Maria Zubova

Maria Voinovna Zubova (Russian: Мария Воиновна Зубова), (1749?–1799) was a Russian poet, composer, and concert singer, known for her rendition of folksongs. She was born in Saint Petersburg and was the daughter of Vice-Admiral Warrior Yakovlevich Rimsky-Korsakov. She was married to Afanasy Nikolaevich Zubov (1738–1822), Governor of Kursk from 1782 to 1791. With her husband, on June 19, 1780, they moved into an estate located near Murom, Vladimir Oblast, regarded as one of the most ancient cities within Russia. Composer Zubova was the creator of heartfelt poems and a composer of salon songs during the late 18th and was considered by the Russian Writer Daniil Mordovtsev as one of the “literary daughters of Lomonosov and Sumarokov.” Only a small portion of her musical work was published, the majority being published in Saint Petersburg during 1770. She was also a minor translator of French literature, although her work remains unpublished. She is most recognized for her folksong “I am moving to the desert…” written in 1791, whose words are now commonly used within the Russian vernacular. The second line of the first stanza is used, e.g., “From the beautiful places here,” to denote a