Je ne suis pas parfaite, toi non plus
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vertinsky
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vertinsky (Russian: Александр Вертинский, 21 March 1889 in Kiev — 21 May 1957 in Leningrad) was a Russian artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing.

Born out of wedlock, Vertinsky was brought up by his fathers sister in Kiev. He was ousted from school in 1905 and tried a variety of jobs before starting to earn his living by contributing short stories to the Kievan periodicals. In 1912 Vertinsky and his sister moved to Moscow where he failed in his ambition to join Stanislavskys Moscow Art Theatre. At that period he became addicted to cocaine, a baneful habit that would claim the life of his sister.

By 1916, Vertinsky started to employ a scenic figure of Pierrot, with powdered face, singing miniature novellas-in-song known as ariettes, or Pierrots doleful ditties. Each song contained a prologue, exposition, culmination, and a tragic final. The novice performer was christened the Russian Pierrot, gained renown, became an object of imitation, admiration, vilified in the press and lionized by the audiences.

Simultaneously with his booming singing career, he played screen bit parts in Aleksandr Khanzhonkovs silent movies. From that time stems a lifelong friendship with Ivan Mozzhukhin. His famous piece Vashi paltsy pakhnut ladanom was dedicated to another film star, Vera Kholodnaya. Shortly before the October Revolution Vertinsky devised a stage persona of Black Pierrot and started to tour Russia and Ukraine performing decadent elegies with a touch of cosmopolitan chic, such as Kokainetka and V oranzhevo-lilovom Singapure.

Я сегодня смеюсь над собой...
Мне так хочется счастья и ласки,
Мне так хочется глупенькой сказки,
Детской сказки наивной, смешной.

Я устал от белил и румян
И от вечной трагической маски,
Я хочу хоть немножечко ласки,
Чтоб забыть этот дикий обман.

Я сегодня смеюсь над собой.
Мне так хочется счастья и ласки,
Мне так хочется глупенькой сказки,
Детской сказки про сон золотой.

1915

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