“Total Attack”
When an affair began between Andrei Voznesensky and Zoya Boguslavskaya, those around disappeared. A grown woman raising a young son in her second marriage has decided to give up a stable life with her husband for the sake of an affair with a scandalous poet nine years younger than her.
And Voznesensky fell in love with Boguslavskaya at first sight and began to show signs of interest in her. The chosen one did not react to the surprises of the fans for a long time and switched to more active actions. When Boguslavskaya went on a river cruise with her son, the poet arranged for her to receive flowers at each pier – “From Comrade Voznesensky.” He mentioned this in his memoirs.
“I couldn’t even get out of the cabin – it was a total attack,” Boguslavskaya admitted.
At the end of the journey in Petrozavodsk, Voznesensky himself, who had not eaten or slept for a long time before the meeting, was waiting for him. Contrary to the poet’s expectations, Boguslavskaya was very angry at his plays and asked her to forget his name. She was in such a desperate state after her rejection that the writer, tormented by guilt, sent her a conciliatory letter. They met after a while, and soon Boguslavskaya filed for divorce.
early years of marriage
Boguslavskaya’s second husband, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor and Stalin Prize winner Boris Kagan, suggested that he return to the conversation about divorce later, when his wife’s passions subsided. But he refused.
The writer’s friends also believed that his passion for Voznesensky would quickly fade. Nevertheless, in 1964 the lovers got married and rented an apartment for two years. Then the poet decided to write for himself an application for an apartment and received it with the help of the head of the Moscow Writers’ Association, Sergei Mikhalkov.
Marriage with Voznesensky brought many difficulties to Boguslavskaya. Job interviews and publication of articles were denied due to her affair with the infamous poet. The spouses’ home phone received constant calls from Voznesensky’s fans threatening his wife. Voznesensky’s mother also criticized her son’s choice.
“I can’t come. almond blossoms.
In 1963, 29-year-old Voznesensky was offered a poetry night in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. It was there that the poem “Ave, Oza”, dedicated to Boguslavskaya, would be heard for the first time. He promised the performance and went to Yalta, as he thought the work was flawed and wanted to improve it. Meanwhile, his wife is constantly called from the conservatory and is asked when the poet will go to the rehearsals. Two days before the performance, Boguslavskaya received a telegram from her husband: “Honey, I can not come. almond flowers.
Pianists Svyatoslav Richter, Heinrich Neuhaus and other celebrities came together to attend the young poet’s concert. The situation was saved by his wife. When Boguslavskaya called, she said, “If you don’t come, forget my name.” He flew in, but later accused his wife of not finishing the poem for a long time because of her “excessive responsibility to the public.”
Boguslavskaya about her husband
In 2018, Boguslavskaya told the site: mk.ru About trusting relations with Voznesensky.
Andrey has always been in the first place for me. Because there was love, sex and all that, absolute trust. He knew that I would not betray him under any circumstances, under any torture,” the author said. – He was a very mischievous person, and in his personal life – very touching and unpretentious. I never said, “I don’t want to eat this, give me that”. He was an angel at home.”
tests
Once, three robbers broke into the spouses’ house in Peredelkino, near Moscow, and began to threaten Boguslavskaya with a knife. At this time, the poet slept on the second floor. The woman miraculously managed to persuade the criminals to take what they needed and leave the house.
Voznesensky was later attacked by a pack of dogs while reading poetry for a walk. Boguslavskaya explained that the poet “writes poetry with his feet” on the go.
“He left Peredelkino at six in the morning and when he was attacked by wild dogs – 36 bites, we gave him rabies injections every day,” the author said.
A few years later, the poet was badly injured in a car accident and was saved by the famous doctor Levon Badalyan.
The most terrible and dangerous event occurred in Cyprus in 1995, when Voznesensky nearly drowned and Boguslavskaya was on the shore. The poet thought he was “just squeezing his leg,” but that was the first sign of Parkinson’s disease. According to Boguslavskaya, the next 15 years were “a struggle for every part of her body.” She sought out the best doctors and massage therapists for her husband, bought rare drugs and raised money for surgeries.
“In recent years, he firmly believed that I would find a way out, help him, and it would be easier,” wrote Boguslavskaya. – He had a psychological illusion that nothing bad would happen when I was around. He died in my arms.”
Their marriage lasted 46 years – until the death of Voznesensky on June 1, 2010.
memory of a poet
When Voznesensky died, Boguslavskaya and her son Leonid from another marriage established the Parabola Prize, named after one of the poet’s first poetry collections, published in 1960. On May 12, 2018, on the author’s 85th birthday, they opened the Voznesensky Center, located in the Zamoskvorechye district in Moscow. Voznesensky spent his childhood there.