Yarmolnik barely held back tears at parting with Alexei Kuznetsov at the Vakhtangov Theater

A coffin of dark lacquered wood is displayed in the foyer. Not on stage, and, as theater director Kirill Krok explains to me, there are two reasons for this. The first is that on the Historical stage they usually say goodbye to people’s artists (USSR or Russian Federation, it does not matter), and Alexei Glebovich was well-deserved. Honored Vakhtangov escort to the lobby. The second reason is that only the night before, the scenery of the performances that the tenants played on the Vakhtangov stage during the holidays were dismantled. But, in the end, death does not recognize any status – everyone is equal before it.

Despite the middle of summer, a lot of people came to say goodbye to Alexei Kuznetsov, a wonderful artist, unimaginable, as Leonid Yarmolnik said, a teacher and just an intelligent person. The foyer filled up quite quickly, here is a photo gallery of the artist’s roles and his voice sounds – poems, songs from performances. Soft, with a beautiful color voice.

At the coffin, the guard of honor of artists and theater employees is changing. Surprisingly, death did not disfigure the actor’s face: it is beautiful, with regular features, he seemed to fall asleep. White shirt, white beautiful bow tie…

Colleagues, students of Alexei Glebovich, actors from other theaters approach the microphone, installed in a small passage. Elena Podkaminskaya, his favorite student, seemed to be petrified.

“While he was on stage, you could feel like a student,” says Yulia Rutberg. – Alexei Glebovich made comments correctly, intelligently. He was so musical that one could consult with him how to musically build a role.

Two weeks before my death, I recorded a short interview with Alexei Glebovich, where he confessed to me that when he entered the Shchukin school, he was absolutely not musically educated. And the outstanding teacher Vladimir Shlesinger, who spoke with him then, one might say, caught him on this.

“He asked me which of the composers I love. I then answered the first thing that came to mind – Rachmaninoff. Then Vladimir Georgievich smiled slyly and asked: “Then sing me a fragment of the third movement from the Second Concerto, it seems, in E-flat, something like that.” I was confused and asked: “Is it possible to sing the classics?” Schlesinger laughed and said, “You can. Go.”

When we were writing this interview, it seemed to me that somehow he did not look very good. I also thought that maybe at the end of the season I was very tired, after all, I’m old, but I work a lot, at the school there are students, exams …

But he behaved well, as always, emphatically well-mannered. But today, at parting, everyone is surprised that, it turns out, Alexei Kuznetsov walked for almost twenty days with a heart attack. And no one knew about it, perhaps even himself. When I got to the hospital, the doctors were encouraging: “How timely they grabbed me.” He was placed in intensive care, from there he was transferred to the intensive care unit, and everything seemed to go to the fact that he would leave the hospital with a repaired heart, but … What happened happened.

“… Quiet, quiet shine of the evening dawn …” – reads Alexei Kuznetsov. He was a master of the artistic word, his students took prizes at reading competitions.

Leonid Yarmolnik approaches the microphone.

“He was an incredible teacher. In my second year, my master Yuri Vasilievich Katin-Yartsev gave me into the hands of Alexei Glebovich Kuznetsov, who was rehearsing the vaudeville “A Match Between Two Fires”. I can say that usually a student can feel like an artist only by the end of the fourth year. Thanks to Alexei Glebovich, I became an artist already in my second year. (He barely holds back tears.) And in general, what I am today is he, Alexei Glebovich.

The young actress Asya Domskaya tells me that she is very sorry that she did not study with Kuznetsov.

– We met only in the theater, but I felt (I can’t explain, I don’t know why) that when he walked towards me, I understood that a great teacher was coming. We talked as colleagues, and I understood that there was no unnecessary husk in it, something that always interferes and confuses. It made him feel good to be around.

The memorial service comes to an end. Strong guys from the ritual service in strict black suits lift the coffin from the pedestal, carry it through the entire lobby to applause, enter the hall, carry the coffin along the central aisle, go down the stairs to the street, and applause is heard all the way. A farewell applause to a wonderful artist, a subtle, well-mannered, intelligent person, whose modesty is synonymous with the word “dignity”. Applause continued until the back door of the beautiful black Mercedes closed and the car slowly drove away from the Vakhtangov Theatre.