Anton Delvig

Baron Anton Antonovich Delvig (Анто́н Анто́нович Де́львиг; Anton Antonowitsch Freiherr von Delwig; 17 August 1798 – 26 January 1831) was a Russian poet and journalist of Baltic German ethnicity.

Life
Anton Delvig was of Baltic-German descent from paternal side. He studied in the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum together with Alexander Pushkin and Wilhelm Küchelbecker with whom he became close friends. Küchelbecker dedicated a poem ('O, Delvig') to him; this poem was later set to music by Dmitri Shostakovich in the ninth movement of his fourteenth symphony. Delvig is also mentioned in Pushkin's famous novel in verse Eugene Onegin, being compared to the young poet Lensky. Delvig commissioned a portrait of Pushkin from Orest Kiprensky, which Pushkin bought from Delvig's widow after his friend's death. In 1820, Delvig met Yevgeny Baratynsky and introduced him to the literary press.

In his poetry, Delvig upheld the waning traditions of Russian Neoclassicism. He became interested in Russian folklore and wrote numerous imitations of folk songs. Some of these were put to music by the composers Alexander Alyabyev and Mikhail Glinka.

As a journalist, Delvig edited the periodical Northern Flowers (1825–1831), in which Pushkin was a regular contributor. In 1830–1831, he co-edited with Pushkin the Literaturnaya Gazeta, which was banned by the Tsarist government after information laid by Thaddeus Bulgarin.