Barbara (Yakovleva)

Varvara Alexeyevna Yakovleva (Russian: Варвара Алексеевна Яковлева; died July 18, 1918), called Nun Barbara, was a Russian Orthodox nun in the convent of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna. She was killed by the Bolsheviks along with the grand duchess and Prince Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia, Prince Igor Konstantinovich of Russia, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia, Fyodor Remez, Grand Duke Sergei's secretary, and Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley at Alapaevsk.

She was later canonized as a martyr by both the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church within Russia.

Life

Varvara Alexeyevna Yakovleva, small in stature and deeply pious, served as Grand Duchess Elizabeth's maid before taking the veil. Her nickname was Varya. On April 15, 1910, she took vows as a Russian Orthodox nun. The Grand Duchess and other women also took vows on that date. As sisters of Grand Duchess Elizabeth's convent, the women were well known throughout Moscow for performing acts of charity. They took food to the homes of the poor, set up a home for women suffering from tuberculosis, established a hospital to care for the sick, established homes for the physically disabled, pregnant women and the elderly. They also established an orphanage. Their charitable efforts later spread to other cities in Russia.

Barbara (singer)

Monique Andrée Serf (June 9, 1930 – November 24, 1997), whose stage name was Barbara, was a French singer. She took her stage name from her Russian grandmother, Varvara Brodsky. Her song "L'Aigle noir" sold twenty four thousand in twelve hours.

Childhood

Born in Paris to a Jewish family, Barbara was ten years old when she had to go into hiding during the German occupation of France in World War II. After the war ended, a neighborhood professor of music heard her sing and took an interest in helping her develop her talents. She was given vocal lessons and taught to play the piano, and eventually she enrolled at the Ecole Supérieure de Musique. Money was a problem and she gave up her musical studies to sing at "La Fontaine des Quatre Saisons," a popular cabaret in Paris.

She was deeply scarred by the war and her family's plight. The feelings of emptiness experienced during childhood showed in her songs, particularly "Mon Enfance". She said in her uncompleted autobiography, Il était un piano noir (assembled from notes found after her death), that her father sexually abused her when she was ten and she hated him for that. He later abandoned the family.

Barbara (1997 film)

Barbara is a 1997 Danish drama film directed by Nils Malmros and stars Anneke von der Lippe and Lars Simonsen. Adapted from the classic Danish novel by Faroese writer Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen, the film is about a minister in the 18th century who is captivated by the overt sexuality of a promiscuous woman and marries her. Set in the Faroe Islands, the film was Malmros' first diversion from his usual subject of adolescents in Århus, and his own experiences.

Malmros describes Barbara as "a melodrama -a depiction of grandiose feelings set against a magnificent natural background, told with a wonderfully ironic undertone."

Plot