Alexandru Hrisoverghi

• Name — Alexandru Hrisoverghi • Born — 27 February 1811 • Birthplace — Iași • Died — 9 March 1837 • Place of death — Iași • Occupation — poet, translator, soldier • Period — 1834–1837 • Genre — lyric poetry • Movement — Romanticism

Born in Iași, Hrisoverghi was a member of the boyar category: the second of Vornic Neculai Hrisoverghi's four sons, he traced his origin to Greek Phanariotes who were present in Moldavia during the rule of Prince Dimitrie Cantemir. His mother was Elena Ruset, a member of the Rosetti family. According to his friend and biographer Mihail Kogălniceanu, "Hrisoverghi took absolutely no pride in this vain noble origin; he had sufficient personal merit, without needing any more from his parents". Neculai Hrisoverghi died in 1818. Alexandru Hrisoverghi's childhood and youth coincided with the Greek War of Independence, during which the Filiki Eteria troops of Alexander Ypsilantis occupied Moldavia and Wallachia; the Hrisoverghis took refuge in Imperial Russian-ruled Bessarabia. It was in Chișinău that he began his studies, being tutored in Ancient Greek by a teacher named Constantin, before returning to his native city in 1824. After attending the Orthodox school in Iași, he enrolled in a French-language boarding school headed by a professor Mouton, while being tutored in Ancient Greek literature by a Greek teacher named Franguli. According to Kogălniceanu: "His education was superficial; but this was no fault of his, rather that of a lack in educational institutions that was being experienced in Moldavia at the time". As a consequence of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, Moldavia and Wallachia were occupied by Russia, and, soon after, became subject to the Regulamentul Organic regime. This notably provided for the creation of a Moldavian Militia force, which young people of the principality joined in large numbers after 1830. Hrisoverghi was one of them, but withdrew in 1832, after just two years of service—dissatisfied with military life, he was also the sole provider for his family after two of his brothers had died. At the time, he became an avid reader of André Chénier and other French Romantics, while leading a Bohemian lifestyle and becoming noted for his affairs with women. Reportedly, he was a handsome person, and the object of compliments from women in high society. By that time, Hrisoverghi was showing the symptoms of an unknown disease, which first manifested itself as renal colics. As doctors recommended exercise and fresh air, he left for the Ottoman Empire, visiting Rumelia on his way to Edirne. In Kogălniceanu's view: "The patriarchal life of the Bulgarians, their customs so unlike those of any other, more civilized and thus more commonplace, nations, the magnificent view of the Balkans still full of souvenirs from the Russian victories [in the war of 1828-1829], all that primitive nature left vivid imprints in his memory and awoke within him the poetic genius". Returning to Moldavia in 1834, Alexandru Hrisoverghi published his debut work, Ruinelor Cetății Neamțu or Oda ruinelor Cetății Neamțu, an ode which had been prompted by news that the inhabitants of Târgu Neamț were planning to raze the nearby medieval complex and use it as a source of building material (see Neamţ Fortress). Its final stanza began with the words: O, fraților moldoveni, bătrâni, tineri, de-a valmă, Veacurilor viitoare nu gândiți că-i să dați samă? Și puteți cu sânge răce privi ace daramare? Nu opriți barbara faptă, nu-nălțați toți o strigare? Priviți marturul ce unul din veacuri ne rămăsese, Că neamul nostru din neamuri de viteji se alesăse, Cum îl darămă și-l strică lăcomia-n sumețire, și își face ei palaturi, spre a-și găsi mulțămire. Ruinelor Cetății Neamțu had instant appeal, persuading Prince Mihail Sturdza to block the Târgu Neamț demolition projects, as well as popularizing historic preservation throughout Moldavia. Over the following years, Hrisoverghi pursued a romantic affair with Catinca Beldiman, the wife of Vornic Nicolae Dimachi (himself an amateur poet). According to Kogălniceanu (who did not mention her name): "She was a young, beautiful woman, with a vivid imagination, who had kept alive all the illusions of her childhood and who, resonating with the young poet's fiery words, answered him: love me, be blessed; make yourself a luminous name among men, so you may cover me with your glory. Hrisoverghi found in her the ideal heroine he had previously read about in works by Byron, Dumas and those of so many novelists; he gained a soul to understand his own soul, a heart for his heart, a star for his horizon. He thus forgot everything else, glory, honors, future, in order to live for his loved one". Kogălniceanu noted that all of Hrisoverghi's works after that moment, his poems as well as his translation of Dumas' Antony, evidenced the inspiration Hrisoverghi had received from the object of his affection. Antony was first published posthumously by the Bucharest printing press of Ion Heliade Rădulescu, and featured a preface by Costache Negruzzi. Also in 1834, Hrisoverghi welcomed the arrival of Prince Mihail Sturdza, through which the Ottoman Empire consecrated the end of Phanariote rules, and authored a poem in Sturdza's honor (Oda pentru venirea î. s. domnului stăpânitor). After that moment, he also decided to regain the Militia (August 1834), serving as adjutant to the Hatman. In late December, Sturdza welcomed him on his personal staff, where he served as princely adjutant, being promoted Captain in January 1836. In February, after he was present at a masquerade ball in Iași, he left on mission to Pribești, traveling through a blizzard—this contributed to the subsequent decline of his health. Physicians recommended that he seek help from Austrian specialized doctors in Vienna, who ultimately directed him to the thermal baths in the Two Sicilies, at Ischia. This treatment failed to improve his condition, and, following his return to Moldavia, Hrisoverghi never left his bed. In constant pain for the following year, he died soon after turning 26, and was buried at the Sfântul Nicolae din Deal Church in Iași. His funeral was attended by a large group of officers and young civilians. The autopsy reportedly uncovered that Hrisoverghi died of complications from tabes dorsalis, which medicine of the time attributed to tuberculosis. In connection to his death, Gheorghe Sion later claimed that Hrisoverghi was severely injured after jumping from a window, when caught in his lover's arms by her husband; allegedly, his rival took him into his care. This account, which probably referred to Catinca Beldiman and her husband, was doubted by George Călinescu, who noted that it may have been entirely borrowed from Antony. A book of his collected works was published in 1843, and included his panegyrics to various potentates of his day. Most of his poems were left in unpolished stages, including one he composed on his deathbed: