Konstantin Balmont was a Russian poet, translator, literary critic and essayist, the author of many collections of poems, articles and essays. From the middle of the 1910s he often gave public lectures on issues of concern to him.
Background
Ethnicity:
According to his family legend, his ancestors were sailors, either Scottish or Scandinavian, who came to Russia and settled there.
Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont was born on June 3, 1867. He was born at his family's estate, Gumnishchi, Shuya (then Vladimir Governorate, now Ivanovo Oblast), the third of seven sons.
His father's father was a Navy officer and a hero of the Turkish War praised by Tsar Nicholas the First for bravery. His mother's ancestors were Tatars, the first in the line being Prince Bely Lebed (White Swan) of the Golden Horde. That was where two of her distinctive qualities, unruliness and tempestuousness, which I inherited, came from. According to Yekaterina Andreyeva's Memoirs, Balmont's paternal grand-grandfather Ivan Andreyevich Balamut (Баламут, the Ukrainian surname, translated literally as "trouble-maker") was a landowner in Kherson, Southern Ukraine, who served as a cavalry sergeant in Catherine the Great's Imperial Guard regiment (Andreyeva insisted she had seen the proof of it in an original parchment-written document kept in the family archives). Dmitry Konstantinovich, Vera Nikolayevna and all of their relatives pronounced the surname with the first syllable stressed. The poet changed its pronunciation to Balmont, citing "a certain woman's whimsy" as his reason.
Education
At age ten Konstantin joined the local gymnasium of Shuya but was expelled from it for his political activities and transferred to a Vladimir gymnasium. In 1886 Balmont graduated from the much hated Vladimir gymnasium and enrolled in Moscow State University to study law. Balmont tried to get an education but he was kicked out of the University of Moscow for advocating revolution. He joined the Demidov Law College in Yaroslavl but dropped out in September 1890 deciding he had enough formal education.
In 1890 Balmont released a self-financed book called Collection of Poems (Sbornik stikhotvoreny), which included some of the pieces published in 1885. Instrumental in helping the publication was Vladimir Korolenko, by then an established writer, who had received a handwritten notebook (sent to him by Konstantin's classmates) and sent back detailed and favorable critical analysis.
In 1888–1891 Balmont published several poems he translated from German and French. For a while none of the literary journals showed interest in Balmont's own work.
In December 1893 Balmont informed Nikolai Minsky in a letter: "I've just written a series of my own poems and I am planning to start the publishing process in January. I anticipate my liberal friends will be outraged, for there's not much liberalism in this, while there are 'corrupting influences' aplenty." Under the Northern Sky (Под северным небом) came out in 1894 and marked the starting point in his literary career, several critics praising the young author's originality and versatility.The second collection, In Boundlessness (В безбрежности, 1895) saw Balmont starting to experiment with the Russian language's musical and rhythmical structures. Mainstream critics reacted coolly, but the Russian cultural elite of the time hailed the author as gifted innovator.
In 1894 Balmont met Valery Bryusov, who, impressed by the young poet's "personality and his fanatical passion for poetry," soon became his best friend.
Around this time Balmont met and became close friends with Sergei Poliakov, Knut Hamsun's Russian translator and an influential literary entrepreneur (who in 1899 would launch the Scorpion publishing house).
All the while Balmont was engaged in intensive self-education: he learned several languages and became an expert in various subjects like the Spanish art and Chinese culture. In the spring of 1897 Oxford University invited Balmont to read lectures on Russian poetry. "For the first time ever I've been given the opportunity to live my life totally in accord with my intellectual and aesthetic interests. I'll never get enough of this wealth of arts, poetry, and philosophical treasures," he wrote in a letter to critic Akim Volynsky. These European impressions formed the basis for Balmont's third collection Silence (Тишина, 1898).
In March 1901 Balmont took part in a student demonstration on the square in front of Kazan Cathedral which was violently disrupted by police and Cossack units. Several days later, at a literary event in the Russian State Duma, he recited his new poem "The Little Sultan" (Malenkii sultan), a diatribe against Tsar Nicholas II, which then circulated widely in hand-written copies. As a result, Balmont was deported from the capital and banned for two years from living in university cities. On 14 March 1902 Balmont left Russia for Britain and France, lecturing at the Russian College of Social Sciences, Paris.
In 1903 Balmont returned to Russia, his administrative restrictions having been removed by Interior Minister von Plehve. Back in Moscow, he joined Bryusov and Polyakov in the founding of the journal Vesy (The Scales), published by Scorpion.
In 1903 Balmont moved to the Baltic Sea shore to work on his next book, Only Love (Только любовь, 1903) which failed to surpass the success of the two previous books, but still added to the cult of Balmont."
In 1904–1905 Scorpion published a two-volume set of Balmont's collected works.
Back from his trip to Mexico and California, Balmont became involved in the 1905.
In 1907–1912 Balmont traveled continuously.
In 1914 the publication of Balmont's Complete Works in ten volumes commenced.
The outbreak of World War I found Balmont in France, and he had to make a long trip through the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden to return home in May 1915. In 1916 he traveled through the entire Empire, giving readings to large audiences and reached Japan, where he was also warmly received. During the war Balmont published Ash. The Vision of a Tree (Ясень. Видение древа, 1916) and 255 sonnets under the title Sonnets of the Sun, Honey, and the Moon (Сонеты Солнца, мёда и Луны, 1917). Both books were received warmly by the public, though the majority of critics found them monotonous and banal. Balmont also composed longer poems, including six garlands of sonnets. He made new friends, including the composers Alexander Skryabin and Sergei Prokofiev, collaborating with the latter on musical works.
In 1921 Balmont moved out of Paris into the provinces where he and his family rented houses in Brittany, the Vendee, Bordeaux, and the Gironde. In the late 1920s his criticism of both Soviet Russia and what he saw as the leftist Western literary elite’s indifference to the plight of the Russian people, became more pronounced.
In emigration Balmont published several books of poetry, including A Gift to Earth (Дар Земле), Lightened Hour (Светлый час, both 1921), The Haze (Марево, 1922), From Me to Her. Poems of Russia (Моё — ей. Стихи о России, 1923), Beyond Stretched Horizons (В раздвинутой дали, 1929), Northern Lights (Северное сияние, 1933), Blue Horseshoe (Голубая подкова) and Serving the Light (Светослужение, both 1937).
In April 1936 a group of Russian writers and musicians abroad celebrated the 50th anniversary of Balmont's literary career by staging a charity event; among the organizers and contributors were Shmelyov, Bunin, Zaitsev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Mark Aldanov.
Balmont died on 23 December 1942 in a refuge for Russian emigres, the Russian House, due to complications from pneumonia. He is interred in Noisy-le-Grand's Catholic cemetery, four words engraved on his grey tomb: "Constantin Balmont, poete russe." Among the several people who came to the funeral were Zaitsev, Balmont's daughter Mirra, and Jurgis Baltrushaitis's widow.
Balmont was a liberal: he detested fascism and right-wing nationalist ideas. He shied away from Russian Socialists (like Alexander Kerensky and Ilya Fondaminsky) and expressed horror at what he saw as France's general 'enchantment' with socialism. His views were in many ways similar to those of Ivan Bunin; the two disliked each other personally but spoke in one voice on many occasions.
Personality
Konstantin Balmont has been characterized variously as theatrical, pretentious, erratic and egotistical. Boris Zaitsev, ridiculing good-humouredly his best friend's vain eccentricities, remembered episodes when Balmont "could be an altogether different person: very sad and very simple." Andrey Bely spoke of Balmont as a lonely and vulnerable man, totally out of touch with the real world. Inconsistency marred his creativity too: "He failed to connect and harmonize those riches he was given by nature, aimlessly spending his spiritual treasures," Bely argued.
"Balmont was a poseur and the reasons for this were obvious. Always crowded by worshipers, he tried to behave in a manner he saw as befitting a great poet... It was laughter that gave him away… Just like a child, he was always moved by a momentary impulse," wrote Teffi. "He lives his everyday life as a poet, trying to discover each moment's full richness. That is why one shouldn't judge him by common criteria," Valery Bryusov argued.
Pyotr Pertsov who knew Balmont from teenage years, characterized him as "a very nice, friendly, and considerate young man." Marina Tsvetayeva insisted that he was "the kind of man who'd give a needy one his last piece of bread, his last log of wood." Mark Talov, a Soviet translator who in the 1920s found himself penniless in Paris, remembered how often, after having left Balmont's house, he would find money in a pocket; the poet (who was very poor himself) preferred this anonymous way of helping so as not to confuse a visitor.
Bohemian habits notwithstanding, Balmont was a hard worker, proficient and prolific. Eccentric to many, he seemed rational and logical to some. The publisher Sergey Sabashnikov remembered Balmont as "accurate, punctual, pedantic and never slovenly… Such accuracy made Balmont a very welcome client," he added.
Quotes from others about the person
Gumilev noted of Tol’ko liubov: “In my opinion it most deeply reflects Balmont’s talent, proud as the thought of a European, colorful as a southern tale, and pensive as the Slavic soul.”
Connections
In 1889, ignoring his mother's warnings, Balmont married Larisa Mikhaylovna Garelina, a daughter of Shuya-based factory-owner, described as a neurasthenic who "gave the poet the love of a truly demonic nature". This led first to Balmont's ties with his family being severed, then his March 13, 1890, suicide attempt. The couple's first son died in infancy; the second, Nikolai, suffered from mental illness. Later some critics warned against demonizing Larisa Garelina, pointing to the fact that years later she married the well-known Russian journalist and literature historian Nikolai Engelgardt and enjoyed a normal family life with him. Their daughter Anna Engelgardt became the second wife of poet Nikolai Gumilyov.
On 27 September 1896 Balmont married Yekaterina Alekseyevna Andreyeva (1867–1952), a well-educated woman who came from a rich merchant's family, related to the well-known Moscow publishers, the Sabashnikovs. Andreyeva and Balmont had much in common; they formed a tandem of translators and worked together on the works of Gerhart Hauptmann and Oscar Wilde. Andreyeva, a strong-minded woman, was a leading force in the family, and in her 'strong, healthy and loving hands' (according to Boris Zaitsev, who knew them well) Balmont led a "disciplined, working man's life." In 1901 their daughter Nina Balmont (Bruni in marriage, died in Moscow in 1989) was born.
In the early 1900s, while in Paris, Balmont met Yelena Konstantinovna Tsvetkovskaya (1880–1943), general K. G. Tzvetkovsky's daughter, a student of mathematics at the University of Paris and the poet's ardent fan. Balmont, as some of his letters suggested, wasn't in love with her, but soon found himself in many ways dependent upon the girl who proved to be a loyal, devoted friend. Balmont's family life got seriously complicated in 1907 when Tsvetkovskaya gave birth to a daughter Mirra, named so by her father in the memory of the poet Mirra Lokhvitskaya, who died in 1905 and with whom he had passionate platonic relations. Torn between the two families, in 1909 Balmont attempted suicide for the second time (jumping out a window) and again survived. Up until 1917 he lived in Saint Petersburg with Tsvetkovskaya and Mirra, occasionally visiting Yekaterina and Nina in Moscow.
While in France Balmont continued to correspond with Andreyeva up until 1934.
From 1919 Balmont was romantically linked with Dagmar Shakhovskaya (née von Lilienfeld, 1893–1967), who followed Balmont to France in 1921. They lived apart except for brief periods, although Dagmar bore Balmont two children: Georges (1922–1943) and Svetlana (b. 1925). Balmont sent her letters or postcards almost daily; in all, 858 of them survived, mostly from 1920-1924. It was Elena Tsvetkovskaya, though, who remained with Balmont until his dying day. She died in 1943, surviving her husband by a year. Mirra Balmont (in her first marriage Boychenko, in the second Ayutina) was a published poet, who used the pseudonym Aglaya Gamayun. She died in Paris in 1970.