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Kirsha DanilovThe alleged compiler of the first collection of Russian epics, historical, lyrical songs, and spiritual poems
Date of Birth: 01.01.1703
Country:  Dive |
Content:
- The Compiler of Russian Folk Poetry: Kirsha Danilov
- Unveiled Identity: Thanks to Archival Discoveries
- The Kirsha Danilov Collection
- First Edition and Critical Reception
- Prehistory of the Manuscript
- Subsequent Editions and Rediscovery
- Complete and Uncensored Publication
The Compiler of Russian Folk Poetry: Kirsha Danilov
Early Life and IdentityThe compiler of the first collection of Russian epics, historical songs, lyrical ballads, and spiritual verses, known as the "Kirsha Danilov Collection," was once shrouded in mystery. It was long believed that he had been a singer and storyteller commissioned by P. Demidov to assemble a compilation of songs.
Unveiled Identity: Thanks to Archival Discoveries
Thanks to research by V. I. Baidin, the social status and biographical details of Kirsha Danilov are now known with certainty, including his years of life.
The Kirsha Danilov Collection
Compilation and PreservationThe collection was compiled after 1742 in the Ural Mountains. The original manuscript was kept by Prokopy Akinfievich Demidov from 1768 onward. A copy made on paper in the 1760s-1780s is held in the Russian National Library.
First Edition and Critical Reception
The collection was first published in 1804 by F. P. Klyucharev under the title "Ancient Russian Poems," edited by A. F. Yakubovich. This incomplete edition contained only 26 of the 71 texts. As stated in the second edition's preface:
Prehistory of the Manuscript
"We owe the discovery and preservation of these old monuments of Russian literature to the late Mr. Privy Councillor Prokopy Akinfievich Demidov, for whom they were copied over 70 years ago; after his death, the manuscript passed to N. M. Khozikov, and he gave it to His Excellency Fyodor Petrovich Klyucharev in 1802."
Subsequent Editions and Rediscovery
The collection of epics attracted significant interest. A second edition was produced in 1818 under the editorship of K. F. Kallaidovich, based on a manuscript belonging to Chancellor N. P. Rumyantsev. After the second edition, the manuscript disappeared from scholarly view and was presumed lost for a long time.
In 1893, N. V. Chekhov, head of the zemstvo schools in Bogorodi district, Tula Province, discovered the manuscript in the library of the Ogarevka estate of Prince M. R. Dolgorukov. The prince had inherited the manuscript from his grandfather, A. F. Malinovsky, an archaeologist involved in the 1818 edition.
Complete and Uncensored Publication
Through the efforts of P. N. Sheffer, the manuscript was transferred to the Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg and published as a more complete "Kirsha Danilov Collection" in 1901. The collection has been published numerous times in Russia and the USSR, but often with censored passages due to the use of obscene language in some of the songs. In 1995, the publishing house "Ladomir" published the uncensored fragments for the first time, and in 2003, the St. Petersburg publishing house "Tropa Trojanova" released the complete uncensored text of the collection, edited by A. A. Gorelov.
