Leopold Antonovich Sulerzhitsky (Russian: Леопольд Антонович Сулержицкий) (1872-1916) was a Russian theatre director, painter and pedagogue of Polish descent. He is associated with the Moscow Art Theatre and the household of Leo Tolstoy. Among his many students were Yevgeny Vakhtangov and Michael Chekhov.
A native of Zhitomir, Sulerzhitsky pursued study of the visual arts in Kiev. As a schoolboy he was involved in decorating St Volodymyr's Cathedral, working under the likes of Mikhail Vrubel and Viktor Vasnetsov. In 1890 he joined the Stroganov Art School in Moscow but dropped out four years later, due to his "anti-government escapades." Sulerzhitsky, always a colourful personality, turned his attention to theatre and soon became a fixture of Moscow artistic life.
Tatyana Tolstaya, one of his schoolmates, introduced him to her famous father. Sulerzhitsky grew fascinated with Leo Tolstoy's ideas of pacifism and anarchism and decided to dedicate his life to their dissemination. He became one of the most loyal Tolstoyans. His diary kept track of early Doukhobor life before, during, and just after the Doukhobor's migration to Canada at the beginning of the twentieth century. The published diary is called To America with the Doukhobors.
Terrorize, frozen eyes
Stare deep in me
Paralyzed, inside
Death breeds on your pain
Pretty lace lie in hate
You wear my scars
Terrified, you find
That you push me too far
Your repulsiveness reminds me
Of dead flesh
Rotting corpse
The smell of your putrid fucking soul
Petrified that I decide
The moment of your death
Belongs to me, the taste is sweet
It's so unreal
Your God weeps, it bleeds
It begs for me
God is letting you recover
Welcome to my black serenade
The entrance to my hell, your pain
Scream your song, the black serenade
Live in fear, a mind insane
Voice inside my head
Your face still shows itself to me
Telling me you're dead
Staring at your lifeless body
I saw you fucking die
My mind's tearing itself apart
Screaming from the inside
Release this pain from my fucking heart
Destroy the empty shell
Smash away the haunting fear
I hate your endless stare
Watching as I fuck your corpse
Welcome to my black serenade
The entrance to my hell, your pain
Walk on through a tortured mind
You'll scream your song in time
Welcome to my black serenade
The entrance to my hell, your pain
Flesh is burnt, the black serenade
Live in fear, no coming back
Welcome to my black serenade
The entrance to my hell, your pain
Walk on through a tortured mind
You'll scream your song in time
Welcome to my black serenade
The entrance to my hell, your pain
Flesh is burnt, the black serenade