Lev Aleksandrovich Mei or Mey (; ) was a Russian

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Biography

Mei was born on 13/25 February 1822, in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. His father was a German officer who was wounded in the Battle of Borodino and died young. His mother was Russian. Mei completed his studies in Moscow in 1841 and served in the office of the Governor for 10 years. He became part of the "young editorial staff" of Mikhail Pogodin's '' Moskvityanin''. For a time, he taught secondary school, but was forced to retire because of conflicts with his colleagues. He moved to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, where he was active in literary endeavors. It was during this period that he contributed to the leading Russian magazines, including '' Biblioteka Dlya Chteniya'', '' Otechestvennye Zapiski'', '' Syn Otechestva'', '' Russkoye Slovo'', '' Russkiy Mir'', and '' Svetoch''.Мей, Лев Александрович
Biography at ''Russian Writers'' (Biobibliographical dictionary) // "Русские писатели". Биобиблиографический словарь. Том 2. М-Я. Под редакцией П. А. Николаева. "Просвещение", 1990 Mei wrote the historical

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

s, '' The Tsar's Bride'' (1849), '' Servilia'' (1854) and '' The Maid of Pskov'' (1859), all three of which the composer Rimsky-Korsakov later used as the basis for

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s.Golub (1998, 951). Mei lived a dissipated and bohemian life, with a great fondness for

drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...

, which led to his untimely death on 16/28 May 1862.

References

Sources

* Golub, Spencer. 1998. "Russia and the Republics of the Former Soviet Union." In ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Ed. Martin Banham. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 948–956. .

External links

Lev Aleksandrovich Mey. Poems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mei, Lev Male poets from the Russian Empire Male writers from the Russian Empire Translators from the Russian Empire 1822 births 1862 deaths Dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire