golden Eggs,” she had to sing and dance a lot. The young actress was a huge success. For ten years she performed on the stage of the Lentovsky Theater. Maria was not only a versatile actress, she played the piano beautifully and composed music and poetry. Having heard her compositions, Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein suggested that the girl enter the conservatory. But she remained faithful to the theater.

Then she was invited to the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, then she moved to Moscow, where she played at the Maly Theater for several years. Her concert performances, in which she sang Russian and gypsy songs and romances, were a success. The singer often included works of her own composition in her programs. And she noted with pleasure that they were a success with listeners. Her dream was to open her own small theater of comedy and satire, in which she could stage the works of her favorite authors and invite the best singers and actors to perform. But this dream was not destined to come true.

At the very beginning of the twentieth century, Alexei Pleshcheev’s play “In His Role,” dedicated to the lives of actors, was staged at the Aquarium Theater. Maria Poiret played the main role in the play and also wrote the music for it. The romance “Swan Song” she performed, written in her own words, gained unprecedented popularity and became a real hit, as they would say today. At each performance, the audience demanded a repetition of the romance, and then showered the actress with toy swans and flowers.

Romance did not appear by chance. It reflected the actress’s stormy personal life, her love for one of the most prominent and progressive people of that time, Prince Pavel Dolgorukov, the founder of the Kadet Party (constitutional democrats). He was a keen connoisseur of art, highly educated and wealthy.

I am sad. If you can understand

My trustingly tender soul,

Come and blame me

My fate is strangely rebellious.

I can't sleep in the dark at night,

Dark thoughts drive away sleep,

And burning tears involuntarily come to my eyes,

Like a wave in the surf, they come.

It’s somehow strange and wild for me to live without you,

The heart is not warmed by the affection of love.

Or did they tell me the truth that it was mine

Is the swan song finished?

Their happiness lasted ten years. Love gave birth to inspiration and creativity. During these years, Maria wrote a number of poems published in newspapers and magazines. Among them are poems dedicated to the great actresses Ermolova and Komissarzhevskaya. She traveled around Europe and wrote a book about Sicily. In Paris, she met her older brother Emmanuel, who became a famous French cartoonist, drawing under the pseudonym Caran d'Ache.

When the Russo-Japanese War began, Marie Poiret agreed with the publisher of the newspaper “Novoe Vremya” A. Suvorin about a trip to the Far East as her own correspondent. She not only wrote poems, essays and reports for her newspaper, but often gave concerts to soldiers, raising their morale.

The inglorious Russian-Japanese war is over. Overwhelmed with impressions, Maria returns home. She stands for a long time at the window of the carriage, admiring the endless Russian landscapes. And lines of new poems appear in my head along with a passionate lyrical melody:

I was driving home, my soul was full

Unclear to myself

some new happiness.

It seemed to me that everything with such fate

They looked at me with such affection.

I was driving home... Two-horned moon

I looked out the windows of the boring carriage.

The distant bell of the morning bell

Sang in the air like a gentle string.

I was driving home... Through the pink veil

The beautiful dawn lazily woke up,

And the swallow, rushing somewhere into the distance,

I swam in the clear air.

I was driving home, I was thinking about you,

My thoughts were anxious and confused and torn.

Sweet slumber touched my eyes,

Oh, if I never woke up again.

This is how a new romance developed, which was a huge success with the public. And in life everything happened as predicted in the romance. She broke up with Dolgorukov, despite the fact that they had a daughter, Tatyana.

Some time passed, and a new love took possession of her. Her chosen one was Dolgorukov’s cousin, member of the State Duma, Count Alexei Orlov-Davydov. He was eight years younger than his beloved. For her sake, he divorced his former wife. But life didn’t work out with the new family either. It is worth telling briefly about this story, since at one time it excited all of Moscow. Count Orlov-Davydov dreamed of a son. Maria was already 50 years old, but she told her husband that she was expecting a child. Taking advantage of her husband's departure, she took the newborn child from the orphanage and passed it off as her own. But there was a man who, having learned about everything, reported to the count. A scandalous trial took place, which was followed with the same interest as reports from the battlefields of the First World War. The actress, who became a countess, won the case, but after that she left the stage and retired to her estate near Moscow.

She was an exceptionally kind and grateful person. After leaving the theater, Maria Poiret took up charity work and helped elderly actors. By that time, the affairs of her great friend, theater figure Mikhail Lentovsky, were upset. She managed to help him, saved him from complete ruin, and contributed to his treatment.

The revolution invaded her life and ruined everything. The estate was confiscated, her Moscow apartment was destroyed, she was left without housing and means of subsistence. She was not entitled to a state pension because she was a former countess. She survived by selling trinkets, the same porcelain, wax, celluloid swans that fans once gave her. Only thanks to the intensive petition of Vsevolod Meyerhold and Leonid Sobinov to the Soviet government, who described in detail her merits in theatrical art, Marie Poiret was given a small pension.

The fate of her lovers was tragic after the revolution. Both of them managed to travel abroad. In exile, Count Orlov-Davydov at one time served as a driver for Kerensky. He died abroad without even trying to return home. But Prince Dolgorukov made such an attempt. He crossed the border illegally, but was caught and shot.

Marie Poiret herself died in 1933 at the age of 69. Few people know about her now, except big fans of romances. But although her name is practically forgotten, this, fortunately, cannot be said about her beautiful romances. Perhaps you will not meet a performer of romances whose repertoire does not include the works of Marie Poiret.

I was driving home... Two-horned moon
I looked out the windows of the boring carriage.
The distant bell of the morning bell
Sang in the air like a gentle string...

Spreading the pink veil,
The beautiful dawn lazily woke up,
And the swallow, rushing somewhere into the distance,
I swam in the clear air.

I was driving home, I was thinking about you,
My thoughts were anxiously confused and torn.
A sweet slumber touched my eyes.
Oh, if I never woke up again.

This beautiful romance was written by a man who deeply feels the beauty of the world around him. In his every word you feel tenderness, sensuality and the desire to meet your loved one. It was written by actress and romance singer Marie Poiret.
Who is she, Marie Poiret? And why is so little known about the history of this romance and its creator?
I came across an article by Olga Konodyuk, published on the pages of School of Life.ru
Let's get acquainted with the difficult life story of this woman, Marie Poiret.

Maria Poiret Maroussia did not marry of her own free will. Relatives were in a hurry to marry the 16-year-old bride to her “successful” groom, engineer Mikhail Sveshnikov. He was almost 50 years old. His candidacy suited everyone. Especially Maria’s older sisters, Evgenia and Alexandra, who still could not find grooms.
Both were unattractive. Maria always annoyed them. Short, slender blonde with blue eyes. Gorgeous! Moreover, as it turned out, she was talented. She sings well, writes poetry... Maria Poiret was born in Moscow on January 4, 1863 (145 years ago). She was the 7th child in the family. Marusya dreamed of running away from home even in her childhood. Her mother, Yulia Andreevna Tarasenkova, the daughter of cloth manufacturers, died when Marusa was barely eight years old. Father, Jacob Poiret, a Frenchman who founded a school of gymnastics and fencing in Moscow, died in a duel several years ago.
Now no one could keep Maria here anymore. And the uncle who lived in their family insisted on his niece’s marriage. From the very beginning, he was against Maria’s entry into the conservatory, where she dreamed of studying singing. But the girl, fortunately, had an unyielding and stubborn character. In response to the arguments of her old husband, who supported his wife’s relatives in everything, Maria only frowned and demanded that they not ask the impossible from her. Her uncle and husband said that if Maria did not listen to them, they would deprive her of her position in society (which by that time she did not yet have), her dowry (they gave her 10 thousand rubles!) and even send her... to a madhouse. The young woman could not find a place for herself from indignation, she either cried or laughed. But the relatives were not joking. And very soon this young and inexperienced creature in everyday affairs found herself in a hospital room with her head shorn. Subsequently, her friend’s brother, a well-known entrepreneur in Moscow, Mikhail Valentinovich Lentovsky, helped her free herself from this hell. He affectionately called Maria “Lavrushka”, and she burst into tears out of shame for her “outfit”... Maria Poiret (stage name “Marusina”) played at the Lentovsky Theater for 10 years. She performed brilliantly in all operettas. She was lively and cheerful on stage, sang dashingly, driving her fans crazy. Could he then imagine that his “Lavrushka”, having become rich and famous, would support him financially for the rest of his life, sparing neither money nor his expensive jewelry. Soon her first poems were published on the pages of the newspaper “Novoe Vremya”. Maria rejoiced at this like a child. And in Tsarskoe Selo, Maria Poiret was enthusiastically received by the public as a performer of romances. Her romance “Swan Song” instantly becomes famous. By that time, Maria Yakovlevna was already playing on the stage of the Alexandria Theater. She is 35 years old, full of hopes and desires. It was the most wonderful time of her life. Maria is in love. Her admirer is Prince Pavel Dmitrievich Dolgorukov. They are both smart and beautiful. In 1898, Marie Poiret gave birth to a daughter, Tatiana. The only thing that darkened her life was the inability to marry the prince. Her ex-husband did not consent to the divorce. Maria herself goes to him, persuades him, but he is inexorable. Old man Sveshnikov, who settled in a monastery, not far from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, invites Maria Yakovlevna to register her daughter in her last name. Tatyana only inherited her father’s middle name, which Poiret asked to be included in the girl’s birth certificate at baptism. After 10 years, Marie Poiret’s relationship with the prince becomes strained; there is no former love and warmth. Maria and her daughter move to Moscow. She dreams of creating her own theater. But Maria Yakovlevna did not have the necessary acumen for such a task, a faithful and active assistant like Lentovsky. She enters the Maly Theater and continues to participate in concerts. Maria Poiret sang romances, including her own compositions. Among them is the romance “I was driving home, I was thinking about you...” (1901).

The romance is picked up by other singers, and now it is already popular. She wants to do something, act. Maria feels the breath of a new time. She travels to the Far East with charity concerts, where the Russian-Japanese War (1904-1905) is taking place. Manages to write poetry and correspondence. In 1904, Maria returned to Moscow with a great desire to perform in front of the public with new poems. Very soon fate will send Maria Yakovlevna a new test. In Moscow, she met the count, a member of the State Duma, a wealthy landowner, Alexei Anatolyevich Orlov-Davydov. She thought she was in love. Or maybe the approaching loneliness worried her... Maria's ex-husband had died by that time. Orlov-Davydov left his wife, Baroness De Staal, leaving three children. Unfortunately, his son and future heir to the entire fortune was seriously ill. Maria promises to give him an heir. She is 50 years old, but the Count believes in her fantasies. And one day she announced to her husband that she was expecting a child... Little Alexey, named after his father, was born when the count arrived from a long business trip. Only a narrow circle of people knew that Marie Poiret took the child in one of the shelters. But the peace in their family was short-lived. The “kind” man found out Maria Yakovlevna’s secret and began to blackmail first the count and then the countess, demanding money in return for silence. Many researchers of the singer’s strange fate wrote that it was a certain extra Karl Laps. Allegedly, he subsequently persuaded the count to start a case in court against his wife. Long before the trial, Orlov-Davydov whispered to his wife: “Masha, don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I will not spare any money or connections for this.” And she, as always, naively believed. And then this ill-fated day came. As she approached the courthouse, she heard the words: “We love you! We are with you! But Marie Poiret only lowered her head low. But then a whistle was heard, and someone’s hoarse voice was heard very close by: “Swindler! Look, Countess Marusya! I coveted millions!” Having learned that the plaintiff in her case was Count Orlov-Davydov, Maria Poiret almost lost consciousness. She hardly heard what was said in the hall. Maria Yakovlevna could not believe that her husband called her in front of everyone “an adventurer, an upstart who wanted to get into high society!” He immediately reminded her that her first husband sent her to an insane asylum for her obnoxious character. Maria did not turn around at his words, she seemed petrified. She just thought that she had never strived for wealth, she was not attracted to his titles. She wanted love, happiness... As a result of a long trial, the court acquitted Poiret, and the child was taken by his own mother, peasant Anna Andreeva. Who knows how much more people would have gossiped about this scandalous incident in the city if not for the events of 1917, which changed the lives of the participants in this drama. The former husband of Marie Poiret, Orlov-Davydov, fled abroad. In 1927, Pavel Dolgorukov was shot. The Bolsheviks turned Marie Poiret's St. Petersburg apartment into ruins. The former artist of the Imperial Theaters, and even Countess Orlova-Davydova, was denied a pension. After some time, at the request of V. Meyerhold, L. Sobinov and Yu. Yuryev, Maria Yakovlevna was nevertheless assigned a personal pension. She moved to Moscow. Maria Yakovlevna Poiret, at 70 years old, did not complain about life. Living in poverty, she sold miraculously preserved trinkets, some things to buy food and Poiret’s favorite coffee, which she always drank from a porcelain cup. The actress died in October 1933. Her name was quickly forgotten. But the romance of Marie Poiret, in which a woman’s heart loves and is sad, remains in the memory of many...

I was driving home, my soul was full

Unclear to myself, some new happiness.

It seemed to me that everything with such fate

They looked at me with such affection.

I was driving home... Two-horned moon

I looked out the windows of the boring carriage.

The distant bell of the morning bell

Sang in the air like a gentle string...

Spreading the pink veil,

The beautiful dawn lazily woke up,

And the swallow, rushing somewhere into the distance,

I swam in the clear air.

I was driving home, I was thinking about you,

My thoughts were anxiously confused and torn.

A sweet slumber touched my eyes.

Oh, if I never woke up again

(Marie Poiret, 1901)

How did the dowry-free “Countess Marusya” glorify her surname? Maria Poiret

Her name was quickly forgotten. But the romance of Marie Poiret, in which a woman’s heart loves and is sad, remains in the memory of many...

Marusya did not marry of her own free will. Relatives were in a hurry to marry the 16-year-old bride to her “successful” groom, engineer Mikhail Sveshnikov. Not young, almost 50 years old, but modest and respectful. His candidacy suited everyone. Especially the older sisters Maria, Evgenia and Alexandra, who still could not find grooms.

Both were of large build and extremely expressionless faces. Maria always annoyed them. Short, slender blonde with blue eyes. Just like her mother, just as beautiful! Moreover, as it turned out, she was talented. Sings well, writes poetry...

Maria Poiret was born in Moscow on January 4, 1863 (145 years ago), she was the 7th child in the family. Marusya dreamed of running away from home even in her childhood. Her mother, Yulia Andreevna Tarasenkova, the daughter of cloth manufacturers, died when Marusa was barely eight years old. Father, Jacob Poiret, a Frenchman who founded a school of gymnastics and fencing in Moscow, died in a duel several years ago.

Now no one could keep Maria here anymore. And the uncle who lived in their family insisted on his niece’s marriage. From the very beginning, he was against Maria’s entry into the conservatory, where she dreamed of studying singing. But the girl, fortunately, had an unyielding and stubborn character. In response to the arguments of her old husband, who supported his wife’s relatives in everything, Maria only frowned and demanded that they not ask the impossible from her.

Her uncle and husband said that if Maria did not listen to them, they would deprive her of her position in society (which by that time she did not yet have), her dowry (they gave her 10 thousand rubles!) and even send her... to a madhouse. The young woman could not find a place for herself from indignation, she either cried or laughed. But the relatives were not joking. And very soon this young and inexperienced creature in everyday affairs found herself in a hospital room with her head shorn. Subsequently, her friend’s brother, a well-known entrepreneur in Moscow, Mikhail Valentinovich Lentovsky, helped her free herself from this hell. He affectionately called Maria “Lavrushka”, and she burst into tears out of shame for her “outfit”...

Maria Poiret (stage name “Marusina”) played at the Lentovsky Theater for 10 years. She performed brilliantly in all operettas. She was lively and cheerful on stage, sang dashingly, driving her fans crazy. Could he then imagine that his “Lavrushka”, having become rich and famous, would support him financially for the rest of his life, sparing neither money nor his expensive jewelry.

Soon her first poems were published on the pages of the newspaper “Novoe Vremya”. Maria rejoiced at this like a child. And in Tsarskoe Selo, Maria Poiret was enthusiastically received by the public as a performer of romances. Her romance “Swan Song” instantly becomes famous. By that time, Maria Yakovlevna was already playing on the stage of the Alexandria Theater. She is 35 years old, full of hopes and desires. It was the most wonderful time of her life. Maria is in love. Her admirer is Prince Pavel Dmitrievich Dolgorukov. They are both smart and beautiful.

In 1898, Marie Poiret gave birth to a daughter, Tatiana. The only thing that darkened her life was the inability to marry the prince. Her ex-husband did not consent to the divorce. Maria herself goes to him, persuades him, but he is inexorable. Old man Sveshnikov, who settled in a monastery, not far from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, invites Maria Yakovlevna to register her daughter in her last name. Tatyana only inherited her father’s middle name, which Poiret asked to be included in the girl’s birth certificate at baptism.

After 10 years, Marie Poiret’s relationship with the prince becomes strained; there is no former love and warmth. Maria and her daughter move to Moscow. She dreams of creating her own theater. But Maria Yakovlevna did not have the necessary acumen for such a task, a faithful and active assistant like Lentovsky. She enters the Maly Theater and continues to participate in concerts. Maria Poiret sang romances, including her own compositions. Among them is the romance “I was driving home, I was thinking about you...” (1901). The romance is picked up by other singers, and now it is already popular.

She wants to do something, act. Maria feels the breath of a new time. She travels to the Far East with charity concerts, where the Russian-Japanese War (1904-1905) is taking place. Manages to write poetry and correspondence. In 1904, Maria returned to Moscow with a great desire to perform in front of the public with new poems.

Very soon fate will send Maria Yakovlevna a new test. In Moscow, she met the count, a member of the State Duma, a wealthy landowner, Alexei Anatolyevich Orlov-Davydov. She thought she was in love. Or maybe the approaching loneliness worried her... Maria's ex-husband had died by that time. Orlov-Davydov left his wife, Baroness De Staal, leaving three children. Unfortunately, his son and future heir to the entire fortune was seriously ill. Maria promises to give him an heir. She is 50 years old, but the Count believes in her fantasies. And one day she announced to her husband that she was expecting a child...

Little Alexey, named after his father, was born when the count arrived from a long business trip. Only a narrow circle of people knew that Marie Poiret took the child in one of the shelters. But the peace in their family was short-lived. The “kind” man found out Maria Yakovlevna’s secret and began to blackmail first the count and then the countess, demanding money in return for silence.

Many researchers of the singer’s strange fate wrote that it was a certain extra Karl Laps. Allegedly, he subsequently persuaded the count to start a case in court against his wife. Long before the trial, Orlov-Davydov whispered to his wife: “Masha, don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I will not spare any money or connections for this.” And she, as always, naively believed.

And then this ill-fated day came. As she approached the courthouse, she heard the words: “We love you! We are with you! But Marie Poiret only lowered her head low. But then a whistle was heard, and someone’s hoarse voice was heard very close by: “Swindler! Look, Countess Marusya! I coveted millions!”

Having learned that the plaintiff in her case was Count Orlov-Davydov, Maria Poiret almost lost consciousness. She hardly heard what was said in the hall. Maria Yakovlevna could not believe that her husband called her in front of everyone “an adventurer, an upstart who wanted to get into high society!” He immediately reminded her that her first husband sent her to an insane asylum for her obnoxious character. Maria did not turn around at his words, she seemed petrified. She just thought that she had never strived for wealth, she was not attracted to his titles. She wanted love, happiness... As a result of a long trial, the court acquitted Poiret, and the child was taken by his own mother, peasant Anna Andreeva.

Who knows how much more people would have gossiped about this scandalous incident in the city if not for the events of 1917, which changed the lives of the participants in this drama. The former husband of Marie Poiret, Orlov-Davydov, fled abroad. In 1927, Pavel Dolgorukov was shot. The Bolsheviks turned Marie Poiret's St. Petersburg apartment into ruins. The former artist of the Imperial Theaters, and even Countess Orlova-Davydova, was denied a pension.

After some time, at the request of V. Meyerhold, L. Sobinov and Yu. Yuryev, Maria Yakovlevna was nevertheless assigned a personal pension. She moved to Moscow. Maria Yakovlevna Poiret, at 70 years old, did not complain about life. Living in poverty, she sold miraculously preserved trinkets, some things to buy food and Poiret’s favorite coffee, which she always drank from a porcelain cup.

The actress died in October 1933. Her name was quickly forgotten. But the romance of Marie Poiret, in which a woman’s heart loves and is sad, remains in the memory of many...