A whole group of outstanding Russian poets formed in the émigré community, among whom the talented poetess Maria Vega stood out, whose real name was Maria Nikolayevna Volyntseva. She is particularly remembered for her extravagant romance "Institutka."

This romance was performed in almost all Parisian cabarets and later, overcoming the Iron Curtain, became known in the USSR, where it was sung by famous artists such as Arkady Severny and Mikhail Gulko. Today, it is performed by Alena Apina, Laima Vaikule, Tatiana Tushinskaya, and others.

Today, I would like to talk about other aspects of the life of this talented poetess.

Maria Nikolayevna Volyntseva, known as Maria Vega, was born in 1898 into a well-off family and was the goddaughter of the famous actress Maria Gavrilovna Savina. She graduated from the Pavlovsk Women's Institute, but after the revolution, she was forced to emigrate to Paris, where she continued to write poetry and translate famous poets such as Rilke.

In 1924, at the age of 26, Maria participated in the arts competition at the Summer Olympics in Paris, concealing her last name and presenting herself as Princess Maria Nizharadze. Her first book of poetry, "Wormwood," was published in 1933, followed by the collection "Major in Minor" five years later, and the third and final émigré collection, "Lilith," was published in 1955.

Thanks to her poetry, Maria Vega became widely known in Russian émigré circles, and her name is mentioned in the memoirs of many outstanding cultural figures abroad. Despite the fact that after the romance "Institutka" some began to perceive her somewhat incorrectly, she wrote many spiritual poems, such as "Pray for Me, Saints," which in our time was set to music and performed as a song.

In 1962, Maria unexpectedly returned to the USSR, which caused confusion and outrage among the Russian émigration. In the USSR, she published several more books of her poetry. Maria Nikolayevna passed away in 1980, living to the age of 81, and was buried in her native St. Petersburg soil.