An amateur composer from the Kochubei family. She was born in the village of Yaroslavets, Hlukhiv district, on the family estate.
Biography.
Yelysaveta Kochubey was one of three daughters of the privy counselor Vasyl Kochubey and Varvara Rakhmanova (d. 1845). Her sisters were Kateryna (later the wife of Hryhorii Halahan) and Olena.
On November 13, 1839, she married Prince Lev Kochubey, the son of Prince Viktor Kochubey by his marriage to Maria Vasylchykova. The wedding took place at the groom's estate in Dykanka, in a modest family circle.
The couple lived in Dykanka for several years, running a farm. In 1846, they moved to St. Petersburg, where Yelisaveta was able to take a favorable position. She often attended court balls and small balls of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, held herself high in society and danced almost always with members of the royal family.
She was fond of music and composed romances. Her romances "I have known eyes" to lyrics by F. Tyutchev, "If he knew" and "Tell her" to lyrics by E. Rostopchina were very popular in the Russian Empire in the 1850s and 80s, the latter often performed by the Italian Enrico Tamberlick in St. Petersburg.
According to a contemporary, Princess Kochubey had a perpetually pouty expression. She and her husband had a clearly cold relationship, which was confirmed by the fact that they appeared in St. Petersburg mostly separately. Her husband addressed her solemnly as Madame de Kochubey and was often on the road, while she lived for a long time in Tsarskoye Selo.
Their marriage was childless, but Prince Kochubey had a son out of wedlock. In recent years, Yelisaveta Kochubey lived in France. In Nice, she began construction of a luxurious mansion, which is now occupied by the Museum of Fine Arts. She died there of pneumonia and was buried in the Cocade cemetery.
