Mayakovsky & Yesenin

The strife between the “first poet of the revolution” and the “last poet of the village” is one of the most enduring myths in Russian literature. Two of the brightest poets, contemporaries and rivals on the literary scene, antagonists – they both made an invaluable contribution to art, perpetuating their names as great geniuses of Russian poetry.

The poetic duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky began on the day they met in 1915 and ended only after the death of both. Yesenin, in his essay Iron Mirgorod, called Mayakovsky's poems about America “talentless”, and Mayakovsky, in his poem Jubilee, tagged his opponent a “balalaika man”. However, their relationship could not be called a feud, but rather a rivalry of creative people of equal talent. In life, Mayakovsky and Yesenin had friendly relations. Despite belonging to conflicting poetic schools — futurists and imagists — the poets spoke warmly about each other's talent. Yesenin said: “...You can't throw out Mayakovsky. He will become a log in literature, and many will stumble over him.” In a dialogue about the imagists, Mayakovsky said: “Of all of them, only Yesenin will remain.” After Yesenin's unexpected death, Mayakovsky dedicated a touching poem to him.

The concert, dedicated to two great poets, will feature two vocal cycles performed by Semyon Antakov, soloist of the Mikhailovsky Opera, and Andrei Telkov, pianist: the cycle by Mikael Tariverdiev based on poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky and the famous poem for voice and piano by Georgy Sviridov Departed Rus’ based on poems by Sergei Yesenin. A special gift for the public will be the reading of the poems of the two poets and their memories by one of the leading artists of the Gorky Moscow Art Theatre, Nikolay Korotaev, and the stage director of the concert, Yulia Prokhorova.