Where did Lieutenant Rzhevsky come from? Who is Lieutenant Rzhevsky? Who really was Lieutenant Rzhevsky

People far from history and literature are sure that Lieutenant Rzhevsky really existed - so successfully the gallant hussar got used to the mass consciousness. Lieutenant Rzhevsky is a unique phenomenon in oral folk art.

Having appeared on Soviet screens, the character successfully migrated into folklore and acquired contradictory qualities. The hero of folk jokes is boastful, but keeps his promises, loves dancing, but cannot stand high society, is a vulgar ladies' man and a patriot to the core. Rzhevsky has been raising the spirits of Russians for half a century.

Story

For the first time, Soviet film fans truly became acquainted with Lieutenant Rzhevsky: the comedy “The Hussar Ballad” was released on USSR screens in 1962. The film is based on the play “A Long Time Ago” by Alexander Gladkov, which was staged back in 1941. However, the folklore birth of the character happened precisely after Ryazanov’s production.

The Russian playwright wrote the play, having been impressed by the books “War and Peace” and “Children of Captain Grant” as a child. As intended, the work about the events of the war turned out to be bright and cheerful, and the character of the lieutenant and way of life is clear from his first words:

“It would be nice to have a snack on the way, otherwise I’m somehow not used to falling in love on an empty stomach.”

The epigraph of the play also matches:

“Rejoice, cheerful crowd, in lively and fraternal self-will!”

Image

Historians still cannot agree on who the image of the lieutenant was based on, it’s all speculation and conjecture. The hero’s homeland may well be one of the nine regions of Russia (from Oryol to Tver provinces) - in each, a trace of nobles with the surname Rzhevsky was discovered. Naturally, the city of Rzhev also lays claim to fame, and not out of nowhere: the princes of Rzhev appear in the chronicles of the early 14th century.

The northern capital of Russia proves its involvement in the character “in practice.” In St. Petersburg there is the Rzhevsky artillery range, the lands of which once belonged to the captain of the Imperial Army Rzhevsky.

The versions do not agree on a significant detail - the military ranks are different. Only one person fully matches the character in this sense. Lieutenant Yuri Rzhevsky, great-great-grandfather, served with him. The man, even before receiving his military rank, studied maritime affairs in Italy. But Yuri Alekseevich was not distinguished by the broken character of his folklore namesake.

Or maybe we shouldn’t rely on the surname, the researchers thought. So a number of other versions appeared. For example, the writer Yuri Voitov considers the prototype of the famous lieutenant Nikolai Ashinov from Tsaritsyn. At the end of the 19th century, he made a lot of noise by turning part of the lands of African Somalia into Cossacks - the act of a real adventurer.

The phrase “Your uniform, I see, is from Pavlograd!” from the “Hussar Ballad” suggested to the Ukrainian history professor Viktor Bushin that Rzhevsky was from his native place.

But most worthy of the honor of bearing the title of the prototype of the hussar is second lieutenant Sergei Rzhevsky - a rake and reveler who lived in the Tula province in the 19th century, shocked secular society sophisticated jokes and amusements. Be that as it may, Rzhevsky is called upon to be considered in a collective manner.

Alexander Gladkov endowed the lieutenant with two main traits of the character from Denis Davydov’s poem “Decisive Evening” - love for women and drunkenness. He turned out to be a daring bully, a braggart and a gambler, who also treats high society with irony. However, there were also positive qualities: Dmitry Rzhevsky is a brave and straightforward man, a devoted patriot, a good friend.

Later, from the mid-80s, the image of the folk lieutenant changes. Indifference to women turns into passion; Rzhevsky appears as a brutal womanizer with gaps in education. Almost all jokes have sexual overtones, which the author of the lieutenant did not even mean.

Rzhevsky's face is invariably adorned with a mustache, but his uniform is literary works, productions and films are changing. The lieutenant appears in the uniform of the Mariupol, Grodno or Life Guards Hussar Regiment, hence the confusion in military service. The question of where Dmitry Rzhevsky actually served was also never figured out.

Movies

The comedy “The Hussar Ballad” by Eldar Ryazanov became the first film adaptation of the play “A Long Time Ago”. The plot of the film takes place in 1812. 17-year-old Shura Azarova and Dmitry Rzhevsky are engaged in absentia. The lieutenant is not happy about this fact, imagining a stupid girl obsessed with fashion. However, the bride is not so simple: the pupil of two old military men shoots well and stays in the saddle.

For the first time, the main characters saw each other in the garden of Azarov’s estate. Shurochka, preparing for the upcoming carnival, put on a cornet uniform. Rzhevsky mistook the girl for a relative of the future bride and shared the assumption that she was probably spoiled and narrow-minded.

This is how the girl behaves during the “real” meeting, which is why the lieutenant is horrified. The outbreak of war with the French almost separated the destinies of the young people. Rzhevsky went to the front, but Shurochka, without thinking twice, also went to defend her Motherland - in the uniform of a cornet. Adventures, intrigues and, of course, meetings await the heroes.

In the film, the brilliant duet was made up of and, who made her film debut. Yuri Vasilyevich managed to create an anecdotal image of a ladies' man, a braggart and a player.

In 2005, director Andrei Maksimkov presented to the viewer a funny series of eight episodes “ True story Lieutenant Rzhevsky”, where the action is already 1817, and the main character’s name is Alexander (the role was played by Alexander Bargman). A man returns home to St. Petersburg, where his beloved woman is waiting.

His life changes best friend and fellow soldier Cornet Obolensky, who wrote a book about the frivolous adventures of Lieutenant Rzhevsky. High society is in shock, parents hide the works of their daughters from the supposed hero, and adult women faint when they meet the lieutenant.

Another film fantasy on the theme of this character is “Rzhevsky vs. Napoleon,” filmed in 2012. The authors of the comedy had a good laugh at history and turned everything upside down. Bonaparte is affectionately called Bonya in the film; the pot-bellied and arrogant Frenchman starts a war out of boredom. Lieutenant Rzhevsky, dressed as a woman, is sent to the rake and womanizer Napoleon. The temperamental madam manages to fall in love with the French emperor.

Who just didn’t get into the script - and Lefty, and even. Set united the actors.

The lieutenant is also reminiscent of the hero of the famous blockbuster “The Turkish Gambit”, released in 2005. The prototype of the hussar Zurov was played by Rzhevsky - the same womanizer, gambler, plus a reckless duelist.

In 2011, as part of the “Provincial Notes” program, the documentary film “Lieutenant Rzhevsky: a duel with high society" Journalist Elena Panova went to the city of Veneva Tula region, to introduce viewers to a curious manuscript - a museum exhibit, written by the niece of Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Not all the pages of the notebook have survived, but what remains tells of the mischief of an unlucky relative.

Theater, literature, songs

Performances with the main character, Lieutenant Rzhevsky, are held on the stages of theaters in different cities of Russia. The first production of the play “A Long Time Ago” was released on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. In 1941, Rzhevsky was brought onto the stage of the Leningrad Theater by Alexey Popov - the director received a Stalin Prize. The performance is still successfully performed in the Central Academic Theater Russian army.

At the end of the 1970s, the character got into ballet: the premiere of “The Hussar Ballad” took place at the Mariinsky Theater. Artistic director Oleg Vinogradov spoke.

In the new millennium, the directors of the Rostov Youth Theater turned to the image of the lieutenant, presenting the audience with the play “Forward, Hussars!” and Khabarovsk musical theater, where the production of “The True Story of Lieutenant Rzhevsky” took place.

Main role in the capital's churches, Melpomene went to brilliant actors. The image of Rzhevsky was tried on by Gennady Gushchin, Andrei Bogdanov and others. Shurochka Azarova was first introduced to the public by Maria Babanova, the actress was replaced by Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya, Larisa Golubkina, Tatyana Morozova.

Hussar Rzhevsky can boast of literary luggage, which accommodated about 20 works of art. The authors eagerly took up their pen in the early 2000s. Dmitry Repin presented readers with a poetic work “Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Hussar Poems,” Sergei Ulyev wrote the novel “Lieutenant Rzhevsky, or Love in the Hussar Style,” Yuri Voitov created the film story “I have the honor, Lieutenant Rzhevsky!”

Documentary publications offer insight into the character’s biography: “Personal Memories and Everything Heard,” based on the memoirs of the hero’s niece, Princess Rzhevskaya, and “Lieutenant Rzhevsky and Others,” authored by Oleg Kondratyev.

Artists and sculptors also turned their attention to the hussar. In 1979, Vladimir Ovchinnikov pleased with the painting “Lieutenant Rzhevsky”, and a bench near a chemical plant in the Ukrainian Pavlograd was decorated with a sculpture inviting people to relax and at the same time take a photo with the hero of films and jokes.

By the way, anecdotes are a special topic in a conversation about the lieutenant. A flurry of funny mini-stories poured in after the release of the film “The Hussar Ballad”. The jokes are mostly vulgar and violate any imaginable limits of decency. The lieutenant appears in them as a vulgar man who cannot carry on a conversation, a boor and a naive man who takes everything literally.

Among the main characters of folklore, Natasha Rostova turned out to be next to Rzhevsky, although she has nothing in common with the lieutenant. A girl appeared in jokes after the success of the film “War and Peace”, shot by. Rostova’s company is often accompanied by other heroes of the great novel, for example, Andrei Bolkonsky. Sometimes Leo Tolstoy himself suddenly appears, and often acts as an adviser. These are simply Rzhevsky’s contemporaries, whom the people easily “made friends” with each other.

Darling folk character They still don’t leave him alone; they write poems and songs about the hussar. Even rappers pamper Rzhevsky with attention. In 2017, fans of the “titan of Russian rap culture” received a gift new album“The Man in the Iron Gauntlets”, one of the tracks of which is dedicated to the folk hero.

Among the namesakes of the hussar - popular group“Lieutenant Rzhevsky”, who debuted with the scandalous song “Night and Ball”. The creation of the group was approached with humor: Natasha Rostova and Anka the Machine Gunner sing along with the lieutenant.

Jokes

Beautiful sunny morning. Rzhevsky came out onto the porch - ruddy, dashing - and already grunted with pleasure. He jumped into the saddle, galloped a mile, only a pillar of dust. Suddenly he stopped, looked down and slapped himself on the forehead: “Oh my! Where’s the horse?” And he galloped back.

- We're burning, we're burning! Water! Water!
The door of one room opens, Lieutenant Rzhevsky shouts:
- And in the thirteenth number of champagne...

A bus with tourists approaches the city of Rzhev. Guide:
- And here, gentlemen, Lieutenant Rzhevsky lived and worked.
Curious from the audience:
- Well, he lived - that’s understandable. What, I wonder, was he doing?
Guide:
- Oh, gentlemen, he did such a thing here...

Lieutenant Rzhevsky says:
- Yesterday I was with Countess N. And her husband unexpectedly returned.
- So what? What have you done?
- Defended the honor of an officer's uniform.
- How?
- Killed all the moths in the closet.

- Lieutenant, did you have a hobby when you were young?
- Yes, even two - hunting and women.
- And who were you hunting for?
- I hunted for them, for women, sir!

Role plays Yuri Yakovlev, Alexander Bargman, Pavel Derevyanko, Vladimir Zeldin, Ilya Oleynikov and others

He is also the hero of a series of jokes, usually frivolous - on sexual, alcoholic and “pun” topics; collective image a hussar with vulgar habits in an aristocratic environment.

Characteristics

Military service

The lieutenant is a hereditary military man, the nephew of the brigadier (brigade commander) Rzhevsky.

IN classical works(in the play and film) the place of service of Lieutenant Rzhevsky is not directly named. In A. Gladkov’s play, the commander of the partisan detachment, Davyd Vasiliev, says, addressing Rzhevsky: “ Pugnacity, brother, your pugnacity became a proverb long ago in the Akhtyrsky regiment». This phrase may mean both that Rzhevsky previously served in the Akhtyrsky regiment, and that Lieutenant Colonel Denis Davydov himself, the prototype of Davyd Vasilyev, actually served in the Akhtyrsky regiment in 1812.

In various humorous dramatizations that have nothing to do with history, military uniform The lieutenant is usually fantastic - such as is available in the props at hand. Thus, Garik Kharlamov in the program “What are our years” is dressed in a blue hussar uniform in the colors of the Grodno Regiment with a yellow trim of the Mariupol Regiment. In two “Gorodok” programs, Rzhevsky is in a fantastic uniform of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment with red and white trousers, in the third - in a strange yellow-blakit separate uniform in the colors of the Mariupol Regiment, in the fourth - in general, in a khaki hussar uniform.

Another character plays Gladkova, Shura Azarova, uses the green uniform of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment (Rzhevsky says, addressing her: - I see Pavlogradsky’s uniform on you), however in film wears a light gray uniform of the Sumy Hussar Regiment, which probably was the reason for Lieutenant Rzhevsky himself being assigned to this regiment; - a monument to him was even built in Pavlograd in 2006.

Rzhevsky himself play speaks: - For me there is no cuter than blue!, and the color of the Pavlograd uniform is not blue, but green. Another served in the Pavlograd regiment fictional character, but already Leo Tolstoy - Nikolai Rostov, brother of Natasha Rostova, who is usually present in jokes about Rzhevsky along with other characters in the novel “War and Peace”, based on which a film by Sergei Bondarchuk was released in 1967. Since both characters are contemporaries, they are intertwined in folklore.

The Rzhevskys lived in nine Russian provinces: Voronezh, Kursk, Tula, Moscow, Oryol, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, Tambov, Tver.

In St. Petersburg there actually existed captain Russian Imperial Army Rzhevsky, from whose surname came the name of the Rzhevskaya Sloboda, which he owned, and the city district (then a suburb) Rzhevka. This land the captain sold it to the naval department, and the Rzhev artillery range was set up there. Nowadays, this toponym has been preserved in the name of the railway station of the same name, as well as the nearby residential area “Rzhevka-Porokhovye”.
The first Rzhevsky to hold the rank of lieutenant was Yuri Alekseevich, who studied maritime affairs in Italy at the beginning of the 18th century by decree of Peter the Great, great-great-grandfather of A.S. Pushkin, after which he was appointed with the rank of lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. His descendant Nikolai Rzhevsky, brother of A.S. Pushkin in the sixth generation, studied with Pushkin at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.
In the Venevsky district of the Tula province in the mid-19th century there lived a nobleman under lieutenant Sergei Semyonovich Rzhevsky, who “has been outrageously outrageous,” is often quite p O went and whose jokes often shocked noble society. Stories about the adventures of the “Venev scoundrel” were described in the Moscow tabloid press. He served in the army for only a year and three months, after which he was expelled from service. He did not participate in the Patriotic War of 1812 because he was not yet born. This is stated in the memoirs of his niece Nadezhda Petrovna Rzhevskaya (nee Volkonskaya), published by the Tula Museum of Local Lore. From the real adventures of Lieutenant Rzhevsky, described by the princess and published in the newspapers:

Once for a masquerade, Rzhevsky dressed up as a stove. He stuck his head into the pipe and made holes for the legs at the bottom of the stove. He stripped naked and climbed naked into the stove, which was made of cardboard. There was a flood in front, an vent in the back. Around both of the currently closed holes there were large inscriptions: “Do not open the stove, there is fumes in it.” In the masquerade everyone behaved very freely, and such an inscription encouraged everyone to open the stove and look into it. Everyone saw the man's bare members, front and back. Some spat, others laughed, but the whole hall became noisy and crowds began to gather. Sergei Semyonovich wanted only this. The police showed up and he was led out in triumph.

The image of a lieutenant in the theater

Dmitry Rzhevsky - main character plays " Once upon a time" (originally called " Pets of Glory", first production at the Leningrad Theater of Nikolai Akimov, 1941); derivative from it " Forward, hussars!"(Rostov Youth Theatre, 2010), independent play « I have the honor, Lieutenant Rzhevsky"(Kiev Satire Theater, 2000s), and ballet by T. Khrennikov" Hussar ballad"(first production - Kirov Theater, 1979).

Lieutenant on dramatic scene played:

Gennady Gushchin
Andrey Krasnyaschikh
Vasily Usoltsev
Sergey Fedyushkin

and many others.

The role of Rzhevsky on the ballet stage was performed by:

Vadim Gulyaev (Leningrad, Moscow)
Yuri Gumba (Leningrad)
Nikolay Kovmir (Leningrad)
Yuri Vladimirov (Moscow)
Victor Barykin (Moscow)
Nikolay Dorokhov (Moscow)
Gennady Akachyonok (Kuibyshev)

and others.

Filmography

Feature films Documentaries TV

The image of Lieutenant Rzhevsky was repeatedly staged and parodied in various television programs.

Literature

Artistic Documentary

Princess Rzhevskaya N. P.“Personal memories and everything heard (Lieutenant Rzhevsky).” Tula, .
Oleg Kondratyev. Rzhev, .

Folklore

Jokes about Rzhevsky appeared in the USSR after the release of the film “The Hussar Ballad” and became widespread by the 1980s. Rzhevsky is one of the three most popular heroes jokes in the USSR/Russia that came from cinema; the others are Chapaev and Stirlitz. In total, more than four hundred “classic” jokes are known this topic. Most often in jokes, in addition to Lieutenant Rzhevsky himself, his fellow hussars, Natasha Rostova and cornet Obolensky from the 20th century, act.

In the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment, in addition to cornet Azarov (Shurochka Azarova), another fictional character served in jokes about the lieutenant - only Leo Tolstoy - Nikolai Rostov, brother of Natasha Rostova, who is often present in jokes about Rzhevsky along with other characters in the novel "War and Peace" , based on which the film War and Peace was released 5 years after The Hussar Ballad. Both literary characters- contemporaries (1812) and easily intertwined in folklore.

Also in the jokes there may be real and fictitious contemporaries of the lieutenant - A. S. Pushkin, who either acts as Rzhevsky’s adviser, or writes poetry, puns, etc., which Rzhevsky misinterprets. There are also various heroes of the novel “War and Peace” - in addition to those listed above, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov and even the author himself Leo Tolstoy; Rzhevsky's orderly Mitka; as well as the characters of the Civil War in Russia of the 20th century - his “colleagues” from M. Zvezdinsky’s romance - cornet Obolensky and Lieutenant Golitsyn.

The name of Lieutenant Rzhevsky has become a household word to denote vulgarity and is used in this way in various Russian-language media.

Some authors consider jokes about the lieutenant not vulgar. An example of a non-vulgar joke about the character of Pavel Basinsky:

Beautiful sunny morning. Rzhevsky came out onto the porch - ruddy, dashing - and already grunted with pleasure. He jumped into the saddle, galloped a mile, only a pillar of dust. Suddenly he stopped, looked down and slapped himself on the forehead: “Oh my! Where’s the horse?” And he galloped back.

Since the late 1980s, many collections of anecdotes about Lieutenant Rzhevsky have been published in Russia and the CIS (by the publishing houses Lana, Eksmo-Press, etc.) In much more O More collections of jokes and other books contain sections dedicated to the lieutenant.

The image of a lieutenant in painting

Sculpture

Character in games

Music

Product placement

2012 election campaign

Notes

“The whole of Rzhevsky came out of Denis Davydov’s poem “Decisive Evening.” Alexander Gladkov."Memories". page 336
Yakovlev Yuri Vasilievich. Biography
Rzhevsky:- So there I drank a bucket... You don’t believe me?! - We swear, just as we drink, without measure, We are not given the ability to know decency, We have lost our conscience and faith... (A long time ago)
Azarova:- Brave and dexterous, trusting, cheerful, more straightforward than anyone else... (A long time ago)
Rzhevsky:- I hate what our world boasts of: Cute smiles, aahs, aahs, Sensitive romances nonsense. (A long time ago)
N. Valov. The brutal attractiveness of Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Mens Magazine, March 2003
Rzhevsky in the play “A long time ago” says: - For me there is no cuter than blue! The color of the uniform of the Akhtyrsky regiment is not blue, but red-brown. See Russian Army of 1812. Chief officer of the Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment.
Hussars in wars. Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment
Uniform of the Russian cavalry of 1812. Hussars. Part 3: Uniform colors by regiment.
History of the Sumy Hussar Regiment: from 1765 to 1917
Nikolay Valov. The brutal attractiveness of Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Mens.by magazine
Yuri Yakovlev: “Almighty Pyryev didn’t kiss my boot, but he fell to his knees and crawled along the carpet with the words: “I beg you, film with Ryazanov!”” Interview. “Gordon Boulevard” No. 16 (312), April 19, 2011.
Vivat, hussars. The uniform of Lieutenant Rzhevsky in the film and the uniform of the Lubny Regiment
Russian army of 1812. Headquarters trumpeter of the Mariupol Hussar Regiment
Hussars in wars. Mariupol Hussar Regiment
Hussars in wars. Life Guards Hussar Regiment
Garik Kharlamov promoted to lieutenant
Town (transmission). Lieutenant Rzhevsky - I. Oleinikov, cornet - Yu. Stoyanov
Town. Lieutenant Rzhevsky - Yu. Stoyanov, merchant Eliseev - I. Oleinikov
Town. Lieutenant Rzhevsky - I. Oleinikov, Lieutenant Rabinovich - Yu. Stoyanov
Town. Lieutenant Rzhevsky - I. Oleinikov, lady - Yu. Stoyanov
Hussars in wars. Pavlograd Hussar Regiment
Oleg Sheremetyev, candidate of cultural studies. “Roll on your greatcoats, gentlemen!” Magazine "Rodina", M, No. 6 (June) - 2006.
« In the same “Hussar Ballad,” Lieutenant Rzhevsky is either color-blind or has drunk too much, for he says to cornet Azarov: “I see the Pavlogradsky uniform you’re wearing!” Wipe your eyes, lieutenant - the uniform is on Shurochka of the Sumsky regiment!» A. Ice. The hussar's pants are decorated.
Monument to Lieutenant Rzhevsky
Nikolay Aseev. Blue Hussars. "Russian Soviet poetry." Collection of poems. 1917-1947. - M: Fiction, 1948.
Hussars in wars. Lubny Hussar Regiment
Hussars in wars. Grodno Hussar Regiment
Oleg Kondratyev."Lieutenant Rzhevsky and others." Historical research. Rzhev, .
Districts of St. Petersburg. Krasnogvardeisky district
Vyacheslav Vorobyov."Oleg Kondratyev and others."
Roman Klyanin.“Lieutenant Rzhevsky was a Tula native and a relative of the poet Pushkin.” May 25
“The polling station “Lieutenant Rzhevsky” will appear near Tula.” Business newspaper “Vzglyad”, January 12, 2012
Rzhevskaya N. P. Personal memories and everything heard (Lieutenant Rzhevsky). Tula,
“Local historians discovered the memoirs of Princess Rzhevskaya, confirming that the famous lieutenant was a real nobleman of the Tula province.” “Tula Gingerbread”, May 18, 2010
Oleg Kondratyev."Lieutenant Rzhevsky and others." Rzhev, .
“Lieutenant Rzhevsky was given more honor.” AiF-Lower Volga Region, No. 49, December 1
“The youth theater began to come to its senses.” DonNews, November 12

Who hasn’t heard jokes about Lieutenant Rzhevsky! Thanks to them, this rude, but damn charming warrior became truly folk hero. We can assume that immortality is guaranteed to him. He is like Chapaev, like Armenian radio, like Stirlitz! Naturally, the question arises: was there real prototype this dashing hussar? Let's try to find out.

PROTOTYPE FROM TSARITSYNO

Let's start, of course, with an anecdote.

Fire in a brothel. Screams are heard:
- We're burning, we're burning! Water! Water! The door of one room opens, Lieutenant Rzhevsky shouts: - And in the thirteenth room there is champagne

This is all he is, a hopeless fool and a womanizer.

However, let's begin our research. What does the Internet free encyclopedia talk about? I quote: Lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky is a popular literary, cinematic, theatrical and humorous (folklore) fictional character in the USSR, Russia and the CIS countries. Originally - the hero of the play in 2 parts by Alexander Gladkov “A long time ago” (1940). He became widely known in the USSR thanks to Eldar Ryazanov’s comedy “The Hussar Ballad” (1962), in turn based on Gladkov’s play. In the film, Lieutenant Ryazanov was played by Yuri Yakovlev.

Notice the word “fictional”?

But still, let us allow ourselves to disagree with the opinion of the universal mind. Many researchers are sure: the lieutenant had a prototype!

So. Volgograd writer Yuri Voitov is convinced that the prototype of Rzhevsky could be a native of Tsaritsyn, Nikolai Ashinov, who was a desperate adventurer and an equally ardent patriot. It was necessary to think of this - to land a Cossack force on the territory of what is now African Somalia more than a hundred years ago, to found there “African Cossacks with the village of Moskovskaya” and to declare that from now on these lands are under the jurisdiction of the Russian crown. Only the true... Lieutenant Rzhevsky could have done this. And all sorts of amorous exploits are side details in the life of a real man

BRAVE DENIS DAVYDOV

Denis Davydov, the legendary national favorite, could well fit into the cliché of the brutal lieutenant. By the way, Alexander Gladkov (the same author of the play “A Long Time Ago”, on which “The Hussar Ballad” was based) was taken from the memoirs of Denis Vasilyevich Davydov, the most famous partisan Patriotic War 1612 tda. Also used " Captain's daughter» Pushkin.

The work of Denis Davydov was highly appreciated and supported by the AS. Pushkin, as one of his devoted friends, Denis Davydov - hussar, writer, poet, future lieutenant general, was himself a desperate lover of wild life, wine, love affairs, dashing battles, had an infectiously cheerful disposition and was the life of the party. Why isn’t Lieutenant Rzhevsky himself?! Denis Davydov loved to play pranks, and in 1804 “for writing outrageous poetry” he was transferred to the Belarusian Hussar Regiment.

Back in 1793, the legendary Suvorov, while inspecting the Poltava Light Horse Regiment, noticed a playful boy and said with a blessing: “This will be a military man... You will win three battles.” And he foresaw his fate. Davydov’s life, as the great commander predicted, was full of battles and daring battles. In addition to military glory, his son-in-law had a trail of love victories and active creativity.

ANCIENT FAMILY

As for the surname Rzhevsky, such a family actually existed in Russia, first mentioned in 1315. Historian and journalist Oleg Kondratyev in his book “Lieutenant Rzhevsky and Others” collected a lot interesting facts about the colorful bearers of this surname. This was an eminent noble family. descended from Prince Rurik himself. The Rzhevskys repeatedly participated in the military campaigns of that time, fought with Tatar yoke on the Kulikovo field, with False Dmitry and Polish troops, they actively participated in the development of distant Siberia.

Historically, the real Prince Rodion Fedorovich Rzhevsky laid down his head on the Kulikovo Field in 1380. That's him. Of course, there was no way he could become a character in jokes about Lieutenant Rzhevsky.

The bearers of this glorious and ancient surname also lived in Voronezh, Kursk, and Tula. Moscow. Orlovskaya. Ryazan, St. Petersburg, Tambov and Tver provinces.

In Northern Palmyra, Captain Rzhevsky of the Imperial Army actually lived and served as the Tsar. He owned the Rzhevskaya Sloboda in the capital, which received its name from his last name. A lieutenant with the same last name also lived in St. Petersburg. By order of Peter I, Yuri Rzhevsky studied maritime affairs in Italy, and was then appointed to the rank of lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky Hussar Regiment. His descendant, Nikolai Rzhevsky, studied with the future great Russian poet Pushkin at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. He, like the previous characters, does not fit well into the image of a defeated hussar, and he does not fit into the time frame.

Two Rzhevsky brothers took part in the Patriotic War of 1812, but they are not prototypes of the lieutenant either.

PAVLOGRAD RZHEVSKY

“The uniform you’re wearing, I see, is from Pavlograd!” - it was this phrase from the movie “The Hussar Ballad” that laid the foundation for the urban legend about Pavlograd Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Victor Bushin, a history teacher from Pavlograd, once again looking at Eldar Ryazanov’s painting, decided to find out whether the legendary lieutenant had anything to do with Pavlograd. And after all, I got to the bottom of the truth by rummaging through the archival documents of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment: the name of a certain lieutenant Rzhsosky is actually mentioned there!

“Therefore, in the debate about Rzhevsky’s “registration”, I can now with full confidence dot all the i’s: and our favorite literary, cinematic and folklore hero was really an officer of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment!” - Viktor Bushin proudly declared in the local media. True, this version was somewhat spoiled by Pavlogradsky’s employees themselves local history museum, claiming that Lieutenant Rzhevsky is nothing more than a collective image.

“For many years it was believed that the name of the legendary lieutenant could not be on the lists of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment. - says museum director Tatyana Borisenko. “Now some researchers do not exclude such a possibility, but we do not have any documentary evidence.”

NAPOLEON'S THRUGER?

Kursk local historian Mikhail Lagutich, in his book “A Steamship Sailed Along the Seim,” also mentions a certain lieutenant Rzhevsky, who allegedly lived in the Kursk province under Governor Pavel Demidov, who was appointed to this position in 1831. We don’t undertake to judge what is true and what is fiction. But here’s what the author writes: “The lieutenant, a vain man, placed a striped pillar by the road with a shield nailed to it, on which he wrote: “The estate of the nobleman Rzhevsky, who smashed Napoleon, for which he was promoted to lieutenant.”

True, the Kursk lieutenant Rzhevsky, if he really existed, was a prototype famous character It's unlikely to be. Somehow his story does not fit with the image of the hero of jokes: “That year Rzhevsky should have turned fifty. He lived his life without a woman, and he only tolerated his sister, who moved in with him fifteen years ago after the death of her husband.” In general, the lieutenant is not the same.

Second Lieutenant of Venevsky District

But the nobleman, second lieutenant Sergei Semenovich Rzhevsky, who lived in the middle of the 19th century in the Venevsky district of the Tula province, was considered the real ohalnik. They told and wrote about him that he “behaved recklessly” and made such salty jokes, from which decent representatives of noble society often felt shocked. Even the Moscow yellow press of that time wrote about his adventures.

Once Rzhevsky dressed up for a masquerade ball... as a stove. True, it was cardboard. He stuck his head into the pipe and pushed his legs into holes specially made at the bottom of the oven. I attached something like doors to the holes (front and back), which represent the flood and vent. A large inscription on them read: “Do not open the stove, there is fumes in it.” At the same time, he remained naked inside. At all. Of course, there were many curious people who wanted to look into the flood chamber or vent, after which some spat, others laughed. Pleased with the effect produced, the joker had to be removed from the masquerade by the police. Why not the legendary Lieutenant Rzhevsky?! However, it has already been proven that he is not.

HE'S A MONUMENT!

In the meantime, historians and local historians argue until they are hoarse on the topic: was there a boy, that is, Lieutenant Rzhevsky, in fact, the persistent version of the reality of the existence of his prototype encourages other artists to perpetuate their favorite character. So, in Pavlograd a monument was erected to a noble fellow countryman. True, for some reason, near a chemical plant. Sculptor from Minsk Vladimir Zhbanov, who himself once lived in Pavlograd, “sat” the bronze lieutenant on a bench, and now anyone can sit next to him and touch eternity.

Yuri Larinsky

RIDDLES AND SECRETS SPECIAL ISSUE No. 2 2012

Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Legend man

The legendary lieutenant Rzhevsky is one of the most popular heroes of jokes, mostly indecent. In them he appears as a sort of reveler, womanizer and braggart. But where did he come from and why did people love him so much?

Did Rzhevsky have a real prototype, or the lieutenant’s personality, so to speak, was synthetic, having absorbed the habits and actions of real hussars XIX century? Let's try to figure this out.

For the first time, Lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky appeared as one of the main characters in the poem in verse “Pets of Glory,” written in 1940 by playwright and screenwriter Alexander Konstantinovich Gladkov. The next year, after the start of the Great Patriotic War, this poem was staged musical performance"A long time ago." The premiere took place on November 7, 1941 in besieged Leningrad at the Musical Comedy Theater. And in 1962, director Eldar Ryazanov filmed it, but under a new title - “The Hussar Ballad”. It was then that the whole country learned about the dashing hussar lieutenant, whose role was brilliantly played by Yuri Yakovlev. At the same time, jokes about Lieutenant Rzhevsky appeared. In them he was portrayed as a rake, a drunkard, a cynic and a braggart. Alexander Gladkov himself said that the thought of such a main character future poem appeared to him after reading poems by the famous hussar poet, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812 Denis Vasilyevich Davydov. Indeed, Lieutenant Rzhevsky is somewhat reminiscent of Denis Davydov. The same lover of drinking, carousing, and in terms of the female gender they were somewhat similar. Like Denis Davydov, Gladkov’s hero fought with Napoleon’s troops. But there were also differences between them. Denis Davydov was an educated and well-mannered officer, with a subtle mind and undoubted talent as a military leader. And Lieutenant Rzhevsky is an ordinary dashing slasher, not grabbing stars from the sky, in some ways simple-minded and even narrow-minded.

The similarity between Davydov and Rzhevsky can be confirmed by the phrase from the poem: “Your pugnacity, brother, became a proverb long ago in the Akhtyrsky regiment...” The fact is that Denis Davydov himself served in the Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment in 1812. True, in Ryazanov’s film the hero Yuri Yakovlev wears the uniform of the Mariupol Hussar Regiment. But here, rather, the point is that the director himself decided what this or that character in his film would look like, based on aesthetic considerations, and not from the point of view of historical accuracy.

Was there actually a lieutenant named Rzhevsky in the Russian army that fought Napoleon in 1812?

The Rzhevsky family is noble and ancient. He traced his origins back to Rurik himself. In the Middle Ages, representatives of this family were Smolensk princes. The family got its name from the city of Rzhev, once rich and populous, which has now become a small regional center of the Tver region. The last prince of Rzhevsky, Fyodor Fedorovich, lived at the beginning XIV century. His descendants no longer bore the princely title.

The first of the Rzhevsky family to receive the rank of lieutenant was Yuri Alekseevich Rzhevsky, who was sent at the beginning XVIII century to Italy by Tsar Peter I for maritime training. By the way, he was the great-great-grandfather of the great Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. And Yuri Rzhevsky’s descendant Nikolai Rzhevsky became Pushkin’s classmate at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.

Two Rzhevsky brothers took part in the Patriotic War of 1812. But they were not lieutenants, and they were not distinguished by extravagant behavior. Denis Davydov’s memoirs mention his fellow soldier Pavel Rzhevsky. But, again, he was not a womanizer, did not abuse alcohol and was distinguished by his modest behavior.

However, one person who bore the surname Rzhevsky could well become the prototype not only of the lieutenant from Gladkov’s poem, but also of the hero of modern jokes. It's about about Sergei Semenovich Rzhevsky, who lived in the middle XIX century and therefore did not participate in the Patriotic War of 1812. He was in military service, but did not rise to the rank of lieutenant. For his adventures and actions discrediting the honor of the officer, he was expelled from the army just a year and three months after he was accepted into the army. military service. Sergei Rzhevsky retired with the rank of second lieutenant. He lived on his estate in the Venevsky district of the Tula province. Rzhevsky's neighbors did not know what to do with his very frivolous actions. Some of his jokes often shocked the noble society and even appeared on the pages of the local tabloid press several times. They believe that the stories about Lieutenant Rzhevsky came from so-called army jokes. It’s just that the lieutenant became a hero who was well known and understood by millions of residents of our country. It is quite natural that there were enthusiasts who wanted to perpetuate the image of their favorite hero. The first monument to Lieutenant Rzhevsky was opened in Ukraine, in Pavlograd. This happened in the early 2000s. And this despite the fact that it was not he who served in the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment, but, according to the play “A Long Time Ago,” Shurochka Azarov. The monument was made in Belarus by sculptor Vladimir Zhbanov. The same sculptor created a monument to Lieutenant Rzhevsky for the town of Dolgoprudny near Moscow. The sculpture was installed in 2012 on Sobin Square.

But the residents of Rzhev are just planning to erect a monument to their famous fellow countryman. “Shame on you!” - the lieutenant would certainly tell them.

In 1912, Russia grandly celebrated the centenary of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. This was on the day of the Battle of Borodino - August 26. Another 100 years have passed since then. In 2012, therefore, the 200th anniversary of this event was celebrated.

Although the image of a brutal and witty military man in any circumstances has existed in Russian jokes since the War of 1812, it has nothing to do with Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Dmitry Rzhevsky - a bully, a bully, a gambler, a lover of chasing young ladies and a drunkard, but at the same time a great patriot and a very brave man - did not take part in the War of 1812. He couldn't do it. Because the figure is fictitious. And fictional many years after the heroic events of the summer of 1812. Who was his prototype? And did this prototype really exist?

To understand who Lieutenant Rzhevsky is, and how he managed to make his way into Russian jokes, let’s first find out who the lieutenants are and where the Rzhevskys came from. And then I will move on to the stated topic.

Lieutenant in the Russian army -

This military rank junior officers, which corresponds to the modern rank of senior lieutenant: commission officer, guarantor. Very the right person. Must be a crafty person, know and be able to do a lot.

The origins of the Rzhevsky family, which is quite understandable, must be sought in Rzhev, a city located on the banks of the Volga. The lieutenant's ancestors - the Rzhev appanage princes - were first mentioned in Russian chronicles in 1315. The Rzhevskys always led a military life and useful for their Fatherland. The details of this life can be found in the book of Rzhev journalist Oleg Kondratyev, “Lieutenant Rzhevsky and Others,” published in 1999.

1. The first Rzhevsky to hold the rank of lieutenant was the great-grandfather of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin - Yuri Alekseevich Rzhevsky, who in early XVIII century, by order of Peter I, he studied maritime affairs in Italy, and upon returning home he was appointed lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. However, he was not the prototype of the lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky known to us.

2. In the Patriotic War of 1812, the real Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Rzhevsky, awarded many orders and golden weapons, bravely fought with the French. He went down in history on his own, and not as someone else’s prototype.

3. In the Tula province in mid-19th century there lived a nobleman, second lieutenant Sergei Semyonovich Rzhevsky, who was expelled from the army for his disgrace. His adventures were often described in the Moscow tabloid press. However, such a “warrior” simply could not become the prototype of a person who sacredly revered military honor.

4. The name of Dmitry Rzhevsky became famous in 1940, after playwright Alexander Konstantinovich Gladkov wrote the heroic comedy in verse “A Long Time Ago” (originally called “Pets of Glory”) and its radio show in 1941.

This play about the hussars and the events of 1812 was created by Gladkov under the influence of two books he read in childhood - “Children of Captain Grant” and “War and Peace”. The playwright really wanted the play to be fun and bright. She even had an epigraph - “Revel in luxury, cheerful crowd, in lively and fraternal self-will!” These are lines from a poem by Denis Davydov. But in the summer of 1941, another war began and changed the direction of the play. Gladkov removed the epigraph.

It is in this play that Lieutenant Dmitry Rzhevsky first appears on the threshold of the house of retired Major Azarov. And he says words by which we can easily recognize the hero of well-known jokes:

It would be nice to have a snack on the way,
Or fall in love on an empty stomach
I'm somehow not used to it.

5. According to Alexander Gladkov, he borrowed the character of Lieutenant Rzhevsky from Denis Davydov’s poem “Decisive Evening,” written by the poet in 1816 to his then fiancee, Sofya Nikolaevna Chirkova:

I'll see you tonight,
Tonight my lot will be decided,
Today I will get what I want -
Il abshid to rest!

And tomorrow - damn it! - I’ll stretch myself like crazy,
On the troika I’ll fly like a wild arrow;
Having slept until Tver, I’ll get drunk again in Tver,
And drunk I’ll gallop to St. Petersburg for drunkenness!

But if happiness is destined by fate
To someone who has been unfamiliar with happiness for a whole century,
Then... oh, and then I'll get drunk like a pig
And with joy I will drink the runs with my wallet!

6. Anecdotes about Lieutenant Rzhevsky began to appear in 1962 after Eldar Ryazanov’s film “The Hussar Ballad,” based on Gladkov’s play for the 150th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812.

The main character of these anecdotes, Natasha Rostova, made Russian folklore happy with her presence several years later thanks to the success of Sergei Bondarchuk’s film “War and Peace.”

7. In the 1970-1980s, many more films about brave hussars appeared in cinema. This contributed to the fact that an integral part Soviet life steel -

What distinguished and distinguishes these jokes now? Violation of all rules and decency. Rzhevsky, their main character, - what a piece of fruit... He doesn’t know how to carry on small talk, he’s ignorant, boorish, every now and then he talks about what is not customary to talk about, and takes everything literally.

“Around the World” journalist Alexandra Arkhipova writes that “only Soviet culture jokes was able to give rise to an obscene series about Lieutenant Rzhevsky, which opposed all manifestations of officialdom - from high literature to the moral code of the builder of communism. And if you come across crude anecdotes about Rzhevsky, then this is not the real Rzhevsky” (“Around the World”, 2012, No. 9, p. 46).

After reading this conclusion, I involuntarily remembered Rzhevsky “himself”:

- Cornet, listen to the poem I composed: “Eat passion fruit, it benefits the body!”

- Lieutenant, where is the rhyme?

- Cornet, you too. First you provoke him to rhyme, and then you tell everyone what a vulgar Rzhevsky is, sir!

But really: why - like Rzhevsky, so he must be vulgar, sir, obscene? And if it’s not obscene, then it’s not real?

Critics, meanwhile, note that in Gladkov’s play, therefore the real Rzhevsky, there are both negative (propensity to drink, boasting, swearing), neutral (the ability to dance), and positive qualities: courage, dexterity, gullibility, straightforwardness, frankness, ability to handle weapons, love of homeland, reliability, loyalty to duty, word and friends.

Then how does it happen: real only if he’s vulgar?..

I remembered the joke again:

Lieutenant Rzhevsky was nice and cultured person. But one day, at a reception with the old countess, he took the wrong fish fork... Since then, all sorts of nasty things have been circulating about him.

And one more thing. Critics are critics, but even if they didn’t say anything good about Rzhevsky, there is a primary source - anecdotes. And from them it follows that the lieutenant, despite a certain obscenity, was still efficient and, most importantly, - good person. Because he:

WAS A REAL PATRIOT:

Lieutenant Rzhevsky is sitting, writing something. Colonel enters:

- Lieutenant, what are you writing?

- Yes, I’m composing the anthem of our regiment.

- Well, why... Here, in the second line, the word “banner”...

STUDYING WELL AT SCHOOL:

- Tell me, lieutenant, what is a monarchy?

- This is when a king rules the country.

- What if the king dies?

- Then the queen.

- What if the queen dies?

THINKING STRATEGICALLY:

Lieutenant Rzhevsky is going to a ball and puts a banana in his right pocket. The orderly asks:

- Why do you, lieutenant, have a banana in your right pocket?

- I'll go dance with the lady. While dancing, she will lean against my right side, feel something hard, become confused and begin to move towards my left side. And in the middle we will meet her, my dear!

LOVED HORSES AND WOMEN:

- Lieutenant, who do you love more - women or horses?

“You see, gentlemen, if it weren’t for the horses, I wouldn’t have time to see all the ladies with whom I have success, and if there were no ladies, it seems like there’s nowhere to go.”

WAS A WONDERFUL RIDDER:

Rzhevsky went out onto the porch, poised himself, jumped into the saddle and rushed along the road until there was a column of dust. Having galloped two miles, he stopped.

- Honest mother, where is the horse?

Cursing loudly, Rzhevsky galloped back.

SHOOT PERFECTLY:

Lieutenant Rzhevsky is asked:

- Lieutenant, have you ever fought over a woman?

- No. He shot because of a tree, but he didn’t have to shoot because of a woman!

ALWAYS COME TO THE HELP OF THE LADY:

Natasha Rostova dances with Bezukhov at the ball. Natasha's lips are swollen.

- Natasha, what’s wrong with you?

- Yes, just now Mr. Rzhevsky and I were riding a boat, and a bee landed on my lip...

- God! Did she sting you?

- No... I didn’t have time. Mr. Rzhevsky killed her with an oar...

LOVED TO TRAVEL

- Lieutenant, I heard that you are marrying Countess Ligovskaya. Do you know that the whole of Tambov sleeps with her?

- Fi, Tambov... I've been there. Twenty thousand men, no more.

LOVED THE THEATER:

Lieutenant Rzhevsky in the theater. Watching "Othello". Othello tediously asks Desdemona where the handkerchief he gave her is. Rzhevsky gets tired of this, and he shouts from the audience:

- Gentlemen, finally give him a handkerchief, or wipe him with your sleeve, snout, and don’t interfere with the action!

MUSICAL:

— Lieutenant, do you play the guitar?

- And on the piano?

- And on the drum?

- Certainly.

- And on the harp, lieutenant?

- Not on the harp - the cards slip through the strings...

HAD EXPERIENCE IN ARTISTIC WHISTLING:

Natasha Rostova:

- Mom, mom! Lieutenant Rzhevsky knows vulgar songs.

- Did he sing them in front of you?

- No, he was whistling...

WAS A FRANT:

Lieutenant Rzhevsky is impatiently waiting for Natasha Rostova to get dressed so he can go to the theater with her. Finally he got fed up and shouted:

- Well, how long do you need to get ready? Look at me: a piece of cotton wool in my ear - and I'm ready!

KNEW A SENSE ABOUT FOOD:

Lieutenant Rzhevsky instructs cornet Obolensky on what can best be served for dinner in order to pleasantly surprise the invited lady:

“And when, cornet, you serve the pig on the table, I recommend that, as a special decoration, you first put a bunch of parsley in each ear, and a fresh apple in the snout.”

- For pity’s sake, lieutenant, she won’t even recognize me in this form!

AND JUST BEING A GENTLEMAN:

At the ball, an elderly lady looks in the mirror and says:

- When I was young, I was so ugly...

Rzhevsky, passing by:

- You are perfectly preserved, madam.

And finally, if I haven't convinced you:

The folk-literary image of the immortal lieutenant Rzhevsky is thoroughly national, and every male compatriot of ours, making fun of him, is also proud of the actions and puns of the dashing hussar, involuntarily trying them on for himself and, with surprise and satisfaction, sometimes finding direct parallels in life’s collisions. The era is different, but the character is indestructible.

Vyacheslav Vorobyov is a Rzhev local historian and journalist.

Your Milena Apt, Libelle, Dragonfly - not fond of obscenity, but sympathetic to Rzhevsky.