Fear and Losses 1921

At the end of the summer of 1921, Akhmatova, together with her friend from the "Stray Dog" – an "actress," artist, and creator of magical dolls, Olga Afanasyevna Glebova-Sudeykina – settled on the Fontanka at house 18, in the apartment of the modernist composer Artur Sergeyevich Lurye. To get to them, one had to pass through the fourth courtyard, climb the black staircase to the very top floor, first open the door to the little kitchen, and through it – into the dark rooms with antique furniture, hung with icons and paintings by Sergey Sudeykin. Akhmatova’s and Sudeykina’s friend, Artur Lurye, following his imagination, wrote: “In a large old house on the Fontanka, near the Summer Garden, from the window overlooking the courtyard, on the neighboring blank wall, a leonardesque mold about a sazhen thick appeared; looking closely at it, one could clearly see the silhouette in a top hat and cloak, running somewhere.” Here the poem “Fear” was written, which later entered the poetry collection “Anno Domini.” This state was explained by deep emotions caused by the death of people close to her. In August 1921, Blok, driven into a trap by the new regime, died; Gumilev was shot. And Anna’s elder brother, Andrey Gorenko, unable to withstand the trials that befell the family after the revolution, committed suicide. Although many disliked Lurye, Mandelstam, Sologub, Petrov-Vodkin, and other representatives of the Petersburg bohemia visited their apartment. Akhmatova wrote the libretto for Lurye’s Blok-inspired “Snow Mask,” and when in 1922 the composer fled abroad, Anna saw him off at the pier. Artur begged her to come, but they never saw each other again. After his departure, Akhmatova lived at this address for another year.

Sources:

https://kudago.com/spb/place/peterburg-ahmatovoj-naberezhnaya-reki-fontanki-18/

https://izi.travel/ru/72ef-peterburgskiy-adres-ahmatovoy-naberezhnaya-reki-fontanki-18/ru

https://www.citywalls.ru/house2625.html