Lyubov Pavlovna Nikulina-Kositskaya (Russian: Ð›ÑŽÐ±Ð¾Ì Ð²ÑŒ
ÐŸÐ°Ì Ð²Ð»Ð¾Ð²Ð½Ð° Ð Ð¸ÐºÑƒÌ Ð»Ð¸Ð½Ð°-ÐšÐ¾Ñ Ð¸Ì Ñ†ÐºÐ°Ñ , 27 August
1827 â€" 17 September 1868) was a Russian Empire theatre actress, best
known for her work in the Maly Theater, notably in Alexander
Ostrovsky's plays.Kositskaya was born in the village of Zhdanovka
nearby Nizhny Novgorod to a family of Russian serf peasants. "We were
part of the household of a master whom people were calling the Dog.
We, as children, were scared even by the sound of his name, for he was
for us the embodiment of horror. I was born in his house which stood
on land soaked with peasant blood and tears," she wrote in her
posthumously published memoirs. At the age of fourteen she found work
in Nizhny Novgorod as a housemaid for a merchant woman, named
Dolganova, who paid for her primary education. It was in Dolganova's
house that Kositskaya debuted as an amateur actress, discovering she'd
got a fine singing voice too.In April 1844, against her mother's will,
Kositskaya joined the Nizhny Theater where she was engaged in roles of
peasant girls and servant maids and also sang in operas by Weber and
Verstovsky. She came to Moscow with a view to becoming an opera star
but found herself first in a drama school, then, through Mikhail
Shchepkin's recommendation, in Maly Theatre. Here Kositskaya married
actor Ivan Nikulin, who was her second husband. The marriage proved to
be an unhappy one.Kositskaya debut at Maly Theatre in 1847, to much
acclaim. In her first season she played Parasha (Parasha the Syberian
by Nikolai Polevoy), Luisa (Intrigue and Love by Friedrich Schiller),
Ophelia (Hamlet by William Shakespeare), Mikaela (Daughter of Karl the
Brave, by Vladimir Zotov). Critics praised her performances in
melodramas, admitting her vaudevillian abilities were limited. In the
early 1850s she failed as Masha in Ivan Turgenev's The Bachelor
(Schepkin's benefice) and people started talking openly of her
decline.
ÐŸÐ°Ì Ð²Ð»Ð¾Ð²Ð½Ð° Ð Ð¸ÐºÑƒÌ Ð»Ð¸Ð½Ð°-ÐšÐ¾Ñ Ð¸Ì Ñ†ÐºÐ°Ñ , 27 August
1827 â€" 17 September 1868) was a Russian Empire theatre actress, best
known for her work in the Maly Theater, notably in Alexander
Ostrovsky's plays.Kositskaya was born in the village of Zhdanovka
nearby Nizhny Novgorod to a family of Russian serf peasants. "We were
part of the household of a master whom people were calling the Dog.
We, as children, were scared even by the sound of his name, for he was
for us the embodiment of horror. I was born in his house which stood
on land soaked with peasant blood and tears," she wrote in her
posthumously published memoirs. At the age of fourteen she found work
in Nizhny Novgorod as a housemaid for a merchant woman, named
Dolganova, who paid for her primary education. It was in Dolganova's
house that Kositskaya debuted as an amateur actress, discovering she'd
got a fine singing voice too.In April 1844, against her mother's will,
Kositskaya joined the Nizhny Theater where she was engaged in roles of
peasant girls and servant maids and also sang in operas by Weber and
Verstovsky. She came to Moscow with a view to becoming an opera star
but found herself first in a drama school, then, through Mikhail
Shchepkin's recommendation, in Maly Theatre. Here Kositskaya married
actor Ivan Nikulin, who was her second husband. The marriage proved to
be an unhappy one.Kositskaya debut at Maly Theatre in 1847, to much
acclaim. In her first season she played Parasha (Parasha the Syberian
by Nikolai Polevoy), Luisa (Intrigue and Love by Friedrich Schiller),
Ophelia (Hamlet by William Shakespeare), Mikaela (Daughter of Karl the
Brave, by Vladimir Zotov). Critics praised her performances in
melodramas, admitting her vaudevillian abilities were limited. In the
early 1850s she failed as Masha in Ivan Turgenev's The Bachelor
(Schepkin's benefice) and people started talking openly of her
decline.
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