Mariya Davidova

Mariya Davidova (1863, Moscow, Russian Empire — 1943, Łobez, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland) was a Russian poet, writer, music critic, translator, and librettist; one of her poems, I'm Waiting For You ("Я жду тебя"), became a popular romance. She authored biographies of Giacomo Meyerbeer, Mozart, and Schumann for the Lives of Remarkable People ("Жизнь Замечательных Людей") book series established in 1890 by publisher Florenty Pavlenkov (1839—1900), and Anton Rubinstein's memoirs for the History Herald ("Историческій Вѣстникъ") magazine in 1899. Name variations: Мария Августовна Давидова, Maria Augustovna Davidova, Давыдова, Davydova. Her biography is not well-researched; Maria's father was a distinguished mathematician and engineer, the Moscow State University professor August Yulevich Davidov (1823—1885). She studied at a private boarding school run by her aunts. Maria Davidova relocated to Saint Petersburg in 1880 and published in various literary and art periodicals, such as Pantheon of Literature ("Пантеонъ литературы"), The Artist ("Артистъ"), Northern Messenger ("Сѣверный Вѣстникъ"), God's World ("Міръ Божій"), and Bulletin of Foreign Literature ("Вѣстникъ Иностранной Литературы"). She translated poetry by Sully Prudhomme, Paul Verlaine, Heinrich Heine, Nikolaus Lenau, Emil von Schönaich-Carolath, and Georg Scherer, and, alongside Evgenia Studenskaya, introduced Russian readers to Yann Nibor. Davidova married at some point, changing her name to Shelly ("Шелли;" her husband's name is unknown). She emigrated from Russia at an undetermined date.