the great theatre of moscow.—operatic performances.—the kitai gorod and gostinna dvor.—romanoff house and the romanoff family.—sketch of the rulers of russia.—anecdotes of peter the great and others.—church of the saviour.—mosques and pagodas.—the museum.—riding-school.—suhareff tower.—traktirs.—old believers.—the sparrow hills and the simonoff monastery.

the best part of a day was consumed in the kremlin and in the church of st. basil. further investigation of old moscow was postponed to the morrow.

in the evening our friends went to the opera-house to listen to some national music, but more particularly to see the house, which is one of the curiosities of the city. the "bolshoi teatre" or "great theatre," is one of the finest opera-houses in the world. it was built in 1855-56, to replace the smaller opera-house which had been destroyed by fire about two years before. a few months after it was opened there was a performance in the theatre, entitled "1756 and 1856," to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the establishment of government theatres in russia.

from the material in the possession of the youths, and by a careful use of eyes and note-books, fred wrote the following account of the moscow opera-house, and added to the information about theatrical matters which appears in a previous chapter.

"the first recorded representation of a theatrical character in russia is assigned to the reign of alexis michailovitch, father of peter the great. it was given in the house of the father-in-law of alexis, but very little is known of its character. russian writers say their first regular dramas were in the time of feodor alexeivitch (half-brother and predecessor of peter the great), and were written by the czar's tutor. they were produced in one of the suburban palaces, and had a religious character, as we infer from the titles 'prodigal son,' 'king nebuchadnezzar,' 'three men in the fiery furnace,' and 'the golden calf.' the czar's tutor was a monk, and the plays were performed by the students attached to the monastery.

[pg 253]

dress of peasants—scene from a russian opera.

"peter the great determined to develop the drama, and engaged a hungarian actor, who happened to be at moscow, to look after the matter. this actor went to germany and engaged a troupe, and among them was a man who divided his time between theatrical affairs and ship-building. when he was not ship-building he was writing plays and managing peter's theatre at moscow, and he seems to have engaged in the two occupations with equal facility. peter attended the performances accompanied by his officers. in order to encourage the drama there was no admission fee, the company being supported by the government.

"at first the performances took place in a large hall of the suhareff tower. after a time a wooden theatre was built near the kremlin, and performances were given regularly. the city of yaroslav established a theatre of its own under the direction of feodor volkhoff, an actor who afterwards became famous in russia. in 1752 he was summoned to st. petersburg by the empress elizabeth, to direct performances at the court theatre, and in 1756 the empress issued an imperial order establishing a[pg 254] government theatre in the capital. the centennial of this event was the celebration referred to.

a dressing-room of the opera-house.

"the moscow opera-house stands in a square by itself not far from the kremlin. carriages can be driven all around it, and there are three entrances for spectators besides the one reserved to the actors. the theatre is never crowded, as only as many tickets are sold as there are seats, and no money is taken at the doors. there are five rows of boxes besides the parquette, or ground-floor, and the gallery, which occupies the whole of[pg 255] the upper tier. we had our places in the parquette, and found them very comfortable. each seat is a separate arm-chair, with plenty of space around it, so that one may walk about between the acts without disturbing his neighbors.

working the ship in "l'africaine."

"the waits between the acts were very long, according to our american ideas, but there was a reason for this. we found an attendant who spoke french, and through his assistance and his expectation of a fee we visited an unoccupied box on one of the principal tiers. the box had plenty of seating-room for half a dozen persons; the attendant said ten or[pg 256] twelve were frequently packed into it, but it was only unfashionable people who ever thought of thus crowding a box. each box has a little cabinet or parlor back of it, where one may receive friends, and a great deal of visiting goes on between the acts. the arrangement is an italian one, and the same feature exists in opera-houses in other parts of europe.

"to give you an idea of the size of the house, let me quote a few figures comparing it with the principal theatres of milan, naples, and london. the measurements are in english feet:

diameter of ceiling, la scala, milan 70

diameter of ceiling, san carlo, naples 73

diameter of ceiling, covent garden, london 65

diameter of ceiling, moscow opera-house 98

opening of proscenium, la scala, milan 51

opening of proscenium, san carlo, naples 58

opening of proscenium, covent garden, london 50

opening of proscenium, moscow opera-house 70

"the stage of the moscow opera-house is 126 feet wide and 112 feet deep. at covent garden theatre the respective figures are 88 and 90 feet.

"we had a great deal of curiosity to see the famous drop-scene, which represents the triumphal entry of minin and pojarsky into the kremlin, after the expulsion of the poles from moscow in 1612. it is a magnificent picture, painted by duzi, a venetian artist, and represents the two liberators on horseback near the holy gate of the kremlin, surrounded by citizens of all classes and conditions. prince pojarsky looks like an oriental, as he is dressed in the costume which was worn by the boyards or noblemen down to the time of peter the great. the peasant class are in their holiday dress; the women wear sarafans and kokoshniks which are quite like those worn by many of them at the present time, while the men are mostly in girdled caftans, just as we see thousands of them daily. french fashions have taken a hold among the nobility and wealthy people of russia generally, but have no effect on the peasantry. the common people will probably adhere to their present costume until ordered by imperial decree to adopt a new one.

minin-pojarsky monument.

"we spent nearly the whole time of the wait between the first and second acts in contemplating this picture, and found plenty to occupy us. we have already mentioned the minin-pojarsky monument, which stands near the gate of the kremlin, and reminds the people of an important event in their national history. between the monument and the painting, the[pg 257] russians are not likely to forget the patriotism of the cattle-dealer and the prince."

from the theatre our friends went straight to the hotel and to bed, tired enough with their day's exertions, but amply repaid for all their fatigue.

next morning they were off in good season, or rather frank and fred were, as the doctor decided to remain at the hotel, while the youths devoted the forenoon to sights that he did not especially care for. having been in moscow before, he was willing to leave some of the stock sights out of his programme.

their first visit was to the bazaar, which bears the name of "kitai gorod" or "chinese town." the bazaar is often said to be so called because of the great number of tartars doing business there—the descendants of the mongols, who so long held moscow in their hands.

according to some writers this belief is erroneous. they assert that, originally, all of moscow was inside the kremlin; but as the necessity came for extending the city, an order was given by helena (mother of john the terrible, and regent during his minority) for enclosing a large space outside the kremlin, which was to be named after her birthplace, kitaigrod, in podolia. its walls were begun in 1535 by an italian architect.

"we went," said frank, "through the gostinna dvor of moscow, which fills an enormous building in the kitai gorod, and is in some respects more interesting than that of st. petersburg, though practically of the same character. the display of russian goods is about like that in the capital city, though there is possibly a greater quantity of silver work, circassian goods, and similar curiosities peculiar to the country. much of the money-changing is in the hands of tartars; where the changers are not of the tartar race, they are generally jews. russian tartars and[pg 258] jews use the abacus in counting, and they work it with wonderful rapidity. we saw it in st. petersburg, but it was not so much employed there as in moscow. the abacus has undergone very little change in two or three thousand years. it was introduced by the tartar conquerors of russia, and promises to remain permanently in the empire.

"what a quantity of silks, embroideries, silverware, and the like are piled in the bazaar! and what an array of clothing, household goods, furniture, and other practical and unpractical things of every name and kind! it was the bazaar of st. petersburg over again, with the absence of certain features, that suggested western europe and the addition of others belonging to the orient. the second-hand market was encumbered with old clothes, pots, pans, boots, furniture, and odds and ends of everything, and we were so pestered by the peddlers that we went through the place pretty quickly.

"the guide took us to romanoff house, which was built near the end of the sixteenth century, and was the birthplace of michael, the first czar of the present reigning family. of the original house only the walls remain; the interior was destroyed by the french, who plundered the building and then set it on fire, and only the great thickness and solidity of the walls preserved them.

"romanoff house, as we saw it to-day, is an excellent example of the[pg 259] russian house of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and in this respect it is very interesting. the last restoration was made in 1858-59, and the government has spent quite an amount of money in putting it in order.

"it is four stories high, and built around a court-yard from which the rooms on the ground-floor are entered. in the basement are cellars for storing provisions, and on the floor above it are the kitchens, temporary store-rooms, and the like. in the next story are the rooms where the prince lived; they include a reception-room, rooms for servants, several smaller rooms, and also some secret recesses in the walls where silver plate and other valuables were kept. the rooms are adorned with utensils of former periods, together with many articles of silver and other metals that belonged to the romanoff family long ago.

"the upper story is called the terem, a word which is equivalent to the turkish harem. the terem was reserved to the women and children, but not so rigidly as is the harem among the moslems. beds, bedsteads, playthings, and articles of clothing are among the curiosities in the terem of romanoff house. among them are the slippers of the czar and the night-gown of the czarina, which are kept in a box at the foot of the bed according to the old custom.

"romanoff house is in the kitai gorod, and from it we went to the place where peter the great witnessed the execution of many of his rebellious streltzi, or guards. perhaps you would like to hear the story?

peter's escape from assassination.

"i believe we have already mentioned something about the strained relations between peter and his sister sophia, and how she plotted his assassination, from which he escaped by riding away in the night. peter shut sophia in a convent before going on his tour to holland and england to learn the art of ship-building and obtain other information to aid him in the development of the russian empire. he distributed his troops in the best way he could think of, and confided the administration of affairs to his most trusted officers.

"but even then he was constantly fearful of trouble. he knew the ambition of his sister, and the opposition that many of the old nobility had to his reforms, and he was well aware that many officers of the army did not favor his plans. consequently, when news of the rebellion reached him at vienna he was not entirely unprepared, and hastened homeward as fast as horses could carry him.

"the conspiracy included many nobles, officers, and others, together with the immediate advisers of his sister. the clergy were on the side of the conspiracy; they opposed the reforms, and preferred keeping things[pg 260] as they had been, rather than adopt the ways of western europe. it is said at present that the russian government would change the calendar from old style to new style, and make it conform to the rest of the civilized world, but for the opposition of the church. the priests assert that it would cause a great deal of confusion with the saints' days, and therefore they refuse their approval of the measure.

"the streltzi had been distributed at points far removed from moscow. under pretence of coming to get their pay, they marched to the city, where they were met by general gordon, an english officer who commanded the government troops at the time. gordon defeated the streltzi, and then by torturing some of the prisoners learned the history of the conspiracy. it was to place sophia on the throne in place of peter, and a great many persons were implicated in the scheme. news of the occurrence was sent to peter at vienna, and hastened his return as described.

peter the great as executioner.

"on arriving in moscow, he made the most searching inquiry, and by torturing some of those who had fallen into his hands he obtained the names of many others. there is no doubt that innocent persons were implicated, as the victims of torture are apt to tell anything, whether true or false, in order to escape from their pain. those implicated were immediately arrested and put to death, many of them with torture. nobles, ladies[pg 261] of rank, officers and soldiers, comprised the list. on the spot where we stood to-day hundreds of the streltzi were beheaded, and altogether several thousands of people were killed. peter himself took part in the executions, if report is true. once, at a banquet, he ordered twenty of the prisoners to be brought in, and a block arranged for the fearful ceremony. then he called for a glass of wine. after drinking it, he beheaded the victim, who had been placed on the block, and then he called for another victim and another glass of wine. it is said that he was just one hour in performing the twenty executions; and after he had finished he went in person to the great square in front of the kremlin, where other executions were going on.

"while he was witnessing one of these executions, one of the prisoners who was about to lose his head came forward as coolly as though he were entering a dining-hall. 'make way for us,' he said, as he kicked the fallen heads from his path—'make way here, make way.'

"just as the man lay down upon the block and the executioner raised his axe, peter ordered the prisoner to be liberated. he pardoned him on the spot, remarking that there was good stuff in a man who could walk so[pg 262] gallantly to his own execution. peter's prediction was correct; and who do you suppose the man was?

"his name was orloff. he was a faithful adherent of peter for the rest of his life, and rose to the command of his armies. he was the founder of the orloff family, which has ever since been prominent in russian matters, and continues so down to the present day. various members of the family have been distinguished in land and naval warfare, and in diplomacy and home affairs. one of them was the intimate friend and adviser of catherine ii. he was a man of gigantic stature and great personal courage, and is said to have strangled with his own hands the unfortunate emperor peter iii., in order to place the disconsolate widow catherine on the throne.

catherine i.

"catherine ii. should not be confounded with catherine i. it was catherine ii., surnamed 'the great,' to whom i have just referred, as the conspirator who gained the throne by the murder of her husband. catherine i. was the widow of peter the great, and mother of the empress elizabeth. she had great influence over the founder of the empire, and though not always controlling his violent temper, she did much towards suppressing it on many occasions.

catherine ii.

"while we are in sight of romanoff house let us run over the list of those who have held the throne since the first of this family ascended it. here they are:

"1. michael feodorovitch (first of the romanoffs).

"2. alexis mikailovitch (son of michael).

"3. feodor alexeivitch (son of alexis).

"4. ivan alexeivitch (brother of no. 3).

"5. peter alexeivitch (peter i., or, "the great").

"6. catherine i. (widow of peter i.).

"7. peter ii. (grandson of peter i.).

"8. anna (niece of peter i.).

"9. ivan iii. (imprisoned in his infancy, and afterwards assassinated).

"10. elizabeth (daughter of peter i.).

"11. peter iii. (great-grandson of peter i.).

"12. catherine ii.

"13. paul i. (son of catherine ii.).

"14. alexander i. (son of paul i.).

"15. nicholas i. (brother of alexander i.).

"16. alexander ii. (son of nicholas i).

"17. alexander iii. (son of alexander ii.).

"it is a circumstance worthy of note that in the thirty-seven years between the death of peter the great and the accession of catherine the great, russia had three emperors and three empresses; the emperors[pg 263] reigned, but cannot be said to have ruled, only three and a half years altogether, while the empresses held the throne for the rest of the time. catherine was empress from 1762 till 1796; so that during the eighteenth century the russian crown was worn by women for nearly seventy years.

grand-duke nicholas alexandrovitch.

"the heir to the throne at present is too young to have made his mark in any way; and besides, he has had no opportunity, even if he were of age. his name is nicholas; he is the eldest son of alexander iii., and when he ascends the throne he will be known as nicholas ii. he was born in 1868, and is said to be a young man of great promise.

"four at least of the seventeen rulers named above were murdered, and there were suspicions of poisoning in the cases of two others. consequently the description of the government of russia as 'despotism tempered by assassination' is not so very far from the truth.

"it is sometimes said that the romanoff family is more german than russian, in consequence of the marriages of the emperors with german princesses. peter the great was pure russian; his son alexis, father of peter ii., married a german princess, and their daughter anne married a german duke. anne and the german duke were the parents of peter iii., the husband of catherine ii.; peter iii. and catherine were the parents of paul, who married a german princess, and the example has been followed by all the emperors. the russian poet pushkin used to represent in an amusing way the germanizing of the imperial family, which was as follows:

"he placed in a goblet a spoonful of wine for the czarevitch alexis and a spoonful of water for his german wife. then he added a spoonful of water for anne's german husband, a third for catherine ii., and a fourth, fifth, and sixth for the german wives of paul, nicholas, and alexander[pg 264] ii. were the poet alive to-day, he would add a seventh for the danish wife of alexander iii., and an eighth for the wife of the young nicholas, whoever she may be.

"however little russian blood may be running at present in the veins of the romanoff family, there is no question about the thoroughly russian character of the persons most concerned. born and bred in russia, it would be strange if the men were otherwise than national in their feelings; and as for the women who have been married into the imperial family, they seem to have left everything behind them when they came to make their homes in muscovy. there was never a more thorough russian than catherine ii. when she came to the imperial court at the age of fifteen she immediately went to work to learn the language, and in after-life she used to say that if she knew of a drop of blood in her veins that had not become russian she would have it drawn out.

"before becoming the wives of the men of the imperial family, all foreign princesses must be baptized and taken into the russian church. the ceremony is a very elaborate one, and is made a state affair. the members of the imperial family are present, together with many high officials, who appear as witnesses, and there can be no exceptions to the rule that requires the emperor's bride to be of his religion. family, home, religion, everything must be given up by the woman who is to become an empress of russia.

"well, we will leave romanoff house and the kitai gorod, and go to see something else. our guide suggests the church of the saviour, which has only recently been completed. it was built to commemorate the retreat of the french from moscow. our guide, whose arithmetic is a good deal at fault, says they have been working at it for more than a hundred years.

[pg 265]

"though not so quaint as the churches we have seen, it is certainly the finest in the city. it is in the form of a greek cross, and the central cupola, eighty-four feet in diameter, rises three hundred and forty-three feet above the ground. in front of the church there are statues of the russian generals of the early part of the century; the outside is adorned with bronze reliefs, which are strangely divided between scriptural subjects and the war of 1812. the interior of the building is finished with highly polished porphyry, lapis-lazuli, and other costly stones, and there is a profusion of paintings ornamenting the walls. we spent half an hour or more at the church, and were loath to leave it.

"in addition to its many churches of the greek faith, moscow is like st. petersburg in containing churches representing all the religions of a christian city, together with synagogues for the jews and mosques for the tartars. some chinese who once lived in moscow had a pagoda, where they worshipped idols as in their own country, but our guide says there are no chinese here at present. of course we had not sufficient time for visiting all the churches of moscow, and told the guide to take us only to those which were really remarkable. we saw perhaps a dozen in addition to those i have named. they were interesting to us who saw them, but i omit a description lest it might prove tedious.

"we went to the museum, which has a library of one hundred and fifty thousand volumes, a collection of minerals, and a great number of paintings, engravings, and similar things. it did not impress us as much as did the museum of st. petersburg, but perhaps this is due to the fact that we were a good deal wearied after our long hours of sight-seeing, and were more desirous of a rest than anything else.

skinned and stuffed man.

"one of the curiosities of the place was a skinned and stuffed man in a glass case. it reminded us of the cases in which the dress-makers exhibit the latest styles of feminine apparel; and the figure, though dead, was more 'life-like' than the wax models to which we are accustomed. it is the real skin of a man who once lived and moved and was of goodly stature.

"from the museum we went to the manège, or riding-school, which is claimed to be the largest building in the world without any supporting pillars. look at the figures of its measurement: length, 560 feet; width, 158 feet; height, 42 feet.

"perhaps some of the great railway-stations of europe or america can surpass these measurements, but we certainly don't know of one that can. the space is large enough for two regiments of cavalry to perform their evolutions; and in the winter season, when the weather is too severe[pg 266] for out-door exercise, this riding-school is in constant use. it is heated by stoves ranged around the sides of the room, and is ornamented with numerous trophies of war, and representations of men in armor. the roof is low and rather flat, and even when the sun is shining the light is poor.

"the suhareff tower, to which we next went, was chiefly interesting as a reminder of peter the great. at present it is utilized as a reservoir for supplying the city with water, and it performs its duty very well. it was formerly the north-western gate of the city, and a regiment of streltzi was kept here under command of colonel suhareff. when the streltzi revolted, in 1682, suhareff's regiment remained faithful, and escorted peter and his mother and brother to the troitsa monastery.

"in grateful remembrance for their devotion, peter caused this tower to be built and named after the colonel who commanded at the time. the architect tried to make something resembling a ship, but did not succeed very well. peter used to have secret councils of state in this tower, and it was here that comedies were performed in 1771 by the first troupe of foreign actors that ever came to russia. it is also said—"

here the journal stopped rather abruptly. frank and fred were summoned to go to the "troitska traktir" for dinner, and as they were both hungry and curious the journal was laid aside.

we have had the description of a russian dinner in the account of what they saw in st. petersburg. the dinner in moscow was much like the one already described, but the surroundings were different. the[pg 267] waiters were in snowy frocks and trousers, and the establishment was so large that it was said to employ one hundred and fifty waiters in the dining and tea rooms alone.

russian beggars.

many of the patrons of the place were taking nothing but tea, and the samovar was everywhere. frank and fred thought they had never seen waiters more attentive than at this traktir. they seemed to understand beforehand what was wanted, and a single glance was sure to bring one of them to the table. they did a great deal more than the waiters do in western europe. they offered to cut up the food so that it could be eaten with a fork, and they poured out the tea, instead of leaving the patron to pour for himself. frank observed that nearly every one who entered the place said his prayers in front of the holy picture. there is a picture in every room of the establishment, so that the devout worshipper is never at a loss.

another day they went to the "moskovski traktir" a large restaurant similar to the troitska, and containing an enormous organ which is said to have cost more than fifty thousand dollars. the russians are very fond of music of the mechanical sort, and their country is one of the best markets of the swiss makers of organs and music-boxes. in the best houses all through russia expensive instruments of this kind can be found, and[pg 268] sometimes the barrel-organs are large enough to fill a respectably-sized room with machinery and fittings, and an entire house with sound. probably the most costly mechanical musical instruments are made for russians, and some of them give the effect of a whole orchestra. while the instrument in the traktir was in operation, both the youths said they could have easily believed the music to have been produced by a dozen skilled performers.

as they left the moskovski traktir the guide suggested that they would go to the restaurant of the old believers. fred thus describes the visit:

"i must begin by saying that the old believers are a russian sect who prefer the version of the bible as it was up to the time of nikon, rather than the one he introduced. the government persecuted them greatly in past times, and even at present they are subjected to many restrictions. they are scattered through the empire, and are said to number several millions, but the exact statistics concerning them are unattainable.

"in addition to their adhesion to the old form of the scriptures they abhor smoking, refuse to shave their beards, attach particular sanctity to old ecclesiastical pictures, and are inveterate haters of everything not thoroughly russian. they despise the manners and customs of western europe, which they consider the synonyme of vices, and associate as little as possible with those who do not share their belief. in the country they form communities and villages by themselves, and in the cities they live in the same quarter as much as possible. they are an honest, industrious people, and thoroughly loyal subjects of the emperor.

"in the traktir of the old believers we found the waiters wearing dark caftans instead of white ones, and the room was filled with russians of noticeably long beards. smoking is not allowed here under any circumstances; and as nearly all russians who are not old believers are confirmed smokers, this curious sect has the place all to itself. we were politely treated by the waiters, and, at the advice of the guide, ventured to eat a blinni, for which the place is famous. it was so good that we repeated the order. of course we had the inevitable samovar, and found the tea the best that any restaurant has thus far supplied. this traktir has an excellent reputation for its tea and cookery; the bill of fare is not large, but everything is of the best kind.

"there is a tartar restaurant where horse-flesh is said to be served regularly; but whether this is true or not we did not try to find out. the place is kept by a russian, so that the assertion is open to some doubt. any one can go to the tartar restaurant, but it is not frequented by russians.[pg 269] the tartars do not associate freely with the russians, though there is no hostility between them. they seclude their wives after the moslem fashion, and a russian gentleman tells me that he has rarely had a glimpse of a tartar woman, though he has lived near these people ever since he was born."

tartar coffee-house in southern russia.

for a general view of moscow our friends took a drive to the sparrow hills, the spot whence napoleon took his first and also his last look upon the city he came so far to conquer.

on the way thither they stopped at the gardens, which are the property of the galitsin family, and also at a small palace or villa which is the property of the empress. these interruptions delayed them, so that it was near sunset when they reached the sparrow hills and had the city in full view. as they looked at the sunlight reflected from the hundreds of gilded domes, and the great city spread over the undulating ground, they realized what must have been the feelings of the french soldiers as they gazed upon moscow after their long and perilous journey to the heart of russia.

[pg 270]

there is still higher ground from which to look upon the city at the simonoff monastery, which has a belfry more than three hundred feet high. the monastery dates from 1390. it was once the most important church establishment in russia, and possessed immense areas of land and as many as twelve thousand serfs. it was earnestly defended against the poles in 1612, but was captured and plundered by them. it was a quarantine hospital in the plague of 1771, and a military one from 1788 to 1795.

the french burned several of its buildings, but they were soon restored. the extent of the place will be understood when it is known that there are six churches inside the walls. our friends passed some time there looking at the antique silver, gold, and other ornaments, and the costly vestments which have been handed down from ancient times. they climbed to the top of the belfry, and had a view of the city which they are not likely to forget immediately.

the visit to the simonoff monastery was a preliminary to an excursion to the troitska monastery, which will be described in the next chapter.

[pg 271]

gallery in the palace.