Ballerina Ulanova and her only love artist Radlov: Unrequited feelings as a source of inspiration

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

When Galina Ulanova first danced the main role in the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, no one could have imagined what the ballerina put into this role. It was at this time that Galina Ulanova broke up with the only person whom she truly loved. In fact, the artist Nikolai Radlov became the only one to whom one of the most talented ballerinas of the Soviet Union gave her feelings.

He and she

They met in 1938 at Seliger. It was there that representatives of the creative intelligentsia rested in the summer. Galina Ulanova loved this place very much, but the ballerina preferred solitude to any society. That is why her days were filled with music and communication with nature.

She left her little house early in the morning, got into a kayak, taking with her an old gramophone and several records with her favorite music, and sailed away to meet a new day. Galina Ulanova stayed somewhere in a quiet deserted backwater and enjoyed solitude, music and unity with nature.

She managed to survive several novels, but her heart did not know true love. Galina Ulanova first got rid of pregnancy at the insistence of her mother, who believed that her daughter had to choose: ballet or children. And with her own hand she took young Galina to the doctor. It seemed that Galina Ulanova lived only on stage and she simply did not have enough strength for feelings outside of it. Nevertheless, there was a man who managed to awaken in her a whole avalanche of love and passion.

Artist and art critic Nikolai Radlov was 21 years older than Galina Ulanova. His first marriage, in which two daughters were growing up, fell apart due to the numerous betrayals of the head of the family. After the divorce, the youngest daughter Sonya died of scarlet fever, followed by her mother, artist Elsa Zander.

In his second marriage with Nadezhda Shvede, Nikolai Radlov was also not an exemplary husband, however, his numerous novels and hobby were never a threat to the family, because he always warned his friends that he was not going to leave his wife.

Nikolai Ernestovich was an interesting person, very educated and enthusiastic. He successfully combined the work of an artist with scientific and teaching activities, and all his students were in love with the teacher. He knew how to lecture in such a way that the audience did not remain indifferent, as if infected by his passion. He was well versed in many types of art, taught drawing, read reports on the history of art, was very fond of literature, collaborated with magazines as an artist.

Imposing, smart and sociable Nikolai Radlov could not help but like women and skillfully used his charm. However, during the first meeting on Seliger with Galina Ulanova, he did not make a special impression on her. And the artist himself at first treated the ballerina simply as a charming talented ballerina, but she seemed very mysterious to him.

First feelings

Nikolai Radlov was completely fascinated by Galina Ulanova's habit of spending time in solitude on a kayak with a gramophone. She was so beautiful that summer: tanned, graceful, with blond strands of hair, highlighted by the wind and the sun … A girl who did not need company …

The artist tried to impress Galina. Soon she no longer shunned him and even accepted invitations to evening gatherings, where Nikolai Ernestovich shone: he was witty and helpful, attentive and caring. Very little time passed, and Radlov was already a welcome guest at the ballerina's site. They talked for a long time, and the ballerina, who had long lost the habit of trusting her thoughts to strangers, suddenly opened up.

He was 49, she was 28. Ulanova suddenly realized how infinitely dear to her this man. And she gave herself up to the novel with all the ardor of unspent passion. She fell in love sincerely and, as it turned out later, hopelessly. Nikolai Radlov was in love with Galina, but nothing more. He was flattered by her feelings, but the artist was not ready for such an ardent manifestation of love.

Galina Ulanova was the first to leave Seliger and immediately sent two telegrams, one after the other, in which she confessed how gloomy Leningrad now seemed to her, and conveyed greetings to the artist's pet, a dog named Stepan. And then letters flew from Leningrad to Moscow, full of confessions, reflections on life and on the relationship of lovers. And in each there was so much love, tenderness and fear of loss that Radlov was simply confused by such pressure. He was in love, but nothing more. He could not give her anything, except for a bright, unobtrusive romance. And I did not plan to change my life at all. He just didn't need it.

Galina Ulanova, feeling a chill from her lover, seemed to be ill. He sometimes came, she again soared with love, but as soon as he got on the train, the world around him immediately faded, and the ballerina herself ran out of any strength. Galina Ulanova dreamed of the future, she wanted to live with her beloved, and he … Nikolai Radlov came up with ways to end this painful relationship for him.

Farewell to love

Galina Ulanova accepted the news of pregnancy as a sign from above. She wanted to give birth to a child, but for this she needed to hear the most important words from Nikolai Radlov. He never said them, and the ballerina again dutifully went to the doctor. Probably, at that moment hope broke in her. Now she knew for sure that her romance with Nikolai Radlov was doomed. But she did not stop loving him.

Soon she received a letter from her beloved. He said goodbye to her, asked not to write or call, informed that they would never see her again … She did not understand what to do with this love. For the first time in her life, she experienced real feelings, but they were not needed by the person dearest to her.

In January 1940, the premiere of the ballet Romeo and Juliet, the music for which was written by Sergei Prokofiev, took place on the stage of the Kirovsky (now Mariinsky) Theater. The whole part of the great ballerina was performed in one breath. There was everything in her: the happiness of the birth of the first feelings, the bitterness of hopelessness, the pain of loss. But no one knew that on the stage Ulanova buries his own feelings.

She said goodbye to Nikolai Radlov, turning her personal tragedy into inspiration. When Juliet saw Romeo's lifeless body next to her, Galina Ulanova herself killed her love …

In 1942, when the ballerina was evacuated from the theater, it became known about the death of Nikolai Radlov. He died from injuries sustained by the bombing. Galina Ulanova received the message about the death of a loved one surprisingly calmly. She had already buried him two years ago, along with her love. She threw away all his letters and tried never to think about the man who once gave her real feelings. Nikolai Radlov kept all the messages of Galina Ulanova, but for her it no longer mattered.

As a child, she was considered squeezed and not artistic, and later, when she became the star of world ballet, she was called a goddess and said that she had no equal. In communication, she always kept an invisible distance, but when she went on stage, it was impossible to look away from her. Galina Ulanova is perhaps the most mysterious of all the great ballerinas. A man of mystery, an unopened book and at the same time an ideal that no one has yet been able to surpass …