Teatralnaya ploshchad 1
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Closed: July- Aug
www.bolshoi.ru
The State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Bolshoi Theater of
Russia or simply the Bolshoi Theater is one of the largest in Russia
and one of the most significant opera and ballet theaters in the
world.
The complex of theater buildings is located in the
center of Moscow, on Theater Square. The Bolshoi Theatre, its
museum, the building of the historical stage are an object of
cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia of federal significance.
Initially, the theater was private, but since 1794 it
became state-owned, constituting, together with Maly, a single Moscow
troupe of imperial theaters. From time to time, the status of the Moscow
troupe changed: it either passed under the control of the Moscow
Governor-General, then again - under the St. Petersburg directorate.
This continued until the revolution of 1917, when all the property was
nationalized and there was a complete separation of the Maly and Bolshoi
theaters.
The entire history of theatrical culture in Moscow has
long been associated with the Bolshoi Theatre.
It is customary to start the history of the theater
from March 17 (28), 1776, when the provincial prosecutor, Prince Pyotr
Vasilyevich Urusov, received the highest permission of Empress Catherine
II "to maintain ... theatrical performances of all kinds, as well as
concerts, vocals and masquerades." The prince began the construction of
the theater, which - at the location on Petrovka Street (on the right
bank of the Neglinka) - was named Petrovsky. The Urusov Theater burned
down even before its opening, and the prince handed over the business to
his partner, the English businessman Michael (Mikhail) Maddox. It was
under the leadership of Maddox, designed by the architect Christian
Rozberg, that the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater was built in 1776-1789. The
theater was named after Petrovka Street, at the beginning of which it
stood on a cramped site, surrounded by chaotic buildings.
A
three-story brick building with white stone details and under a plank
roof rose in five months and cost Maddox 130,000 silver rubles, 50,000
more than the estimate. The grand opening took place on December 30,
1780. The theater had a stalls, three tiers of boxes and a gallery that
accommodated about 1 thousand spectators, a “masquerade hall with two
lights”, a “card room” and other special rooms; in 1788, a new round
masquerade hall, the Rotunda, was added to the theater. According to
other sources, the hall accommodated 800 visitors: “The theater had four
tiers with boxes and two spacious galleries. In the parterre there were
two rows with seats closed on the sides. Luxuriously decorated boxes
cost from three hundred to a thousand rubles and more. A ticket to the
stalls cost one ruble. The theater hall accommodated 800 spectators and
the same number of people could fit in the galleries. During the first
14 years of owning the Maddox Theater, 425 opera and ballet performances
were staged at the Petrovsky Theater. In 1794, due to financial
difficulties, Maddox was forced to transfer the theater to the treasury;
the theater became Imperial.
The Petrovsky Theater of Maddox
stood for 25 years - on October 8, 1805, the building burned down. For
three years, the troupe gave performances in the home theaters of the
Moscow nobility; for some time performances were held in the Pashkovs'
property in the north wing of the building at the corner of Mokhovaya
and Bolshaya Nikitskaya streets (later rebuilt as the university church
of Martyr Tatyana). A new wooden building was built by K. I. Rossi on
Arbat Square. The theater had a stalls, a benoir, three tiers of boxes
and a corner, and was distinguished by good acoustics; its interiors
were painted by the artist M. I. Scotti. The area, previously
characterized by impassable mud, was leveled and paved, and flower beds
were planted in front of the theater. Having existed for four years, the
theater building burned down during the Moscow fire of 1812. After that,
the theater was located on Znamenka in the house of Apraksin, which was
built in 1792 by the architect F. Camporesi. The theater room in
Apraksin's house was cramped and uncomfortable, instead of chairs there
were benches covered with coarse cloth; several times during the time
the Petrovsky Theater was there, fires occurred in it.
In 1816, the Commission on the Construction of
Moscow announced a competition for the construction of a new theater
building, the obligatory condition of which was the inclusion of the
charred wall of the Maddox Theater in the construction. L. Dubuis,
D. Gilardi, F. Camporesi, P. Gonzago, A. N. Bakarev and other
architects took part in the competition, but not a single project
was accepted. The project of Professor of the Imperial Academy of
Arts A. A. Mikhailov was recognized as the winner of the repeated
competition. However, Mikhailov's project was considered too
expensive, besides, the theater building he had conceived, in its
scale, excessively large, did not correspond to the surrounding
buildings. The revision of the project was entrusted to the
architect O. I. Bove, who completely preserved the basics of
Mikhailov’s composition, but significantly changed the proportions
of the building, reducing its height from 41 to 37 meters, and also
made significant adjustments to its exterior and interior
decoration.
According to the plan of Bove, who put into
practice the ideas of the general plan of Moscow developed by him
and approved in 1817, the theater was to become the compositional
center of the Empire city-temple, glorifying the victory in the
Patriotic War. The greatness of the theater was emphasized by the
strict rectangular square in front of it, which in the 1820s was
called Petrovskaya, but was soon renamed Teatralnaya. Beauvais
brought the volume designed by Mikhailov in line with the area and
turned Apollo's quadriga towards the audience. The project for the
construction of the theater was approved on November 10, 1821; even
before his approval, Bove began to build the foundations of the
theater according to his plan, while part of the foundations of the
burnt building were preserved.
The theater opened on January
6 (18), 1825 with the performance "The Triumph of the Muses" - a
prologue in verse by M. A. Dmitriev, music by F. E. Scholz, A. N.
Verstovsky and A. A. Alyabyev: the plot in allegorical form told how
The genius of Russia, having united with the muses, created a new
one from the ruins of the burned-out Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater of
Maddox. The roles were performed by the best Moscow actors: the
Genius of Russia - the tragedian P. S. Mochalov, Apollo - the singer
N. V. Lavrov, Terpsichore's muse - the leading dancer of the Moscow
troupe F. Gyullen-Sor. After the intermission, the ballet
"Sandrillon" (Cinderella) was shown to the music of F. Sor,
choreographers F.-V. Gyullen-Sor and I.K. Lobanov, the production
was moved from the stage of the Theater on Mokhovaya. The
performance was repeated the next day. S. Aksakov’s memories of this
discovery have been preserved: “The Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater, which
arose from old, burnt ruins ... amazed and delighted me ... A
magnificent huge building, exclusively dedicated to my favorite art,
already with its appearance alone led me into joyful excitement”;
and V. Odoevsky, admiring the ballet performance, wrote about this
performance as follows: “The brilliance of the costumes, the beauty
of the scenery, in a word, all the theatrical splendor was combined
here, as well as in the prologue.”
In 1842, the theater came
under the leadership of the St. Petersburg Directorate of Imperial
Theaters; An opera troupe arrived in Moscow from St. Petersburg, and
the well-known composer A. N. Verstovsky was appointed manager of
the Moscow Theater Office, who held this position until 1859. A
major reconstruction of the theater building was carried out in 1843
according to the project of architect A. S. Nikitin - he replaced
the Ionic capitals of the portico with capitals of the Erechtheion
type, rebuilt the line of side boxes, lobbies and the stage part,
where the rear stage appeared
On March 11 (23), 1853, the
theater burned down; from the fire, which lasted several days, only
the stone outer walls of the building and the colonnade of the
portico survived.
The architects Konstantin Ton, A.S. Nikitin, Alexander
Matveev and the chief architect of the Imperial Theaters Albert Kavos
were involved in the competition for the restoration of the theater. Won
the Kavos project; the theater was restored in three years. Basically,
the volume of the building and the layout were preserved, however, Kavos
slightly increased the height of the building, changed the proportions
and completely redesigned the architectural decor, designing the facades
in the spirit of early eclecticism. Instead of the alabaster sculpture
of Apollo that died in the fire, a bronze quadriga by Peter Klodt was
placed above the entrance portico. A plaster double-headed eagle was
installed on the pediment - the state emblem of the Russian Empire. The
theater reopened on August 20, 1856 with Bellini's opera I Puritani.
In the years 1886-1893, the back side of the building was rebuilt
according to the project of the architect E.K. Gernet, as a result of
which the columns of the portico preserved by Kavos ended up inside the
warehouse. In 1890, cracks appeared in the walls of the building; the
survey revealed that the foundations of the theater rested on rotten
wooden piles. In 1894-1898, according to the project of architects I. I.
Rerberg, K. V. Tersky and K. Ya. Maevsky, a new foundation was laid
under the theater building. However, the settlement of the building did
not stop: in 1902, during the performance, the wall of the auditorium
sagged significantly, as a result of which the doors to the middle boxes
jammed and the audience was forced to get out through the neighboring
ones.
Since 1918, the Bolshoi Theater began to be called
academic. For several years after the October Revolution, disputes about
the fate of the theater did not stop; many spoke in favor of its
closure, beginning with Lenin. Actively opposed to him, in 1922,
seriously ill, Stalin, who in 1922 became the General Secretary of the
Central Committee of the RCP (b), Anatoly Lunacharsky, People's
Commissar of Education, and Mikhail Kalinin, chairman of the All-Russian
Central Executive Committee.
In 1922, the Presidium of the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to consider the closure
of the theater economically inexpedient. In 1921, the theater building
was examined by a commission, including prominent Moscow architects A.
V. Shchusev, I. P. Mashkov, S. F. Voskresensky and I. V. Zholtovsky; the
commission came to the conclusion about the catastrophic condition of
the semi-circular wall of the auditorium, which served as a support for
the vaults of the corridors and the entire auditorium. Work to
strengthen the wall under the leadership of I. I. Rerberg began in
August-September 1921 and continued for two years. In 1928, in order to
eliminate the rank hierarchy of visitors, the architect P. A. Tolstykh
re-planned a number of stairs and other rooms of the building. In the
mid-1920s, the old curtain depicting Apollo's quadriga was replaced by a
new one, made according to a drawing by F. F. Fedorovsky.
On June
22, 1941, at the branch of the Bolshoi Theater (the Bolshoi Theater had
been under reconstruction since April 15, 1941), the premiere of
Gounod's opera Romeo and Juliet was held, in which Sergey Lemeshev
performed the part of Romeo. The hall was full. During the Great
Patriotic War, from October 1941 to July 1943, the Bolshoi Theater was
evacuated to Kuibyshev, where it staged performances of Eugene Onegin,
Swan Lake, La Traviata, Aida, Carmen, The Queen of Spades, "William
Tell". 5 March 1942 first performance of Shostakovich's Seventh
Symphony. At this time, the theater staff actively contributed funds to
the Defense Fund and received gratitude from Stalin for this. Artists
and musicians lived in an empty school building allocated to the theater
on the outskirts of the city, where there was no furniture.
In
1955, a new luxurious curtain made of brocade appeared on the stage of
the theater, nicknamed "golden", designed by F. F. Fedorovsky, which for
50 years was the main decoration of the stage. After the reconstruction
of the Bolshoi Theater, the curtain in a restored and slightly modified
form (the arms and inscriptions were replaced) again adorned the stage
of the main theater of the country.
From 1976 to 1991, the
theater was officially called the State Twice Order of Lenin Academic
Bolshoi Theater of the USSR.
The building of the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater
at the address: Bolshaya Dmitrovka street, house 4, building 2.f for 879
seats. was built from 1995 to 2002 on the site of historic apartment
buildings. The ceiling of the auditorium was decorated with sketches by
Leon Bakst, edited by Zurab Tsereteli.
The new stage opened on
November 29, 2002 with N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Snow Maiden.
During the reconstruction of the Main Stage, from 2005 to 2011, the
entire opera and ballet repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater was performed
on it.
Currently, performances from the repertoire of the Bolshoi
Theater are performed on the New Stage, and tours of Russian and foreign
theater groups are held.
On July 1, 2005, the Historical Stage of the Bolshoi
Theater was closed for reconstruction, which was originally supposed to
be completed in 2008. Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (June 30, 2005) was the
last performance that took place on the Main Stage before closing. The
theater was opened on October 28, 2011 with a gala concert with the
participation of opera and ballet dancers staged by Dmitry Chernyakov.
The premiere of Glinka's opera Ruslan and Lyudmila, also staged by
Chernyakov, which was originally supposed to open the theater, took
place on November 2. The preparatory work for the upcoming
reconstruction, during which only three load-bearing walls remained from
the historic building - the main facade and side walls, and a giant pit
more than 30 meters deep was dug under the foundation, was greatly
delayed.
During the reconstruction, the number of seats in the
auditorium was reduced from 2155 to 174.
In September 2009, the
UPC of Russia opened a criminal case on unreasonable spending of funds.
According to the Accounts Chamber, during the reconstruction of the
Bolshoi Theater, its cost increased 16 times, and according to the
Minister of Culture A. A. Avdeev, in March 2011 it exceeded 20 billion
rubles (500 million €), which, allegedly, was primarily due to with a
strong rise in the price of cement and bricks.
On February 14,
2012, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation indicated that "the
reconstruction of the Bolshoi Theater cost 35.4 billion rubles, instead
of the planned 37 billion, which is 95.5 percent of the estimated cost."
Since 2009, after the departure of Alexander
Vedernikov from the post of chief conductor, composer Leonid Desyatnikov
(2009-2010) and conductor Vasily Sinaisky (2010-2013) have been the
musical directors of the theater. In January 2014, Tugan Sokhiev became
the chief conductor and musical director of the theater.
Since
July 2013, Vladimir Urin has been the General Director of the Bolshoi
Theatre.
In 2013, a new wind organ, the fourth in the history of
the theatre, produced by the German organ-building company Glatter-Götz,
was installed at the Bolshoi Theatre.
In July 2016, the Bolshoi
Theater, with the support of the Summa group and the Department of
Culture of the Moscow Government, launched a series of street broadcasts
of its performances. The broadcasts were carried out on a special
all-weather screen mounted on the main facade of the theater and were
timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the completion of the
restoration. On July 1 and 2, Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Tsar's Bride
was shown; on July 8 and 9, George Balanchine's ballet Jewels was shown.
In March 2020, against the backdrop of the quarantine caused by the
coronavirus pandemic, the Bolshoi Theater began a series of online
broadcasts of previously recorded performances of the "golden fund" on
its official YouTube channel. On the first day, the ballet "Swan Lake"
was watched by more than 1 million people. As part of the quarantine, a
concert was also held where classical and pop stars, theater and film
actors performed in front of an empty hall to express their gratitude to
the doctors and other workers who continue their activities during the
pandemic.
In September 2020, the YouTube channel of the Bolshoi
Theater was the first Russian theater to receive the YouTube Silver
Button.
March 17 (28), 1776 - the day of the founding of the
Bolshoi Theater (creation of the troupe).
December 30, 1780 - the
opening of the Petrovsky Theater.
October 8, 1805 - fire, the death
of the building of the Petrovsky Theater.
1806 - the theater receives
the status of the Imperial.
April 13, 1808 - opening of the New Arbat
Imperial Theater.
1812 - fire, the death of the theater building.
1821-1824 - construction of a new theater building designed by O. Bove.
January 6, 1825 - the opening of the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater.
1842
- a major reconstruction of the theater designed by A. S. Nikitin.
March 11, 1853 - fire, the death of the theater building.
May 14,
1855 - approval of the project for the restoration of the theater
building by Albert Cavos.
August 20, 1856 - the opening of the
Bolshoi Theater.
December 16, 1888 - the premiere of the opera "Boris
Godunov" by M. Mussorgsky.
1895 - overhaul of the foundations of the
theater.
October 10, 1901 - premiere of the opera "Pskovite" by N.
Rimsky-Korsakov with F. I. Chaliapin in the role of Ivan the Terrible.
February 28, 1917 - cancellation of the status of the Imperial Theatre.
May 4, 1919 - the first symphony concert of the theater orchestra,
conductor - Sergei Koussevitzky.
December 7, 1919 - order to rename:
State Academic Bolshoi Theater.
December 12, 1919 - an attempt to
abolish the Bolshoi Theater.
February 18, 1921 - opening of the
Beethoven Hall.
1921-1923 reconstruction of the theater building
under the direction of I. I. Rerberg.
February 1922 - the decision of
the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to continue
the work of the Bolshoi Theater.
February 1, 1925 - Solemn
celebration of the 100th anniversary.
1935 - premiere of the opera
"Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" by D. Shostakovich.
1937 - The
Bolshoi Theater was awarded the first Order of Lenin.
April 15, 1941
- the beginning of the reconstruction of the building.
1941 - the
theater was evacuated to Kuibyshev.
October 28, 1941 - a bomb hits
the theater building.
September 26, 1943 - the first performance
after returning from evacuation.
December 16, 1948 - Premiere of the
opera Boris Godunov directed by Leonid Baratov and stage design by
Fyodor Fedorovsky.
1955 - installation of the famous "golden" curtain
on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. The author of the project is Fedor
Fedorovsky.
1956 - the ballet troupe first went on the famous tour of
the Bolshoi Theater in London.
1959 - the world-famous singer Mario
del Monaco performs in the opera Carmen by G. Bizet, in the part of Jose
(Carmen - I. Arkhipov).
1960 - world premiere of the opera "The Tale
of a Real Man" by S. Prokofiev.
1960s - 1970s - reconstruction of the
building.
1961 - The Bolshoi Theater receives a stage in the Kremlin
Palace of Congresses.
1964 - Marlene Dietrich performs with her
program of the show "Marlene Expirience". Called to the curtain 200
times.
1964 - Yuri Grigorovich was appointed chief choreographer of
the Bolshoi Theater.
1968 - premiere of the ballet "Spartacus" by A.
Khachaturian staged by Y. Grigorovich.
1975 - completion of the
reconstruction of the building.
1976 - solemn celebration of the
200th anniversary of the Bolshoi Theater. Rewarding the second Order of
Lenin.
1982 - premiere of the ballet "The Golden Age" by D.
Shostakovich, staged by Y. Grigorovich.
July 4, 1985 - Mark Reisen,
at the age of 90, performed the part of Gremin in the opera "Eugene
Onegin", thereby becoming a Guinness Book of Records record holder.
November 29, 2002 - opening of the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre.
July 2, 2005 - the closure of the Bolshoi Theater building for
reconstruction.
October 1, 2011 - The Bolshoi Theater was
commissioned after 6 years and 3 months.
October 28, 2011 - the grand
opening of the Bolshoi Theater after reconstruction.
December 1, 2011
- the resumption of the 1948 production of the opera Boris Godunov.
May 14, 2013 — concert-presentation with the opening of a new wind organ
by Glatter-Goetz.
June 8, 2013 — premiere of the opera "Prince Igor"
by A. Borodin, staged by Y. Lyubimov.
2015 - world premiere of the
ballet "A Hero of Our Time" by I. Demutsky.
February 18, 2016 —
premiere of the opera "Katerina Izmailova" by D. Shostakovich (conductor
Tugan Sokhiev, director Rimas Tuminas).
July 22, 2016 — premiere of
the dramatic legend "The Damnation of Faust" by G. Berlioz (conductor
Tugan Sokhiev, director Peter Stein).
In 1913, the organ of the German firm Eberhard
Friedrich Walker, Opus 1738, 26/II/P, was installed at the Bolshoi
Theatre. However, it did not survive. In 2013, a new wind organ
manufactured by the German organ-building company Glatter-Goetz was
installed. The installation of the instrument was completed in January,
but the organ was only heard for the first time on May 14 at a special
gala presentation with the participation of Russian organists and
musicians from the Bolshoi Theatre.
The instrument takes the 7th
place among the wind organs of Moscow in terms of the number of
registers. It is located behind the stage portal on the left side, on a
special gallery located at a height of about 10 meters, which creates
certain difficulties for the performers. All pipes are hidden in a
wooden case, the pipes of II manual are additionally fenced off with
sliding blinds-channel. The mobile organ console is connected to the
organ with the help of electric register and playing tractors, which
allows it to be placed in the orchestra pit or on the stage.
During the existence of the theater, more than 800 works have been staged here. The first production created by the theater troupe was D. Zorin's opera "Rebirth" (1777). Great success with the public, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, had the premiere of M. Sokolovsky's opera "The Miller - a sorcerer, a deceiver and a matchmaker" (1779). During this period of the theater's existence, the repertoire was quite varied: operas by Russian and Italian composers, dance scenes from Russian folk life, divertissement ballets, and performances based on mythological subjects.
By the 1840s, domestic vaudeville operas and romantic
operas of a large form were established in the theater, which was
largely facilitated by the administrative activities of the composer A.
Verstovsky, in different years music inspector, repertoire inspector and
manager of the Moscow theater office. In 1835, the premiere of his opera
Askold's Grave took place.
Performances in the theater of M.
Glinka's operas A Life for the Tsar (1842) and Ruslan and Lyudmila
(1845), A. Adam's ballet Giselle (1843) become events of theatrical
life. During this period, the theater focuses on the creation of a truly
Russian repertoire, mainly a musical epic.
The second half of the
19th century in ballet was marked by the activity of the outstanding
choreographer M. Petipa, who staged a number of performances in Moscow,
of which L. Minkus' Don Quixote of La Mancha (1869) is one of the most
significant. At this time, the repertoire was also enriched with the
works of P. Tchaikovsky: The Governor (1869), Swan Lake (1877,
choreographer Vaclav Reisinger) - the composer's debuts in opera and
ballet; "Eugene Onegin" (1881), "Mazepa" (1884). The premiere of the
opera "Cherevichki" by Tchaikovsky in 1887 becomes its author's debut as
a conductor. Outstanding operas by composers of the “mighty handful”
appear: the folk drama Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky (1888), The Snow
Maiden (1893) and The Night Before Christmas (1898) by N.
Rimsky-Korsakov, Prince Igor by A. Borodin (1898).
At the same
time, works by G. Verdi, C. Gounod, J. Bizet, R. Wagner and other
foreign composers were also staged at the Bolshoi Theater at that time.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the
theater reached its peak. Many St. Petersburg artists seek the
opportunity to participate in the performances of the Bolshoi Theater.
The names of F. Chaliapin, L. Sobinov, A. Nezhdanova are becoming widely
known all over the world.
In 1912, F. Chaliapin staged M.
Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina at the Bolshoi. The repertoire includes
"Pan Voyevoda", "Mozart and Salieri", "The Tsar's Bride" by
Rimsky-Korsakov, "The Demon" by A. Rubinstein, "The Ring of the
Nibelung" by R. Wagner, verist operas by Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Puccini.
During this period, S. Rachmaninov actively collaborated with the
theater, who proved himself not only as a composer, but also as an
outstanding opera conductor, attentive to the peculiarities of the style
of the work being performed and achieving in the performance of operas a
combination of extreme temperament with fine orchestral decoration.
Rachmaninoff improves the organization of the conductor's work - so,
thanks to him, the conductor's stand, which was previously located
behind the orchestra (facing the stage), is unfolded and transferred to
its modern place.
Outstanding artists, members of the "World of
Art" Korovin, Polenov, Bakst, Benois, Golovin participate in the
creation of performances as production designers.
The first years after the 1917 revolution were marked,
first of all, by the struggle to preserve the Bolshoi Theater as such
and, secondly, to preserve a certain part of its repertoire. Thus, the
operas The Snow Maiden, Aida, La Traviata, and Verdi in general were
subjected to ideological criticism. There were also statements about the
destruction of the ballet, as "a relic of the bourgeois past." However,
despite this, both opera and ballet continue to develop at the Bolshoi.
New productions are created by the choreographer A. A. Gorsky,
ballet conductor Yu.
Choreographers in the spirit of the times
are looking for new forms in art. K. Ya. Goleizovsky staged the ballet
"Joseph the Beautiful" by S. N. Vasilenko (1925), L. A. Lashchilin and
V. D. Tikhomirov - the play "Red Poppy" by R. M. Glier (1927), which was
a huge success with spectators, V. I. Vainonen - the ballet "The Flames
of Paris" by B. V. Asafiev (1933).
The opera is dominated by
works by M. I. Glinka, A. S. Dargomyzhsky, P. I. Tchaikovsky, A. P.
Borodin, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, M. P. Mussorgsky. In 1927, director V.
A. Lossky created a new edition of Boris Godunov. Operas by Soviet
composers are staged - "Trilby" by A. I. Yurasovsky (1924), "Love for
Three Oranges" by S. S. Prokofiev (1927).
Also in the 1920s, the
theater presented to the public the best operas by foreign composers:
Salome by R. Strauss (1925), Le nozze di Figaro by W.-A. Mozart (1926),
Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) ( 1925) and “Tosca” (1930) by G. Puccini
(“Tosca” turned out to be a failure, despite the emphasis in the
production of the “revolutionary line”).
In the 1930s, I. V.
Stalin's demand for the creation of "Soviet opera classics" appeared in
the press. At the same time, a ban is introduced to address the work of
contemporary foreign composers.
In 1935, the premiere of D. D.
Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was held with
great success with the public. However, this work, highly appreciated by
Soviet and foreign connoisseurs, causes a sharp rejection of the
authorities. The article "Muddle Instead of Music", attributed to Stalin
and which caused the disappearance of this opera from the repertoire of
the Bolshoi, is well known.
The theater celebrates the end of the
Great Patriotic War with bright premieres of S. Prokofiev’s ballets
Cinderella (1945, choreographer R. V. Zakharov) and Romeo and Juliet
(1946, choreographer L. M. Lavrovsky), where G. S. Ulanova.
In
subsequent years, the Bolshoi Theater turns to the work of composers of
the "fraternal countries" - Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary ("The
Bartered Bride" by B. Smetana (1948), "Pebble" by S. Moniuszko (1949)
and others), and also reviews the productions of classical Russian
operas (new productions of Eugene Onegin, Sadko, Boris Godunov,
Khovanshchina and many others are being created). A significant part of
these productions was carried out by the opera director B. A. Pokrovsky,
who came to the Bolshoi Theater in 1943. His performances in these years
and the next few decades serve as the "face" of the Bolshoi opera.
In the 1950s and 1960s, new productions of operas appeared: Verdi
(Aida, 1951, Falstaff, 1962), D. Aubert (Fra Diavolo, 1955), Beethoven
(Fidelio, 1954), theater actively cooperates with foreign artists,
musicians, artists, directors from Italy, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, East
Germany. For a short time, Nikolai Gyaurov, who is at the very beginning
of his career, enters the troupe of the theater.
The
choreographer Yu. N. Grigorovich comes to the Bolshoi, the ballets he
created The Stone Flower by S. S. Prokofiev (1959) and The Legend of
Love by A. D. Melikov (1965), which were previously staged in Leningrad,
are transferred to the Moscow stage. In 1964 Grigorovich headed the
Bolshoi Ballet. He makes new editions of The Nutcracker (1966) and Swan
Lake (1969) by Tchaikovsky, and also stages Spartacus by A. I.
Khachaturian (1968).
This performance, created together with the
artist Simon Virsaladze and conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, with the
participation of virtuoso artists Vladimir Vasilyev, Maris Liepa,
Mikhail Lavrovsky, has a phenomenal success with the public and receives
the Lenin Prize (1970).
Another event in the life of the theater
is the production of Carmen Suite (1967), created by the Cuban
choreographer A. Alonso to the music of J. Bizet and R. K. Shchedrin
especially for the ballerina M. M. Plisetskaya.
In the 1970s and
1980s, V. Vasiliev and M. Plisetskaya acted as choreographers.
Plisetskaya staged R. K. Shchedrin’s ballets Anna Karenina (1972), The
Seagull (1980), Lady with a Dog (1985), and Vasilyev staged the ballets
Icarus by S. M. Slonimsky (1976), Macbeth " K. V. Molchanov (1980),
"Annie" V. A. Gavrilin (1986).
The Bolshoi Theater Company often
tours, having success in Italy, Great Britain, the USA and many other
countries.
At present, the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater
retains many classical productions of opera and ballet performances, but
at the same time the theater is striving for new experiments. In the
field of ballet, productions of D. Shostakovich's works The Bright
Stream (2003) and The Bolt (2005) are being created.
Directors
who have already gained fame as drama or film directors are involved in
the work on operas. Among them are A. Sokurov, T. Chkheidze, E.
Nyakroshus and others.
Work is underway to "cleanse" the original
opera scores from later stratifications and marks, and return them to
the author's editions. Thus, a new production of Boris Godunov by Modest
Mussorgsky (2007), Ruslan and Lyudmila by Mikhail Glinka (2011) was
being prepared. Some of the new productions of the Bolshoi Theater
caused disapproval of a part of the public and honored masters of the
Bolshoi. Thus, the scandal accompanied the staging of Leonid
Desyatnikov's opera The Children of Rosenthal (2005), largely due to the
reputation of the author of the libretto, the writer Vladimir Sorokin.
The famous singer Galina Vishnevskaya expressed her indignation and
rejection of the new play Eugene Onegin (2006, directed by Dmitry
Chernyakov), refusing to celebrate her anniversary on the stage of the
Bolshoi, where such performances take place. At the same time, the
mentioned performances also have their fans.
In March 2010, the
Bolshoi Theater, together with Bel Air Media, began broadcasting its
performances in cinemas around the world. On March 11, 2012, together
with Google Russia, the Bolshoi Theater began broadcasting ballet
performances on its YouTube channel in Russia.
In March 2019, for
the first time in its 243-year history, the Bolshoi Theater Theater
staged Antonin Dvorak's famous opera Mermaid (dir. Timofei Kulyabin) on
the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater.
Rossini's opera Journey to
Reims (directed by Damiano Michieletto, conducted by Tugan Sokhiev) won
the Casta Diva Russian opera award for 2018 in the Performance of the
Year nomination.
In 2019, the Nureyev ballet was named the best
at the Golden Mask theatrical award, and its choreographer Yuri
Possokhov became a laureate in the Ballet-Modern Dance/Choreographer’s
Work nomination.
The theater includes ballet and opera troupes, the
Bolshoi Theater Orchestra and the Brass Band. At the time of the
creation of the theater, the troupe included only thirteen musicians and
about thirty artists. At the same time, there was initially no
specialization in the troupe: dramatic actors took part in operas, and
singers and dancers - in dramatic performances. So, the troupe at
different times included Mikhail Shchepkin and Pavel Mochalov, who sang
in operas by Cherubini, Verstovsky and other composers.
The title
of artists of the Imperial Theaters is held by: actors, troupe managers,
directors, bandmasters, choreographers, orchestra conductors, dancers,
musicians, decorators, machinists, lighting inspectors and their
assistants, painters, chief costume designer, prompters, wardrobe
masters, fencing masters, theater masters, sculptors, overseer music
office, figurants, music scribes, choristers and hairdressers; all these
persons are considered to be in the public service and are divided into
three categories, depending on the talents and the roles and positions
they occupy.
By 1785, the troupe had already grown to 80 people
and continued to grow constantly, reaching 500 by the beginning of the
20th century, and by 1990 more than 900 artists.
Throughout the
history of the Bolshoi Theater, its artists, artists, directors,
conductors, not counting the admiration and gratitude from the public,
have repeatedly received various recognition from the state. During the
Soviet period, more than 80 of them received the title of People's
Artists of the USSR, 4 people received the title of People's Artists of
the USSR (Academician Fedor Fedorovsky, Academician Simon Virsaladze,
Academician Vadim Ryndin, Academician Valery Leventhal), more than 60
received the Stalin Prize, and 12 Lenin Prizes ( Elena Obraztsova,
Evgeny Nesterenko, Irina Arkhipova, Yuri Grigorovich, Maris Liepa,
Mikhail Lavrovsky, Natalia Bessmertnova, Galina Ulanova, Maya
Plisetskaya, Boris Pokrovsky, Simon Virsaladze, Vladimir Vasiliev),
eight were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (Irina
Arkhipova, Yuri Grigorovich, Elena Obraztsova, Ivan Kozlovsky, Evgeny
Nesterenko, Maya Plisetskaya, Marina Semyonova, Galina Ulanova - twice a
hero). In the period after 1991, many artists became People's Artists of
the Russian Federation and laureates of the State Prizes of the Russian
Federation.
The theater includes ballet and opera troupes, the
Bolshoi Theater Orchestra and the Brass Band. At the time of the
creation of the theater, the troupe included only thirteen musicians and
about thirty artists. At the same time, there was initially no
specialization in the troupe: dramatic actors took part in operas, and
singers and dancers - in dramatic performances. So, the troupe at
different times included Mikhail Shchepkin and Pavel Mochalov, who sang
in operas by Cherubini, Verstovsky and other composers.
The title
of artists of the Imperial Theaters is held by: actors, troupe managers,
directors, bandmasters, choreographers, orchestra conductors, dancers,
musicians, decorators, machinists, lighting inspectors and their
assistants, painters, chief costume designer, prompters, wardrobe
masters, fencing masters, theater masters, sculptors, overseer music
office, figurants, music scribes, choristers and hairdressers; all these
persons are considered to be in the public service and are divided into
three categories, depending on the talents and the roles and positions
they occupy.
By 1785, the troupe had already grown to 80 people
and continued to grow constantly, reaching 500 by the beginning of the
20th century, and by 1990 more than 900 artists.
Throughout the
history of the Bolshoi Theater, its artists, artists, directors,
conductors, not counting the admiration and gratitude from the public,
have repeatedly received various recognition from the state. During the
Soviet period, more than 80 of them received the title of People's
Artists of the USSR, 4 people received the title of People's Artists of
the USSR (Academician Fedor Fedorovsky, Academician Simon Virsaladze,
Academician Vadim Ryndin, Academician Valery Leventhal), more than 60
received the Stalin Prize, and 12 Lenin Prizes ( Elena Obraztsova,
Evgeny Nesterenko, Irina Arkhipova, Yuri Grigorovich, Maris Liepa,
Mikhail Lavrovsky, Natalia Bessmertnova, Galina Ulanova, Maya
Plisetskaya, Boris Pokrovsky, Simon Virsaladze, Vladimir Vasiliev),
eight were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (Irina
Arkhipova, Yuri Grigorovich, Elena Obraztsova, Ivan Kozlovsky, Evgeny
Nesterenko, Maya Plisetskaya, Marina Semyonova, Galina Ulanova - twice a
hero). In the period after 1991, many artists became People's Artists of
the Russian Federation and laureates of the State Prizes of the Russian
Federation.
Opera company
Below is a list of soloists of the
Bolshoi Opera Company.
Soprano
Anna Aglatova (winner of the
Russian Presidential Prize)
Dinara Aliyeva (Honored Artist of
Azerbaijan)
Maria Gavrilova (People's Artist of the Russian
Federation)
Oksana Gorchakovskaya
Elena Zelenskaya (People's
Artist of the Russian Federation)
Makvala Kasrashvili (People's
Artist of the USSR)
Marina Lapina (Honored Artist of the Russian
Federation)
Maria Lobanova
Ekaterina Morozova
Anna Nechaeva
Irina Rubtsova (Honored Artist of the Russian Federation)
Olga
Seliverstova
Ekaterina Shcherbachenko
Мezzo soprano
Anna
Bondarevskaya
Irina Dolzhenko (People's Artist of the Russian
Federation)
Alexandra Durseneva (Honored Artist of the Russian
Federation)
Agunda Kulaeva (Honored Artist of the Russian Federation)
Julia Mazurova
Elena Manistina (Honored Artist of the Russian
Federation)
Elena Novak
Evgeniya Segenyuk
Svetlana Shilova
(Honored Artist of the Russian Federation)
Tenor
Pavel
Valuzhin
Bogdan Volkov
Marat Gali
Oleg Dolgov
Ivan
Maksimeyko
Stanislav Mostovoy
Roman Muravitsky (Honored Artist of
the Russian Federation)
Maxim Paster
Vadim Tikhonov (Honored
Artist of the Russian Federation)
Igor Turcan
Baritones
Elchin Azizov (People's Artist of Azerbaijan)
Igor Golovatenko
(Honored Artist of the Russian Federation)
Andrey Grigoriev (Honored
Artist of the Russian Federation)
Andrey Zhilihovsky
Yuri Syrov
Rauf Timergazin
Aluda Todua
Alexander Utkin
Konstantin
Shushakov
Bass
Valery Gilmanov
Goderdzi Janelidze
Mikhail Kazakov (Honored Artist of the Russian Federation)
Nikolai
Kazansky
Vladimir Komovich
Vladimir Matorin (People's Artist of
the Russian Federation)
Alexander Naumenko (People's Artist of the
Russian Federation)
Vyacheslav Pochapsky (Honored Artist of the
Russian Federation)
ballet troupe
The artistic director of the
ballet troupe is Makhar Vaziev, Honored Artist of the Russian
Federation.
Below is a list of soloists of the ballet troupe.
People's Artists of Russia
Svetlana Zakharova, laureate of the
State Prize of the Russian Federation (since 2003)
Ekaterina
Shipulina (since 1998)
Honored Artists of Russia
Andrey
Bolotin (since 1996)
Alexander Volchkov (since 1997)
Ruslan
Skvortsov (since 1998)
Anastasia Goryacheva (since 1998)
Denis
Savin (since 2003)
Evgenia Obraztsova (since 2011)
Ekaterina
Krysanova
Anna Nikulina (since 2003)
Mikhail Lobukhin
Vladislav
Lantratov
Choreographers
Chief choreographer - Yuri
Grigorovich, Hero of Socialist Labor, People's Artist of the USSR.
Below is a list of choreographers-tutors of the Bolshoi Theatre:
People's Artists of the USSR
Svetlana Adyrkhaeva
Mikhail
Lavrovsky, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR
Nikolai
Fadeechev
Boris Akimov, laureate of the USSR State Prize
Marina
Kondratieva
Yuri Vladimirov
Lyudmila Semenyaka, laureate of the
USSR State Prize
Nadezhda Pavlova
People's Artists of Russia
Alexander Vetrov
Nadezhda Gracheva
Vladimir Nikonov
Nina
Semizorova
Olga Chenchikova, laureate of the State Prize of the RSFSR
Honored Artists of Russia
Alexander Petukhov
Valery Lagunov
Viktor Barykin
Jan Godovsky
Yuliana Malkhasyants
Conductors
The chief conductor and musical director is Tugan Sokhiev, People's
Artist of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.
Vladimir Andropov,
People's Artist of the Russian Federation
Alexey Bogorad
Pavel
Klinichev
Pavel Sorokin, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation
The head of the executive committee of the board of
trustees of the Bolshoi Theater Alexander Budberg: “Historically, the
Bolshoi is the successor to the Russian serf theatres. Being much larger
than them in scale, such a megaproject could be implemented only at the
expense of the state treasury. Neither the Yusupovs, nor the
Sheremetevs, nor the proud magnates of the first Russian capitalism
could afford anything like that.” In the 21st century, the situation
changed: a group of patrons came together to help the Bolshoi. Thus, in
2001, the Board of Trustees of the Bolshoi Theater appeared.
From
May 2006 to July 2018, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees was
Alexander Zhukov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian
Federation, his Deputy is Mikhail Shvydkoy, now the Representative of
the President of the Russian Federation for International Cultural
Cooperation. The trustees have helped many projects of the theatre,
including: the restoration of the historical building of the Bolshoi
Theatre, the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila, the ballet Sleeping Beauty, the
opera The Bat, the ballet The Flames of Paris, the opera The Snow
Maiden, the ballet Tarantella , the ballet "Cinderella", the ballet
"Romeo and Juliet", partly funded by the tour of the Bolshoi Ballet in
Paris and the cycle of "Chamber Evenings" in the Beethoven Hall, the
cycle of symphony concerts and the Festival in honor of Maya
Plisetskaya.
Since July 2018 Andrey Kostin, Chairman of the Board
of Trustees.
A stylized image of the theater is depicted on the
"Inspiration" sweets of the Moscow factory "Red October".
Google
created a doodle logo to celebrate the 240th anniversary of the
theatre's founding.
The Bolshoi Theater was included in the number of
images for Russian banknotes depicting Moscow in the Cities of Russia
series, issued since 1995: before the denomination, the denomination was
100,000 rubles, after - 100 rubles. At the same time, when issuing a
denominated banknote of 100 rubles, graphic inconsistencies between the
Apollo quadriga and the real one were made.
The Bolshoi Theater is
depicted on a number of postage stamps of the USSR and Russia:
Two orders of Lenin.
Gratitude of the President of
the Russian Federation (March 22, 2001) - for his great contribution to
the development of national culture and in connection with the 225th
anniversary.
Certificate of honor of the Moscow City Duma (March 14,
2001) - for services to the city community and in connection with the
225th anniversary of its foundation