Ermolova, Mariia (1853–1928)

Russian actress whose powerful interpretations set a new standard for acting on the Moscow stage. Name variations: Maria Nikolaijevna Yermolova; Maria M. Ermolova. Born Mariia Nikolaevna Ermolova in Moscow, Russia, on July 15, 1853; died in Moscow on March 12, 1928; daughter of Nikolai Ermolov.

Mariia Ermolova, one of the greatest stars of the Russian stage for five decades, was born into the theater. Her father, Nikolai Ermolov, was a prompter at one of Moscow's leading theaters, the Malyi, and in her youth Mariia spent countless hours in the company of actors and actresses. In 1870, while she was still a student, her talents were revealed when she made her debut at the Malyi Theater in the starring role of Lessing's Emilia Galotti. She began her professional acting career in 1871 by joining the Malyi ensemble, quickly becoming a mainstay of the Malyi.

Ermolova came to maturity during a period of great intellectual and political ferment in Russia. Tsarist attempts at reform only whetted the appetites for greater freedom of a younger generation of intellectuals who were determined to bring their nation into the mainstream of civilization as it was evolving in the West.

This exclusive group, Russia's intelligentsia, dreamed of a nation free of oppression, injustice and poverty in what was for them a repressive police state, often as petty as it was brutal. In their efforts to break down the walls of repression, Russian intellectuals relied on novels, poetry and plays to voice their opposition to tsarism, despite the press and theater censorship which weighed heavily on their attempts.

The lead characters Mariia Ermolova chose to portray were women who embodied the ideals of freedom, truth and beauty about which her audiences felt so passionately. Her stirring portrayals of Katerina in Ostrovsky's The Thunderstorm and Laurencia in Lope de Vega's Fuente Ovejuna brought audiences to a state of moral exaltation, reflecting the expectant mood of the times. Ermolova's discovery of a contemporary message in Fuente Ovejuna, in which an ordinary girl emerges as the leader of a popular uprising, did not escape the notice of police agents. After witnessing several wildly acclaimed performances that ended with political demonstrations, the officials banned any further performances of the play because its message was deemed subversive of established authority.

With her extraordinary acting abilities, Mariia Ermolova discovered new depths in her characterizations in plays that had not been regarded as political. She both expanded her artistic range and came to embody the ideals of social activists. After her success in creating the role of Katerina in The Thunderstorm, she went on to portray several more characters in other Ostrovsky plays. Probing the emotional structures of strongly independent women, Ermolova gave soulful performances as Iuliia Tugina in The Last Victim, Evlaliia in Slaves, Kruchnina in Guilty Though Guiltless, and Negina in Talents and Suitors. In the last role, first performed in 1881, she created one of her most memorable personas, that of a socially engaged woman who chooses to sacrifice personal happiness for her artistic vocation. Other star roles in which she instantly won over audiences included Phaedra, Sappho , and Clärchen in Goethe's Egmont, as well as several Shakespearean women, including Lady Macbeth (Gruoch ).

Repression of Russia's intellectual life intensified after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Despite this, resourceful artists like Ermolova challenged the regime more than ever before through their portrayals. The Malyi Theater was at the heart of this clandestine resistance to tsarist tyranny and was dubbed Moscow's "second university." Students who attended plays claimed that they learned as much from Malyi performances as from professorial lectures. Youthful intellectuals made a ritual of preparing themselves for an evening at the Malyi Theater, reading the play and the critical literature about it, and meeting beforehand to discuss its fine points, even at times inviting an expert to lecture their group and then supervise the ensuing debate. Later in the evening, her fans were not disappointed when Ermolova appeared in beloved classic Russian plays by playwrights Pushkin, Turgeniev, Ostrovsky and others.

Mariia Ermolova was known to be extremely modest, kindly and even timid in private life. She could be easily embarrassed by compliments, seeming hardly aware of her talents. Once on stage, however, she revealed a passionate temperament, the capacity to project nuances of mood and emotion, and a profound sensitivity to a vast range of human behaviors. One evening her portrayal of a woman in the throes of death who has drunk a vial of poison was done so realistically that her colleagues in the wings and even the veteran stage director Chernevsky became concerned about what sort of liquid she had actually consumed, and several in the audience rushed to the foyer to summon a physician.

With her handsome, mobile face and sparkling eyes, she was also noted for the expressive warmth of her low voice, her beautiful figure and flawless complexion. Ermolova enchanted not only audiences but her theater colleagues as well. Constantin Stanislavski recalled in his memoirs the warmth and plasticity of her voice, which retained its harmony and rhythm even in a state of exaltation. He was enthralled by what he saw as her unique ability to coordinate the inner apparatus (perception of feelings) and the outer manifestations of emotions (gesture and voice), as well as by the astonishing variations of human emotions she created. A true virtuoso, she could alternate with ease between whispers, tenderness, and savage outbursts of rage.

For decades, legions of Mariia Ermolova's admirers packed the house at the Malyi. Although they were stirred by virtually all of her performances, she reached the peak of her career in the plays of Friedrich von Schiller, whose noble, elevated style was in harmony with her talent and beliefs. Ermolova performed five roles in his major dramas, achieving her greatest success as Johanna (Joan of Arc ) in Die Jungfrau von Orleans. As the heroic Johanna, Ermolova became the undisputed queen of Moscow in the final years of the 19th century. She first performed this role in 1884. In 1902, she made her last appearance as Johanna, the Maid of Orleans, realizing that as an aging actress she could only do a disservice to the role of a young woman as depicted in Schiller's great tragedy and that she must move on. Other Schiller roles that Ermolova made her own were the title role in Maria Stuart and Elizabeth de Valois in Don Carlos. By the end of the 1890s, she was enjoying universal acclaim as "the Joan of Arc of the Russian theater."

Rich in years and honors, Mariia Ermolova retired from the stage in 1921, her last role being that of Mamelfa Dmitrievna in Alexei Tolstoy's Viceroy. The previous year, on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of her career, she had become the first person to receive the fledgling Soviet state's award of People's Artist of the Republic. To celebrate her anniversary, the revered actress chose to perform the third act of Schiller's Maria Stuart. In 1924, she was honored with the title of Hero of Labor. Ermolova died in Moscow on March 12, 1928. Her name lived on after her death, first in an actors' studio named for her, and in 1937 with the creation of the Moscow Ermolova Theater. On December 28, 1957, Soviet postal authorities issued a 40 kopeck postage stamp in her honor. In 1970, her former residence in Moscow on Tverskoy Boulevard was opened as a branch of the A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum.

sources:

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John Haag , Assistant Professor of History, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia