The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, located in the center of the capital, on Theater Square, is one of the symbols of Russia, the brilliant skill of its artists. Its talented performers: vocalists and ballet dancers, composers and conductors, choreographers are known all over the world. More than 800 works have been staged on its stage. These are the first Russian operas and operas of such celebrities as Verdi and Wagner, Bellini and Donizetti, Berlioz and Ravel and other composers. The world premieres of operas by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Arensky took place here. The great Rachmaninoff conducted here.
Bolshoi Theater in Moscow - history
In March 1736, the provincial prosecutor, Prince Pyotr Vasilyevich Urusov, began the construction of a theater building on the right bank of the Neglinka River, at the corner of Petrovka. Then he began to be called Petrovsky. But Peter Urusov failed to complete the construction. The building burned down. After the fire, the theater building was completed by his partner, the English businessman Michael Medox. It was the first professional theatre. His repertoire included drama, opera and ballet performances. Both singers and dramatic actors took part in opera performances. The Petrovsky Theater was opened on December 30, 1780. On this day, the ballet-pantomime "Magic Shop" staged by J. Paradise was shown. Ballets with a national flavor, such as Village Simplicity, Gypsy Ballet and The Capture of Ochakov, were especially popular with the audience. Basically, the ballet troupe was formed by pupils of the ballet school of the Moscow Orphanage and the serf actors of the troupe of E. Golovkina. This building has served 25 years. It died in a fire in 1805. The new building, built under the direction of C. Rossi on Arbat Square, also burned down in 1812.
According to the project of A. Mikhailov in 1821-1825. a new theatrical building is being built in the same place. The construction was supervised by the architect O. Bove. It has grown considerably in size. Therefore, at that time it was called the Bolshoi Theater. On January 6, 1825, the performance "The Triumph of the Muses" was given here. After a fire in March 1853, the building was restored for three years. The work was supervised by the architect A. Kavos. As contemporaries wrote, the appearance of the building "captivated the eye with the proportion of parts in which lightness was combined with grandeur." This is how it has come down to our days. In 1937 and in 1976 The theater was awarded the Order of Lenin. During the Great Patriotic War, he was evacuated to the city of Kuibyshev. On November 29, 2002, the New Stage opened with the premiere of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden.
Bolshoi Theater - architecture
The building that we can admire now is one of the best examples of Russian classical architecture. It was built in 1856 under the guidance of architect Albert Cavos. During the restoration after the fire, the building was completely rebuilt and decorated with a white-stone portico with eight columns. The architect replaced the four-pitched roof with a two-pitched one with pediments, repeating the shape of the portico's pediment along the main façade and removing the arched niche. The Ionic order of the portico was replaced by a complex one. All details of the exterior finish have been changed. Some architects believe that Kavos' alterations reduced the artistic merit of the original building. The building is crowned with the world-famous bronze quadriga of Apollo by Peter Klodt. We see a two-wheeled chariot with four harnessed horses galloping across the sky and the god Apollo driving them. A gypsum double-headed eagle - the state emblem of Russia - was installed on the pediment of the building. On the plafond of the auditorium there are nine muses with Apollo at the head. Thanks to the work of Albert Kavos, the building fits perfectly into the architectural structures surrounding it.
Five tiers of the auditorium can accommodate more than 2100 spectators. According to its acoustic properties, it is considered one of the best in the world. The length of the hall from the orchestra to the back wall is 25 meters, the width is 26.3 meters, and the height is 21 meters. The portal of the stage is 20.5 by 17.8 meters, the depth of the stage is 23.5 meters. This is one of the most beautiful architectural structures of the capital. It was called "a hall of sunshine, gold, purple and snow." The building also hosts important state and public celebrations.
Reconstruction of the Bolshoi Theater
In 2005, the reconstruction of the theater began, and after 6 years of colossal work, on October 28, 2011, the main stage of the country was opened. The area of the Bolshoi Theater doubled and amounted to 80 thousand square meters, an underground part appeared and the unique acoustics of the hall was restored. The stage now has the volume of a six-story building, all processes in which are computerized. The murals in the White Foyer have been restored. Jacquard fabrics and tapestries in the Round Hall and the Imperial Foyer were restored by hand over the course of 5 years, restoring every centimeter. 156 masters from all over Russia were engaged in gilding interiors with a thickness of 5 microns and an area of 981 square meters, which took 4.5 kg of gold.
There were 17 elevators with floor buttons from the 10th to the 4th, and an additional 2 floors located below are occupied by mechanics. The auditorium seats 1768 people, before reconstruction - 2100. The theater buffet moved to the 4th floor and this is the only room where windows are located on both sides. Interestingly, the tiles in the central foyer are made in the same factory as in the 19th century. Especially beautiful is the chandelier with a diameter of more than 6 meters with gilded pendants. A double-headed eagle and the word Russia are embroidered on the new curtain.
The modern Bolshoi Theater includes an opera and ballet troupe, a stage and brass band and an orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater. The names of the opera and ballet school are the property of all Russia and the entire theatrical world. More than 80 artists were awarded the title of People's Artists of the USSR during the Soviet period. The title of Hero of Socialist Labor was given to eight stage masters - I. Arkhipova and Yu. Grigorovich, I. Kozlovsky and E. Nesterenko, E. Svetlanov, as well as world-famous ballerinas - G. Ulanova, M. Plisetskaya and M. Semyonova. Many artists are People's Artists of the Russian Federation.
The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow represents one of the world's major theater scenes. He played an outstanding role in the formation of the Russian musical stage school and in the development of Russian national art, including the famous Russian ballet.
BIG THEATER, The State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia, a leading Russian theater that has played an outstanding role in the formation and development of the national tradition of opera and ballet art. Its origin is associated with the flourishing of Russian culture in the second half of the 18th century, with the emergence and development of professional theater. Created in 1776 by the Moscow philanthropist Prince P.V. Urusov and the entrepreneur M. Medox, who received a government privilege for the development of theatrical business. The troupe was formed on the basis of the Moscow theater troupe of N. Titov, theater artists of the Moscow University and serf actors P. Urusov. In 1778-1780 performances were given in the house of R.I. Vorontsov on Znamenka. In 1780, Medox built in Moscow on the corner of Petrovka, a building that became known as the Petrovsky Theater. It was the first permanent professional theatre. His repertoire consisted of drama, opera and ballet performances. Not only singers, but also dramatic actors took part in opera performances.
On the opening day of the Petrovsky Theater on December 30, 1780, a pantomime ballet was shown magic shop(post. J. Paradise). At that time, choreographers F. and C. Morelli, P. Penyucci, D. Solomoni worked in the theater, staging performances A celebration of female pleasures, The feigned death of Harlequin, or the Deceived Pantalone, Medea and Jason, Toilet of Venus. Ballets with national color were popular: rustic simplicity, Gypsy ballet, Capture of Ochakov. G. Raikov, A. Sobakina stood out from the dancers of the troupe. The ballet troupe was replenished with pupils of the ballet school of the Moscow Orphanage (since 1773), and serf actors of the troupe E.A. Golovkina.
The first Russian operas were also staged here: Melnik - a sorcerer, a deceiver and a matchmaker Sokolovsky (later edited by Fomin) libretto by Ablesimov, Trouble from the carriage Pashkevich, lib. princess, Saint Petersburg Gostiny Dvor Matinsky and others. Of the 25 Russian operas written in 1772-1782, more than a third were staged on the Moscow stage of the Petrovsky Theater.
In 1805, the building of the Petrovsky Theater burned down, and from 1806 the troupe passed into the administration of the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters, playing in various rooms. The Russian repertoire was limited, giving way to Italian and French performances.
In 1825 prologue Celebration of the Muses staged by F. Gyllen-Sor, performances began in the new building of the Bolshoi Theater (architect O. Bove). In the 1830s and 1840s, the Bolshoi Ballet was dominated by the principles of Romanticism. The dancers of this direction are E. Sankovskaya, I. Nikitin. The performances of operas were of great importance for the formation of national principles of performing arts. Life for the king(1842) and Ruslan and Ludmila(1843) M.I. Glinka.
In 1853, a fire destroyed the entire interior of the Bolshoi Theatre. The building was restored in 1856 by the architect A.K. Kavos. In the 1860s, the Directorate leases the Bolshoi Theater to the Italian entrepreneur Merelli for 4-5 performances a week: foreign repertoire is on.
Simultaneously with the expansion of the domestic repertoire, the theater staged the best works of Western European composers: Rigoletto, Aida, La Traviata G. Verdi, Faust, Romeo and Juliet C. Gounod, Carmen J. Bizet, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Valkyrie R. Wagner. ().
The history of the Bolshoi Theater includes the names of many outstanding opera singers who passed on the traditions of the Russian vocal school from generation to generation. A.O. Bantyshev, N.V. Lavrov, P.P. Bulakhov, A.D. Alexandrova-Kochetova, E.A. Lavrovskaya and others performed at the Bolshoi Theater. L.V. Sobinova, A.V. Nezhdanova opened a new page in the history of performing arts.
In the 2nd half of the 19th century. ballet art is associated with the names of choreographers: J. Perrot, A. Saint-Leon, M. Petipa; dancers - S. Sokolova, V. Geltser, P. Lebedev, O. Nikolaev, later - L. Roslavlev, A. Dzhuri, V. Polivanov, I. Khlyustin. The ballet repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater included the following performances: The Little Humpbacked Horse Puni (1864) Don Quixote Minkus (1869), Fern, or the night under Ivan Kupala Gerber (1867) and others.
In the 1900s, the operatic repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater was replenished with artistically outstanding productions: the first performances of Rimsky-Korsakov's operas - Pskovityanka(1901), Sadko (1906), Mozart and Salieri(1901) with the participation of F.I. Chaliapin, Pan Governor(conducted by Rachmaninov, 1904) Koschei the Immortal(with the participation of A.V. Nezhdanova, 1917); new productions were carried out: operas by Glinka - Life for the king(with the participation of Chaliapin and Nezhdanova, conducted by Rachmaninoff, 1904), Ruslan and Ludmila(1907), Mussorgsky - Khovanshchina(1912). Operas by young composers were staged - Raphael A.S. Arensky (1903), ice house A.N. Koreshchenko (1900), Francesca da Rimini Rachmaninoff (1906). In addition to Chaliapin, Sobinov, Nezhdanova, such singers as G.A. Baklanov, V.R. Petrov, G.S. Pirogov, A.P. Bonachich, I.A. 1990s, choreographer A.A. Gorsky came to the Bolshoi Ballet Company, who developed the traditions of Russian ballet and brought it closer to dramatic art. Together with Gorsky, the dancer and choreographer V.D.Tikhomirov worked, who brought up a whole generation of dancers. At that time, the ballet troupe worked: E.V. Geltser, A.M. Balashova, S.F. Fedorova, M.M. Mordkin, M.R. Reizen, later L.P. Zhukov, V.V. Kriger , A.I. Abramova, L.M. Bank. The performances were conducted by S.V. Rakhmaninov, V.I. Suk, A.F. Anders, E.A. Kuper, the theater decorator K.F. Golovin.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolshoi Theater occupied a prominent place in the cultural life of the country. In 1920 the theater was awarded the title of academic. In 1924, a branch of the Bolshoi Theater was opened in the premises of the former Zimin Private Opera (it worked until 1959). Along with the preservation of the classical repertoire, operas and ballets by Soviet composers were staged: Decembrists V.A.Zolotareva (1925), Breakthrough S.I. Pototsky (1930), Troupe artist I.P. Shishova (1929), son of the sun S.N. Vasilenko (1929), Mother V.V. Zhelobinsky (1933), Bela An. Alexandrova (1946), Quiet Don(1936) and Upturned virgin soil(1937) I.I. Dzerzhinsky, Decembrists Yu.A.Shaporina (1953), Mother T.N. Khrennikova (1957), The Taming of the Shrew V.Ya.Shebalina, War and Peace S.S. Prokofiev (1959). On the stage of the Bolshoi Theater and its branch there were operas by composers of the peoples of the USSR: Almast A.A. Spendiarova (1930), Abesalom and Eteri Z.P. Paliashvili (1939).
The performing culture of the Bolshoi Opera Company during the years of Soviet power is represented by the names of K. G. Derzhinskaya, N. A. Obukhova, V. V. Barsova, E. A. Stepanova, I. S. Kozlovsky, A. S. Pirogov, M. O. Reizen, M. D. Mikhailov, S. Ya. Davydova, I.I. Maslennikova, A.P. Ognevtsev.
Significant stages in the history of Soviet choreography were the productions of ballets by Soviet composers: Red poppy(1927, 1949) R. M. Gliere, Flames of Paris(1933) and Bakhchisarai fountain(1936) B.V. Asafyeva, Romeo and Juliet Prokofiev (1946). The glory of the Bolshoi Ballet is associated with the names of G.S. Ulanova, R.S. Struchkova, O.V. Lepeshinsky, M.M. Plisetskaya, A.N. .M.Messerer, Yu.G.Zhdanova, N.B.Fadeecheva and others ()
Conducting art of the Bolshoi Theater is represented by the names of N.S. Golovanov, S.A. Samosud, L.P. Steinberg, A.Sh. Melik-Pashaev, Yu.F. E.F. Svetlanova, A.M. Zhyuraitis and others. In the opera direction of the Bolshoi Theater - V.A. Lossky, L.V. Baratov, B.A. Pokrovsky. Ballet performances were staged by A.A. Gorsky, L.M. Lavrovsky, V.I. Vainonen, R.V. Zakharov, Yu.N. Grigorovich.
The staging culture of the Bolshoi Theater of those years was determined by the artistic and decorative design of F.F. Fedorovsky, P.V. Williams, V.M. Dmitriev, V.F. Ryndin, B.A. Messerer, V.Ya. ).
In 1961, the Bolshoi Theater received a new stage - the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, which contributed to the wider activities of the ballet troupe. At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, E.S. Maksimova, N.I. Bessmertnova, E.L. Ryabinkina, N.I. Sorokina, V.V. Vasiliev, M.E. Liepa, M. L. Lavrovsky, Yu. V. Vladimirov, V. P. Tikhonov.
In 1964, Yu.N. Grigorovich became chief choreographer, whose name is associated with a new milestone in the history of the Bolshoi Ballet. Almost every new performance was marked by new creative searches. They appeared in sacred spring I.F. Stravinsky (choreographer N. Kasatkina and Vasiliev, 1965) Carmen suite Bizet-Shchedrin (A. Alonso, 1967), Spartacus A.I. Khachaturian (Grigorovich, 1968), Icarus S.M. Slonimsky (Vasiliev, 1971), Anna Karenina R.K. Shchedrina (M.M. Plisetskaya, N.I. Ryzhenko, V.V. Smirnov-Golovanov, 1972), Those enchanting sounds... to music by G. Torelli, A. Corelli, J.-F. Rameau, W.-A. Mozart (Vasiliev, 1978), Gull Shchedrin (Plisetskaya, 1980), Macbeth K. Molchanova (Vasiliev, 1980) and others.
In the opera troupe of those years, the names of G.P. Vishnevskaya, I.K. Arkhipova, E.V. Obraztsova, M. Kasrashvili, Z. Sotkilava, V. N. Redkin, V. A. Matorin, T. S. Erastova , M.A. Shutova, E.E. Nesterenko and others.
The general trend of the Bolshoi Theater in the 1990s–2000s was to invite foreign directors and performers to stage productions at the Bolshoi Theatre: ballets Cathedral of Notre Dame, Three cards(R. Petit, 2002–2003), Light stream D. D. Shostakovich (A. Ratmansky, 2003), operas by G. Verdi Force of Destiny(P.-F.Maestrini, 2002) and Nabucco(M.S. Kislyarov), Turandot G. Puccini (2002), The Rake's Adventures I.F. Stravinsky (D. Chernyakov), Love for three oranges S.S. Prokofiev (P. Ustinov). During this period, ballets were resumed Swan Lake Tchaikovsky, Raymond A.K. Glazunova, The legend of love A.D. Melikov (staged by Grigorovich), operas Eugene Onegin Tchaikovsky (B. Pokrovsky), Khovanshchina Mussorgsky, Ruslan and Ludmila(A. Vedernikova), Player Prokofiev (Rozhdestvensky).
The Bolshoi Ballet Company is represented by the names of: N. Tsiskaridze, M. Peretokin, A. Uvarov, S. Filin, N. Gracheva, A. Goryacheva, S. Lunkina, M. Alexandrova and others. Opera - I. Dolzhenko, E. Okolisheva , E. Zelenskaya, B. Maisuradze, V. Redkin, S. Murzaev, V. Matorin, M. Shutova, T. Erastova and others. The opera troupe of the theater has a trainee group.
The post of artistic director of the theater in the 1990s was occupied by V. Vasiliev and G. Rozhdestvensky, since 2001 the chief conductor and musical director of the Bolshoi Theater is A. A. Vedernikov, the conductors of opera and ballet performances are P. Sh. Sorokin, A. A. Vedernikov , A.A.Kopylov, F.Sh.Mansurov, A.M.Stepanov, P.E.Klinichev.
The modern building of the Bolshoi Theater is the main building of the architectural ensemble of Theater Square (architect A.K. Kavos). According to the internal arrangement, the theater consists of a five-tiered auditorium that can accommodate more than 2,100 spectators and is distinguished by high acoustic qualities (the length of the hall from the orchestra to the back wall is 25 m, the width is 26.3 m, and the height is 21 m). The stage portal is 20.5 x 17.8 m, the depth of the stage is 23.5 m. Above the stage there is a scoreboard for titles.
In 2003 performance Snow Maiden Rimsky-Korsakov (staged by D. Belov) a new stage of the Bolshoi Theater was opened. The premieres of 2003 were ballet Light stream Shostakovich, opera The Rake's Adventures Stravinsky and opera Macbeth Verdi.
Nina Revenko
One of the most famous and great theaters with a rich history. Even its name speaks for itself. There are several deep meanings hidden here. First of all, the Bolshoi Theater is a cluster of famous names, a whole constellation of magnificent composers, performers, dancers, artists, directors, an extensive gallery of brilliant performances. And also by the word "Big" we mean - "significant" and "colossal", a grandiose phenomenon in the history of art, not only domestic, but also world. Not only for years and decades, but for centuries, invaluable experience has been accumulated here, passed down from generation to generation.
There is practically no such evening that the huge hall of the Bolshoi Theater is not filled with hundreds of spectators, that the lights of the ramp do not burn, that the curtain does not rise. What makes fans and connoisseurs of musical art to strive here from all over the country and all over the world? Of course, the spirit of the originality of the Russian theater, its strength, brightness and depth, which are felt by every person who at least once crossed the famous threshold of the Bolshoi Theater. Spectators come here to admire the luxurious, elegant and noble interior, to enjoy the great repertoire that won fame centuries ago and managed to carry and preserve it through the centuries. World-famous artists shone on this stage, this building has seen many Great (that's right, with a capital letter) People.
The Bolshoi Theater has always been famous for the continuity of its traditions. The past and the future are closely intertwined within these walls. Modern artists adopt the experience of the classical heritage, rich in aesthetic values and saturated with high spirituality. In turn, the famous productions of past years come to life and are filled with new colors thanks to the efforts of new generations of artists and directors, each of whom contributes to the development of the theater. Thus, the Bolshoi Theater does not stop for a moment in its creative growth and keeps pace with the times, while not forgetting about the preservation and enhancement of the great creative heritage.
Over 700 opera and ballet performances were staged at the Bolshoi Theater - from 1825 to the present - performances written by both domestic and foreign composers. There are more than 80 names in total. Let's list just a few of them. These are Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, Dargomyzhsky and Prokofiev, Shchedrin and Khrennikov; these are Verdi, Berlioz, Wagner, Beethoven, Britten and many, many others. And what about the performances! One can only admire, because the repertory history of the Bolshoi Theater contains over 140 operas, including Rigoletto and La Traviata, Mazepa and Eugene Onegin, Faust ... Many of these productions were born at the Bolshoi Theater and continue to to this day remain in the repertoire, enjoying great success.
Did you know, for example, that the great composer P.I. Tchaikovsky made his debut as the creator of music for opera and ballet at the Bolshoi Theater? His first opera was The Voyevoda in 1869, and his first ballet was Swan Lake in 1877. It was on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater that Tchaikovsky first picked up a conductor's baton and conducted the premiere production of the opera Cherevichki in 1887. The most famous operas by Giuseppe Verdi were also shown for the first time in Russia at the Bolshoi Theater - these are performances such as Don Carlos, Rigoletto and La Traviata, Un ballo in maschera and Il trovatore. It was here that the operatic works of Grechaninov, Cui, Arensky, Rubinstein, Verstovsky, Flotov, Tom, Beethoven and Wagner celebrated their “Russian” birth.
Opera performances of the Bolshoi Theater have always been, are and remain the focus of the most talented performers. Such artists as the "Moscow nightingale" Alexander Bantyshev, the first performer of the main repertoire roles Nadezhda Repina, the magnificent Nikolai Lavrov, who was distinguished by his unique gift of stage transformation and an unusually beautiful voice, Pavel Khokhlov, who entered the history of opera art as the first Eugene Onegin of the professional opera stage, shone here. , as well as the best performer of the role of the Demon in the history of the Russian opera theater. The soloists of the Bolshoi Theater were Fyodor Chaliapin, Antonina Nezhdanova and Leonid Sobinov, Ksenia Derzhinskaya and Nadezhda Obukhova, Elena Stepanova, Sergey Lemeshev, Valeria Barsova and Maria Maksakova ... A whole galaxy of unique Russian basses (Petrov, Mikhailov, Pirogov, Reizen, Krivchenya), baritones ( Lisitsian, Ivanov), tenors (Kozlovsky, Khanaev, Nelepp) ... Yes, the Bolshoi Theater has something to be proud of, these great names are forever inscribed in history, and in many respects thanks to them our famous theater became famous all over the world.
Since ancient times, such a genre as opera has been intended for implementation in musical theaters, being an example of the synthesis of dramatic and musical art. P.I. Tchaikovsky argued that the opera has no meaning outside the stage. The creative process always represents the birth of something new. For musical art, this means working in two directions. First of all, the theater takes part in the formation of the art of opera, works on the creation and stage implementation of new works. And on the other hand, the theater tirelessly resumes productions of operas - both classical and modern. A new opera performance is not just another reproduction of the score and text, it is a different reading, a different look at the opera, which depends on many factors. These factors include the worldview of the director, and his way of life, and the era during which the production will be carried out. The opera work is characterized by both artistic and ideological reading. This reading dictates the peculiarities of the performance style. Giuseppe Verdi, the famous operatic reformer, wrote that without a meaningful interpretation, the success of an opera is impossible; without a confident and “reverent” interpretation, even beautiful music will not save the opera.
Why can the same opera be staged several times, in different theaters, by completely different directors? Because this is a classic that does not lose its relevance in any era, which for each new generation can turn out to be fruitful and rich creative material. The Bolshoi Theater, in turn, is famous for its interest in contemporary works of opera art, reflecting the trends of the postmodern era. Contemporary composers enrich the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater with new operas, many of which occupy a place of honor in the repertoire and deserve the love and respect of the public.
The stage embodiment of modern opera is not an easy job for the theatre. After all, an opera performance, as we have noted above, is a complex dramaturgical complex. Between theater and music there should be a strong and organic relationship, unique for each interpretation. Opera houses often collaborate with composers to help them complete and improve their works. I. Dzerzhinsky's opera The Fate of a Man, staged at the Bolshoi Theater in 1961, can serve as a model for demonstrating the successful result of this kind of cooperation.
First, the composer brought his work for listening, and then he was offered to create new music for the images of the main characters - for example, for Zinka. Improved and finalized on the recommendation of the theater, the score helped to make this image more lively, vivid, and deep in meaning.
Quite often the works of contemporary composers come up against a wall of misunderstanding and prejudice on the part of musical theater figures. It should be noted that sometimes really extravagant experiments do not benefit art. But there is no unambiguously correct view of the development of the opera and cannot be. For example, back in 1913, Sergei Prokofiev received advice from S. Diaghilev - not to write music for opera, but to turn exclusively to ballet. Diaghilev argued that opera was dying, while ballet, on the contrary, was flourishing. And what do we see after almost a century? That many of Prokofiev's opera scores can compete in saturation, melody, beauty with the best classical works of this genre.
Not only the composer and librettist take part in the creation of an opera performance, but also the theater itself, in which this performance will be staged. After all, it is on the stage that the opera receives its second birth, acquires a stage embodiment, and is filled with the audience's perception. Traditions of stage performance replace each other, constantly enriching themselves with each new era.
The main character of the musical theater is an actor and a singer. He creates a stage image, and depending on the interpretation of a particular performer, the viewer will perceive certain characters, learning the art of opera. Drama and music are closely related, the interpretation of the performer and the hero of the opera exist inseparably, the musical solution and the stage action are inseparable from each other. Each opera artist is a creator, a creator.
Old performances are replaced by new ones, the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater is regularly replenished with new names of artists and new productions. And each such production embodies another serious step of the great theater on its significant historical path. This path is filled with endless searches and grandiose accomplishments and victories. The Bolshoi Theater combines the greatness of the past, the progress of the present, the achievements of the future. Modern generations of directors, artists, composers and librettists invariably help the Bolshoi Theater to achieve new heights in art.
The history of the Bolshoi Theater is no less interesting and majestic than the productions that live on its stage. The theater building, the pride of our culture, is located not far from the Kremlin walls, in the very center of the capital. It is made in the classical style, its features and lines amaze with monumentality and solemnity. Here you can see the white colonnade, as well as the famous quadriga that adorns the pediment of the building. Everything here is large-scale and grandiose - from the forms of the architectural ensemble to the size of the team. The hall is made in luxurious red and decorated with gold, has five tiers, and is illuminated by a magnificent huge crystal chandelier. More than 2000 spectators can watch the performance here at the same time! The stage is also impressive in its size - 22 meters deep and 18 meters wide. During operas on an epic scale, the stage can accommodate up to 400 people, and at the same time they will not feel cramped. The Bolshoi Theater team consists of more than 2,000 employees - this is the administration, technical staff, artists and many other qualified specialists. A lot of both opera and ballet performances were born on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre, and since then, starting from the birthday of the Bolshoi and ending with the present, over 1000 premieres have been shown here. And now you will find out how it all began ...
So let's fast forward to 1776. On May 17, the capital's provincial prosecutor P. Urusov received a government privilege. She allowed the prosecutor to organize theatrical performances, masquerades and other entertainment events. Urusov needed a companion for work, and this companion was the Englishman M. Medox, passionately in love with theatrical art, an enterprising and intelligent person. May 17, 1776 is considered to be the birthday of the Moscow professional theater. Initially, the theater troupe consisted of only 13 actors, 9 actresses, 13 musicians, 4 dancers, 3 dancers and a choreographer. The collective did not have its own premises, they had to rent the house of Count Vorontsov, located on Znamenka, for performances.
The premiere performance took place in 1777 - it was D. Zorin's opera "Rebirth". Subsequently, the historian P. Arapov spoke about this production as follows: “On January 8, it was decided to give the first opera, the original ... it was composed of Russian songs. It's called "Rebirth". The directorate was very worried about the performance of the opera, and on purpose, before the premiere, they called the audience together to ask its permission. Despite excessive misgivings, the performance was a great success.
Two years later, a new production was presented - the comic opera "Melnik - a sorcerer, a deceiver and a matchmaker." A. Ablesimov acted as a librettist, M. Sokolovsky wrote the music. Contemporaries testified that the play was popular among the public, was "played" many times and always with a full house. And not only the Russian public came to see and listen to this opera with pleasure, but foreigners also honored it with their attention. Perhaps this is the first Russian opera performance that has gained such worldwide fame.
In the newspaper "Moskovskie Vedomosti" in 1780, on February 26, one could read an announcement announcing the construction of their own building for the theater. For this purpose, a spacious stone house was chosen, located on Bolshaya Petrovsky Street, near the Kuznetsky Bridge. The announcement also mentioned that the environment inside the theater is expected to be "the best of its kind." The partners purchased land for construction on the right bank of the Neglinka. It is rather difficult to imagine now that the site of the Bolshoi Theater was once an almost deserted area, periodically flooded by the river. On the right bank of the river there was a road leading to the Kremlin from the Novopetrovsky Monastery. Gradually, the road disappeared, and Petrovskaya Street with shopping arcades was built in its place. Wooden Moscow often burned, fires destroyed buildings, new ones were built instead of burnt houses. And even after the shops were replaced by stone buildings, from time to time fires continued to break out in these places ... The theater building was erected very quickly - from stone, three floors, a plank roof. The construction took five months - and this is instead of the five years allotted in accordance with the government privilege. 130 thousand silver rubles were spent on the construction. The building was erected by the German architect Christian Rozberg. This building could not be called beautiful, but its size truly amazed the imagination. The facade of the building overlooked Petrovsky Street, and the theater was named Petrovsky.
The repertoire of the theater included performances of ballets, operas, as well as dramatic performances, but the audience liked operas most of all. Thanks to this, the Petrovsky Theater soon acquired a second, unofficial name: "Opera House". In those days, the theater group was not yet subdivided into drama and opera artists - the same persons appeared both in ballet, and in opera, and in drama. An interesting fact - Mikhail Shchepkin, accepted into the troupe of the Petrovsky Theater, began precisely as an opera artist, took part in the productions of "A Rare Thing", "Misfortune from the Carriage". In 1822, he performed the part of the Water Carrier in the opera of the same name by L. Cherubini - this role forever became one of the artist's most beloved roles. Pavel Mochalov, the famous tragedian, embodied Hamlet and at the same time led the spoken part of Vadim in A. Verstovsky's opera. And later, when the Maly Theater had already been built, the stage of the Bolshoi Theater continued to abound with dramatic performances, as well as productions with the participation of diverse actors.
History does not have complete information about the first repertoire of the Petrovsky Theatre, but there is evidence that the operas “Misfortune from the Carriage” by V. Pashkevich, “St. The repertoire at the beginning of the 19th century was diverse, but the audience especially welcomed the operas of K. Kavos - "The Imaginary Invisible Man", "Love Mail" and "Cossack Poet". As for the "Cossack" - it has not disappeared from the theatrical repertoire for more than forty years!
The performances were not daily, mostly two or three times a week. In winter, performances were shown more often. During the year, the theater gave about 80 performances. In 1806, the Petrovsky Theater received the status of a state theater. The fire of 1805 destroyed the building we talked about above. As a result, the team was forced to give performances at a variety of Moscow venues - this is the New Arbat Theater, and the Pashkov house on Mokhovaya, and the Apraksin house on Znamenka.
Professor A. Mikhailov, meanwhile, was developing a new project for the theater. Emperor Alexander the First approved the project in 1821. The construction was entrusted to the architect O. Bove. As a result, a new one grew up on the site of the burnt building - huge and majestic, the largest in Europe, it was recognized as the second largest after the La Scala theater in Milan. The facade of the theater, which was called the Bolshoi for its scale, overlooked the Theater Square.
In January 1825, namely, on January 17, an issue of the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper was published, which described the construction of a new theater building. In an article about the theater, it was noted that this event is presented to posterity as a kind of miracle, and for contemporaries - as something completely amazing. This event brings Russia closer to Europe - just one look at the Bolshoi Theater is enough ... The opening of the Bolshoi Theater was accompanied by the prologue of Alyabyev and Verstovsky "The Triumph of the Muses", as well as the ballet "Sandrillon" by F. Sor. Apollo, the patron of the Muses, read solemn poetic lines from the stage, in which the beginning of new, happy times before Russia was passionately proclaimed. "The proud foreigner ... will envy in the fruits of abundant peace .... looking with envy at our banners." There were so many people who wanted to see the first production at the Bolshoi Theater with their own eyes that the directorate had to sell tickets in advance, thus avoiding pandemonium on the day of the premiere. Despite its impressive size, the auditorium of the theater could not accommodate even half of the audience. In order to satisfy the demands of the audience and not offend anyone, the next day the performance was completely repeated.
A. Verstovsky, a famous Russian composer, held the position of music inspector in those years. His personal contribution to the development of the national opera theater is very great. Subsequently, Verstovsky became a repertoire inspector, and then a manager in the Moscow theater office. Russian musical dramaturgy was developed under Verstovsky - it all began with small vaudeville operas, and then grew into large operatic works of a romantic nature. The pinnacle of the repertoire was the opera "Askold's Grave", written by Verstovsky himself.
Operas by M. Glinka became not only a colossal phenomenon in the history of classical music in general, but also a significant stage in the development of the Bolshoi Theater. Glinka is rightfully considered the founder of Russian classics. In 1842, his “heroic-tragic” opera “Ivan Susanin” (“Life for the Tsar”) was staged on the new stage, and in 1845, the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was staged. Both of these works played an important role in the formation of the traditions of the musical epic genre, as well as in laying the foundations of their own, Russian operatic repertoire.
Composers A. Serov and A. Dargomyzhsky became worthy successors of M. Glinka's undertakings. The audience got acquainted with Dargomyzhsky's opera "Mermaid" in 1859, and in 1865 Serov's opera "Judith" saw the limelight. In the 1940s, there was a tendency to disappear from the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater of foreign performances, which were mainly entertaining and of little content. They are supplanted by serious opera performances by Aubert, Mozart, Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini.
About the fire in the theater - it happened in 1853, on March 11th. It was a frosty and overcast early spring morning. The fire in the building broke out instantly, the cause could not be established. The fire in a matter of seconds enveloped all the premises of the theater, including the auditorium and the stage. In a few hours, all wooden structures burned to the ground, except for the lower floor with a buffet, office and cash desk, as well as except for the side halls. They tried to put out the flames for two days, and on the third day only burnt columns and ruins of walls remained in the place of the theater. Many valuable things perished during the fire - beautiful costumes, rare scenery, expensive musical instruments, part of the music library collected by Verstovsky, the archive of the theater troupe. The damage caused to the theater was estimated at about 10 million silver rubles. But the material losses were not so terrible, but the pain of the soul. Eyewitnesses recalled that it was scary and painful to look at the giant in flames. There was a feeling that it was not the building that was dying, but a close and beloved person ...
Restoration work began fairly quickly. It was decided to erect a new building on the site of the burnt one. Meanwhile, the troupe of the Bolshoi Theater gave performances in the premises of the Maly Theater. On May 14, 1855, the project for a new building was approved and scaffolding filled the area. The architect was Albert Kavos. It took a year and four months to restore the Bolshoi Theater. Remember, we said that part of the facade and outer walls were preserved in the conflagration? Kavos used them in the construction, and also did not change the layout of the theater, only slightly increased the height, slightly modified the proportions and re-created the decorative elements. Kavos was well acquainted with the architectural features of the best European theaters, he was well versed in the technical aspects of stage and auditorium design. All this knowledge helped him create excellent lighting, as well as optimize the optics and acoustics of the hall as much as possible. So, the new building came out even more grandiose in size. The height of the theater was already 40 meters, not 36; the height of the portico increased by a meter. But the columns have slightly decreased, but not significantly, only a fraction of a meter. As a result, the renovated Bolshoi Theater broke the most daring Italian records. For example, the theater "San Carlo" in Naples could boast a curtain width of 24 arshins, the famous Milanese "La Scala" - 23 arshins, "Fenice" in Venice - 20 arshins. And at the Bolshoi Theater the width of the curtain was 30 arshins! (1 arshin is a little more than 71 centimeters).
Unfortunately, the pride of the architectural composition of the Bolshoi Theatre, the alabaster group led by Apollo, perished in the fire. To create a new architectural group, Kavos turned to the Russian sculptor Pyotr Klodt. It was Peter Klodt who was the author of the famous equestrian groups decorating the bridge across the Fontanka in St. Petersburg. The result of the sculptor's work was the quadriga with Apollo, which became famous all over the world. The quadriga was cast from an alloy of metals and covered with red copper using galvanization. The new architectural group surpassed the old one by one and a half meters in size, its height was now 6.5 meters! The ensemble was marked out along the ridge of the roof of the portico on a pedestal and pushed forward a little. The sculpture represents four horses arranged in one row, galloping and harnessed to a quadriga, in which the god Apollo stands and controls them with a lyre and in a laurel wreath.
Why was Apollo chosen as the symbol of the theatre? As is known from Greek mythology, Apollo is the patron of the arts - poetry, singing, music. Ancient buildings were often decorated with quadrigas with similar deities. On the pediments of majestic buildings, both in Russia and Europe, one could often see such quadrigas.
The auditorium was decorated no less elegantly and luxuriously. The notes of the architect Albert Cavos have been preserved, in which he mentioned his work on the auditorium of the Bolshoi Theater. Kavos wrote that he strove to decorate the hall magnificently, but not too pretentiously, mixing the Byzantine style and a slight renaissance. The main pride of the hall was a magnificent chandelier - candelabra decorated with crystal and lamps in three rows. The interior decoration itself deserved no less enthusiastic reviews - draperies in boxes of rich crimson color, decorated with gold patterns; the prevailing white color throughout, exquisite arabesques on all floors. The barriers were stuccoed and carved by the master Akht and his brothers, the sculptural work was done by Schwartz, the painting on the walls was created by the hand of Academician Titov. The plafond in the auditorium was also painted by Titov. This construction is unique, it occupies about 1000 square meters and is made in the theme of "Apollo and the Muses - the patroness of the arts."
According to the ancient Greek legend, in spring and summer, the god Apollo went to the high Parnassus and the wooded slopes of Helikon to dance with the muses, of which, as you know, there were nine. The Muses are the daughters of Mnemosyne and the supreme god Zeus. They are young and beautiful. Apollo plays the golden cithara, and the Muses sing in a harmonious choir. Each muse patronizes a certain type of art, and each of them has its own object, symbolizing this type of art. Calliope is responsible for epic poetry, plays the flute; Euterpe also plays the flute, but also reads a book - she patronizes lyrical poetry. Another patroness of poetry - Erato - is responsible for love poems, and she has a lyre in her hands. Melpomene carries a sword, she is the muse of tragedy. Thalia is responsible for the comedy and holds an elegant mask, Terpsichore, the muse of dance, carries a tympanum. Clio is the muse of history, her eternal companion is papyrus. The muse Urania, who is responsible for astronomy, does not part with the globe. The ninth sister and muse, Polyhymnia, is called to patronize the sacred hymns, but the artists depict her as the muse of painting, with paints and a brush. With the appearance of Apollo and the nine muses, blissful silence reigns on Olympus, Zeus stops throwing menacing lightning bolts and the gods dance to the magical melodies of the Apollon cithara.
The curtain is another attraction of the Bolshoi Theatre. This is a real work of art, which was created by Kozroe-Duzi, a professor of painting from Venice. In Italian theaters, it was customary to depict some episode from the life of the city on the curtain, and for the Bolshoi Theater, according to the same tradition, the year 1612 was chosen - namely, the episode when Muscovites meet the liberators with bread and salt, soldiers led by Minin and Pozharsky. For forty years the curtain with this picture adorned the famous stage. In the future, the curtains at the Bolshoi Theater changed more than once. In the 30s of the last century, the artist F. Fedorovsky developed a curtain project depicting three historical dates - 1871, 1905 and 1917 (the first date is the Paris Commune, the second date is the first revolution in Russia, the third date is the October Revolution). This topical design persisted for fifteen years. Then, due to the general deterioration of the curtain, it was decided to leave the general style, but at the same time strengthen the political theme. The task of reconstructing the curtain was entrusted to the artist M. Petrovsky, it was 1955. Petrovsky in his work was guided by the initial sketches of Fedorovsky.
The renovated curtain of the theater was decorated with complex ornaments. The design used the image of a scarlet banner and the inscription "USSR", the phrase "Glory, glory, native land!" Was added, as well as the image of a lyre, a golden star; of course, the famous Soviet emblem of the hammer and sickle, symbolizing fertility and labor, could not have done without it. Silk with gold thread was chosen as the material for the curtain. The area of the curtain was approximately 500 square meters, and its mass exceeded a ton.
But let's go back to the 19th century, during the period of restoration work led by the architect Kavos. These works were completed in 1856, and on August 20, in the presence of the royal people, the grand opening of the Bolshoi Theater took place. The Italian troupe performed the opera Puritani by V. Bellini.
The external and internal appearance that the Bolshoi Theater acquired in 1856 has survived to this day with some changes. The building in which the Bolshoi Theater is located is rightfully considered a masterpiece of Russian classical architecture, a historical and cultural landmark, an example of classical architecture, one of the most beautiful theater buildings in the world.
Composer Sergei Rachmaninov wrote: “Have you ever seen the Moscow Bolshoi Theater in pictures? This building is magnificent and grandiose. The Bolshoi Theater is located on the square, which was formerly called Teatralnaya, since there was also another theater, the Imperial, famous for its dramatic performances. The last theater is inferior in size to the first. According to the size, the theaters were named, respectively, the Bolshoi and the Maly.
For quite a long time, the Bolshoi Theater was a cultural institution subordinate to the Directorate of Imperial Theaters. The orchestra was led by random people who had little interest in the musical content of the productions. These "leaders" ruthlessly deleted entire episodes from the scores, reworked bass and baritone parts for tenors, and tenor parts for basses, etc. For example, in K.Weber's opera The Magic Shooter, the part of Kaspar was so mutilated and reduced that it turned into a dramatic one. In order to gain success with the audience, old popular productions were raised. F. Kokoshkin, director of the Moscow Imperial Theatres, in 1827 compiled a report in which he mentioned the following - he had to put "attractive" performances in the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater in order to eliminate the "shortage in income"; and he succeeded - the opera "Invisible" provided impressive fees.
The budget of the Russian opera of that period was very limited. New costumes were not sewn, new scenery was not built, being satisfied with old stocks. Even Glinka's ceremonial opera A Life for the Tsar (Ivan Susanin) was performed in old scenery and costumes until they completely turned into rags. The paucity of the stage setting was striking, especially in comparison with the Petersburg theatre. In St. Petersburg in the 1860s, decorative principles were completely updated and performances began to be staged on an unprecedented scale.
The second half of the 19th century brought with it some changes for the better. Changes began with the arrival of two talented musicians in the theater in the 1880s - I. Altani, who took the post of chief conductor and U. Avranek, who received the post of second conductor and chief choirmaster. The number of the orchestra reached 100 people, the choir - 120 people. These years are characterized by the flourishing of musical art in Russia as a whole, which was inextricably linked with an impressive rise in public life. This rise led to progress in all areas of culture, not only in music. The best classical operatic works were created in that era; they later formed the base of the national operatic repertoire, its heritage and pride.
Musical and stage art reached an unprecedented rise at the beginning of the twentieth century. The opera team of the Bolshoi Theater was enriched by brilliant singers, who subsequently glorified the theater throughout the world - these are Fyodor Chaliapin, Leonid Sobinov, Antonina Nezhdanova. Sobinov's debut took place in 1897 in A. Rubinstein's opera The Demon, where the future great singer performed the part of Sinodal. The name of Fyodor Chaliapin sounded in 1899, when the public first saw him on the opera stage in the role of Mephistopheles, in the play Faust. Antonina Nezhdanova in 1902, while still a student at the Moscow Conservatory, brilliantly performed in M. Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar as Antonida. Chaliapin, Sobinov and Nezhdanova are real gems in the operatic history of the Bolshoi Theatre. They found a wonderful performer, Pavel Khokhlov, the best in the role of the Demon and the creator of the stage image of Eugene Onegin.
In addition to enriching the team with talented performers, the theater's repertoire was also enriched at the beginning of the twentieth century. It includes grandiose and artistically significant performances. In 1901, on October 10, Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Woman of Pskov was released, in which Fyodor Chaliapin leads the part of Ivan the Terrible. In the same 1901, the opera “Mozart and Salieri” saw the light of the limelight, in 1905 - “Pan Voivode”. In 1904, a new version of the famous opera A Life for the Tsar was presented to the attention of the audience of the Bolshoi Theater, in which the young "stars" of the troupe - Chaliapin and Nezhdanova - took part. Russian opera classics were also replenished with works by M. Mussorgsky "Khovanshchina", Rimsky-Korsakov "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" (1913) and "The Tsar's Bride" (1916). The Bolshoi Theater did not forget about the productions of remarkable foreign composers; operas by D. Puccini, P. Mascagni, R. Leoncavallo, as well as the opera cycle by R. Wagner were staged on its stage in those years.
Sergei Rachmaninov collaborated with the Bolshoi Theater fruitfully and successfully, showing himself not only as a brilliant composer, but also as a talented conductor. In his work, high professionalism, skill in cutting performance were combined with a powerful temperament, the ability to subtly feel the style. Rachmaninov's works significantly improved the quality of Russian opera music. We also note that the name of this composer is associated with a change in the location of the conductor's stand on the stage. Previously, the conductor had to be positioned with his back to the orchestra, facing the stage, near the ramp; now he stood so that he could see both the stage and the orchestra.
The magnificent and highly professional orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater, as well as its no less professional choir, deserve special attention. For 25 years, the orchestra was led by Vyacheslav Suk, and the choir by Ulrich Avranek, conductor and choirmaster. The theater performances were designed by artists Vasily Polenov, Alexander Golovin, Konstantin Korovin and Apollinary Vasnetsov. It was thanks to their creativity that the productions acquired a colorful, imaginative, majestic look.
The turn of the century brought with it not only achievements, but also problems. In particular, the contradictions between the policy pursued by the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters and the artistic plans of the creative theatrical forces intensified. The activities of the Directorate were of the nature of technical backwardness and routine, as before, they were guided by the staging experience of imperial scenes. This conflict led to the fact that the Bolshoi Theater periodically fell out of the cultural life of the capital, giving way to the Opera House of S. Zimin and the Private Opera of S. Mamontov.
But the collapse of the imperial theaters was not far off. The last performance of the old format at the Bolshoi Theater took place on February 28, 1917. And already on March 2, the following entry could be seen in the theater schedule: “A bloodless revolution. There is no performance." On March 13, the official opening of the State Bolshoi Theater took place.
The activities of the Bolshoi Theater resumed, but not for long. The October events forced the performances to be interrupted. The last performance of the peaceful period - it was the opera "Lakme" by A. Delibes - was given on October 27th. And then the uprisings began...
The first season after the October Revolution was opened on November 8, 1917 by a common decision of the Bolshoi Theater staff. And on November 21, a performance took place on the stage of the theater - D. Verdi's opera "Aida" under the direction of Vyacheslav Suk. The part of Aida was performed by Ksenia Derzhinskaya. On December 3, C. Saint-Saens' opera Samson and Delilah was released, which became the premiere of the season. Nadezhda Obukhova and Ignacy Dygas took part in it.
On December 7, 1919, A. Lunacharsky, the people's commissar of education, issued an order, according to which the Mariinsky, Mikhailovsky and Alexandrovsky theaters in Petrograd, as well as the Bolshoi and Maly theaters in Moscow, should henceforth be called "State Academic". Over the next few years, the fate of the Bolshoi Theater remained the subject of heated debate and intense discussion. Some were sure that the theater would become the center of the musical forces of socialist art. Others argued that the Bolshoi Theater had no prospects for development and could not be transformed in accordance with the new era. And it was a difficult time for the country - famine, fuel crisis, devastation and civil war. The question of closing the Bolshoi Theater was periodically raised, the necessity of its existence was questioned, it was proposed to destroy the theater as a citadel of "inert" academicism.
After the October Revolution, the theories of the “withering away of the genre of opera”, which arose as early as the beginning of the twentieth century, also received active dissemination.
Proletkultists zealously argued that opera was an art form with "negative baggage" and was not needed by the Soviet people. In particular, it was proposed to remove the production of The Snow Maiden from the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater, since one of its central characters is a semi-monarch-demigod (Berendey), and this was unacceptable. In general, all the operas of the composer Rimsky-Korsakov did not suit the proletarians. They also violently attacked La Traviata and Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, and even his other works. The opera in those years was defended by progressive intellectuals headed by A. Lunacharsky. The intelligentsia actively and selflessly fought for the preservation of the classical operatic repertoire, for preventing nihilistic proletarian performances from being staged. Lunacharsky boldly criticized vulgarizing ideas, spoke out against attacks on Aida and La Traviata, arguing that many party members love these operas. Soon after the revolution, Lunacharsky, on behalf of Lenin, turned to the theater management with a request to develop interesting events to attract the creative intelligentsia to education. The Bolshoi Theater responded to this request with a cycle of symphony orchestras that did not leave the stage for five years. These concerts consisted of classical works, both Russian and foreign. Each performance was accompanied by an explanatory lecture. Lunacharsky himself took part in these concerts as a lecturer, calling them "the best event in the musical life of the capital in the 1920s." These events were held in the auditorium. They removed the barrier that separated the hall from the orchestra pit, placing the string group on specially adapted benches. The first concert of the cycle took place on May 4, 1919. The hall was packed. Works by Wagner, Beethoven and Bach were performed, S. Koussevitzky conducted the orchestra.
Symphony concerts at the Bolshoi Theater were held on Sunday mornings. Subsequently, the program included works by Liszt and Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin and Rachmaninov, and the orchestra was conducted by Emil Cooper, Vyacheslav Suk, Oscar Fried and Bruno Walter. And the composer Alexander Glazunov conducted the orchestra on his own when performing his works.
In the early 1920s, a concert hall was opened for the public at the Bolshoi Theater, which was later recognized as one of the most acoustically competently built, elegant and sophisticated halls in Moscow. Today this hall is called the Beethoven Hall. The former imperial foyer was inaccessible to the general public in the pre-revolutionary years. Only a few lucky ones managed to see its luxurious walls, decorated with silk, decorated with handmade embroidery; its stunningly beautiful ceiling with stucco work in the style of Old Italy; its rich bronze chandeliers. In 1895, this hall was created as a work of art, and in this unchanged form it has survived to this day. In 1920, Bolshoi Theater soloist V. Kubatsky proposed placing several hundred chairs in the hall and building a compact stage, where instrumental evenings and chamber concerts began to be held.
In 1921, namely on February 18, a solemn ceremony of opening a new concert hall at the Bolshoi Theater took place. The ceremony was timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the birth of the brilliant composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Lunacharsky spoke at the opening of the hall and delivered a speech in which he noted that Beethoven was very dear and especially needed to “people’s” Russia “strives for communism” ... after that, the hall began to be called Beethovensky. Many years later, in 1965, a bust of Beethoven by sculptor P. Shapiro will be installed here.
So, the Beethoven Hall became the venue for chamber music concerts. Famous instrumentalists and performers performed here - Nadezhda Obukhova, Konstantin Igumnov, Svyatoslav Knushevitsky, Vera Dulova, Antonina Nezhdanova, Egon Petri, Isai Dobrovein, Ksenia Erdeli and many others. Musical Moscow became inextricably linked with the Beethoven Hall of the Bolshoi Theatre… this continued until the period of the Second World War. The hall was closed, and for almost two decades it was not accessible to the public. The second opening took place in 1978, on March 25. The doors of the famous hall were flung open, and the audience was again able to attend Saturday afternoon concerts, almost each of which became a real event in the capital's musical life.
It should be noted that in the 1920s, a unique belfry was installed in the Bolshoi Theater, which has no analogues in the whole world. It was collected by the bell-ringer A. Kusakin all over Russia; by the way, it was Kusakin who for many years was the only performer of the bell ringing in theatrical productions. Bells were selected based on tonal characteristics, their number reaches forty. The weight of the largest bell exceeds five tons with a diameter of almost three meters; The diameter of the smallest bell is 20 centimeters. We can hear the real bell ringing at the opera performances of "Prince Igor", "Ivan Susanin", "Boris Godunov" and others.
The second stage has been actively involved in the productions of the Bolshoi Theater since the end of the 19th century. In the autumn of 1898, the opening of the Imperial New Theater took place in the premises of the Shelaputinsky Theater (now known as the Central Children's Theater). Here, until the autumn of 1907, young artists from the Bolshoi and Maly theaters gave performances. In 1922, on January 8, the New Theater was reopened with the opera The Barber of Seville by D. Rossini. In the summer of 1924, the Bolshoi Theater troupe performed on this stage for the last time. In September of the same year, the Experimental Theater was opened - it was located in the former S. Zimin Opera House (now we know it as the Moscow Operetta Theater). At the opening, the opera "Trilby" by A. Yurasovsky was performed. September turned out to be a rich month for discoveries - in 1928, the performances of the Second GATOB began this month. In the period from June 1930 to December 1959, a branch of the Bolshoi Theater worked here. During this period, 19 ballet and 57 opera productions saw the limelight.
In 1961, the troupe of the Bolshoi Theater received at its disposal the premises that belonged to the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. Every evening more than six thousand spectators filled the hall, more than 200 performances were performed during the season. The work of the Bolshoi Theater in this building was completed in 1989, on May 2, with the opera Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi.
Let's go back to the 1920s - although the time was difficult and the conditions for creative work were extremely harsh, serious works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Glinka, Mussorgsky, Dargomyzhsky, Tchaikovsky and Borodin did not leave the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater. The management of the theater tried in every possible way to acquaint the public with famous operas by foreign composers as well. Here for the first time the Russian public saw "Salome", "Cio-Cio-San" (1925), "Floria Tosca" (1930), "Figaro's Wedding" (1926). The stage performance of modern operas has occupied the staff of the Bolshoi Theater since the 1920s. The premiere of Yurasovsky's opera Trilby took place in 1924, and in 1927 the curtain went up for Prokofiev's opera The Love for Three Oranges. Within five years (until 1930) the Bolshoi Theater produced 14 ballets and operas by contemporary composers. These works were destined for a different stage fate - some came out only a couple of times, others lasted several seasons, and individual operas continue to delight the public to this day. The modern repertoire, however, was characterized by fluidity due to the complexity of the creative search of young composers. These experiments were not always successful. In the 1930s, the situation changed - operas by Gliere, Asafiev, Shostakovich began to appear one after another. The skill of performers and authors was enriched mutually and fruitfully. The updated repertoire brought up new artists. The rich opportunities of young performers allowed composers and playwrights to expand the range of creative searches. In this regard, it is impossible not to mention the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, written by the great composer Dmitry Shostakovich. It was staged at the Bolshoi Theater in 1935. Also of no small importance were the so-called "song" operas of the famous author I. Dzerzhinsky - these are "Quiet Flows the Don" (1936) and "Virgin Soil Upturned" (1937).
The Great Patriotic War began, and the work of the theater in the hospital had to be suspended. The troupe was evacuated to Kuibyshev (Samara) by government order of October 14, 1941. The building remained empty… The Bolshoi Theater worked for almost two years in evacuation. At first, the audience who came to the Kuibyshev Palace of Culture saw only individual concert programs performed by the orchestra, ballets and operas, but in the winter of 1941 full-fledged performances began - Verdi's La Traviata, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater in 1943 in Kuibyshev included nine operas and five ballets. And in 1942, on March 5, Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was performed here for the first time in the country by the orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater under the direction of S. Samosud. This musical event has become significant in the culture of both Russia and the whole world.
However, it should be mentioned that not all artists went to the rear, some remained in Moscow. Part of the troupe continued to perform in the branch premises. The action was often interrupted by air attacks, the audience had to go down to the bomb shelter, but the performance invariably continued after the all-clear signal. In 1941, on October 28, a bomb was dropped on the building of the Bolshoi Theater. It destroyed the facade wall and exploded in the lobby. For a long time, the theater, closed with a camouflage net, seemed abandoned forever. But in fact, restoration and repair work was actively going on inside it. In the winter of 1942, a group of artists led by P. Korin began to restore the interior design of the theater, and in 1943, on September 26, work on the main stage was resumed by one of the most beloved operas - Ivan Susanin by M. Glinka.
Years passed, the theater continued to develop and improve. In the 1960s, a new rehearsal room was opened here, which was located on the top floor, almost under the very roof. The shape and size of the new playground was not inferior to the playing stage. In the adjacent hall, there was a place for an orchestra pit and a vast amphitheater, which traditionally houses musicians, artists, choreographers, artists and, of course, directors.
In 1975, they were preparing for a large-scale celebration in honor of the 200th anniversary of the founding of the theatre. The restorers did their best - they renewed the gilding, carving and stucco molding in the auditorium, restored the former white and gold decoration, which was hidden under layers of paint. 60,000 sheets of gold leaf were required to restore the regal luster to the barriers of the lodges. The stocks were also decorated with dark red cloth. They removed a luxurious chandelier, carefully cleaned the crystal and repaired minor damage. The chandelier returned to the ceiling of the auditorium of the Bolshoi Theater in an even more magnificent form, shone with all 288 lamps.
After the restoration, the auditorium of the most important theater in the country again began to resemble a golden tent woven from gold, snow, fiery rays and purple.
The post-war period for the Bolshoi Theater was marked by the appearance of new productions of operas by Russian composers - these are Eugene Onegin (1944) and Boris Godunov (1948) and Khovanshchina (1950), "(1949)," The Legend of the City of Kitezh " , "Mlada", "Golden Cockerel", "Ruslan and Lyudmila", "The Night Before Christmas". Paying tribute to the creative heritage of Czech, Polish, Slovak and Hungarian composers, the Bolshoi Theater added to its repertoire opera works The Bartered Bride (1948), Pebbles (1949), Her Stepdaughter (1958), Bank Ban (1959) . The Bolshoi Theater did not forget about the productions of foreign operas; Aida, Othello and Falstaff, Tosca, Fidelio and Fra Diavolo reappeared on the stage. Subsequently, the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater was enriched with such rare works as "Iphigenia in Aulis" (1983, K. Gluck), "Julius Caesar" (1979, G. Handel), "The Beautiful Miller's Woman" (1986, D. Paisiello), "Spanish Hour "(1978, M. Ravel).
The stage performance of operas by contemporary authors at the Bolshoi Theater was marked by great success. The premiere of the opera "The Decembrists" by Y. Shaporin in 1953, a magnificent musical work of historical themes, was held with a full house. Also, the playbill of the theater was full of wonderful operas by Sergei Prokofiev - "War and Peace", "The Gambler", "Semyon Kotko", "Betrothal in a Monastery".
The staff of the Bolshoi Theater carried out continuous and fruitful cooperation with musical figures of foreign theaters. For example, in 1957, the Czech maestro Zdenek Halabala conducted the orchestra at the opera The Taming of the Shrew at the Bolshoi Theater, and the conductor from Bulgaria, Asen Naydenov, took part in the production of the opera Don Carlos. German directors were invited, Erhard Fischer, Joachim Hertz, who prepared Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore and Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman for productions. The opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle was staged at the Bolshoi Theater in 1978 by the Hungarian director András Miko. Nikolai Benois, an artist from the famous La Scala, designed the performances A Midsummer Night's Dream (1965), Un ballo in maschera (1979), Mazeppa (1986) at the Bolshoi Theater.
The staff of the Bolshoi Theater outnumbers many theatrical groups of the world, numbering over 900 artists of the orchestra, choir, ballet, opera, mimic ensemble. One of the main principles of the Bolshoi Theater was the right of each artist not to be isolated, a separate link, but to be part of a single whole as its important and integral part. Here stage action and music are closely interconnected, they reinforce each other, acquiring special psychological and emotional properties that can have a strong influence on listeners and spectators.
The Bolshoi Theater Orchestra is also a reason to be proud. It is distinguished by the highest professionalism, impeccable sense of style, perfect teamwork and musical culture. 250 artists are part of the orchestra, which performs the richest repertoire, saturated with works of foreign and Russian operatic dramaturgy. The choir of the Bolshoi Theater consists of 130 performers. It is an essential component of every opera production. The ensemble is characterized by high skill, which was noted during the French tour of the Bolshoi Theater by the Parisian press. They wrote in the newspaper - not a single world opera house has yet known such that the public calls the choir for an encore. But this happened during the premiere performance of "Khovanshchina", performed by the Bolshoi Theater in Paris. The audience applauded with delight and did not calm down until the artists of the choir repeated their magnificent number for an encore.
Also, the Bolshoi Theater can be proud of its talented mimic ensemble, created back in the 1920s. The main purpose of the ensemble was to participate in extras, as well as to perform individual game parts. 70 artists work in this ensemble, taking part in every production of the Bolshoi Theater, both ballet and opera.
The performances of the Bolshoi Theater have long been included in the golden fund of the world opera art. The Bolshoi Theater in many ways dictates to the whole world the further paths of stage development and reading of classical works, and also successfully masters the modern forms of existence of opera and ballet.
In continuation of a series of stories about the world's opera houses, I want to tell you about the Bolshoi Opera Theater in Moscow. The State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of Russia, or simply the Bolshoi Theater, is one of the largest in Russia and one of the largest opera and ballet theaters in the world. Located in the center of Moscow, on Theater Square. The Bolshoi Theater is one of the main assets of the city of Moscow
The birth of the theater dates back to March 1776. This year, Groti ceded his rights and obligations to Prince Urusov, who undertook to build a stone public theater in Moscow. With the assistance of the famous M.E. Medox, a place was chosen in Petrovskaya Street, in the parish of the Church of the Savior in Spear. By the vigilant labors of Medox, in five months, was built Grand Theatre, according to the plan of the architect Rozberg, which cost 130,000 rubles. The Petrovsky Theater of Medox stood for 25 years - on October 8, 1805, during the next Moscow fire, the theater building burned down. The new building was built by K. I. Rossi on Arbat Square. But it, being wooden, burned down in 1812, during the invasion of Napoleon. In 1821, the construction of the theater began on the original site according to the project of O. Bove and A. Mikhailov.
The theater opened on January 6, 1825 with a performance of The Triumph of the Muses. But on March 11, 1853, the theater burned down for the fourth time; the fire preserved only the stone outer walls and the colonnade of the main entrance. Within three years, the Bolshoi Theater was restored under the guidance of the architect A.K. Kavos. Instead of the alabaster sculpture of Apollo that died in the fire, a bronze quadriga by Peter Klodt was placed above the entrance portico. The theater was reopened on August 20, 1856.
In 1895, a major overhaul of the theater building was carried out, after which many wonderful operas were staged in the theater, such as Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov with Chaliapin as Ivan the Terrible and many others. In 1921-1923, another reconstruction of the theater building took place, the building was also reconstructed in the 40s and 60s
Above the pediment of the Bolshoi Theater is a sculpture of Apollo, patron of the arts, in a chariot drawn by four horses. All figures of the composition are hollow, made of sheet copper. The composition was made by Russian masters in the 18th century according to the model of the sculptor Stepan Pimenov
The theater includes a ballet and opera troupe, 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, the troupe initially had no specialization: dramatic actors took part in operas, and singers and dancers - in dramatic performances. So, at different times, the troupe included Mikhail Shchepkin and Pavel Mochalov, who sang in operas by Cherubini, Verstovsky and other composers 
Throughout the history of the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow, its artists, apart from 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, the Stalin and Lenin Prizes, eight were awarded the title of Heroes of Socialist Labor. Among the soloists of the theater are such outstanding Russian singers as Sandunova, Zhemchugova, E. Semyonova, Khokhlov, Korsov, Deisha-Sionitskaya, Salina, Nezhdanova, Chaliapin, Sobinov, Zbrueva, Alchevsky, E. Stepanova, V. Petrov, the Pirogov brothers, Katulskaya, Obukhova, Derzhinskaya, Barsova, L. Savransky, Ozerov, Lemeshev, Kozlovsky, Reizen, Maksakova, Khanaev, M. D. Mikhailov, Shpiller, A. P. Ivanov, Krivchenya, P. Lisitsian, I. Petrov, Ognivtsev, Arkhipova, Andzhaparidze, Oleinichenko, Mazurok, Vedernikov, Eisen, E. Kibkalo, Vishnevskaya, Milashkina, Sinyavskaya, Kasrashvili, Atlantov, Nesterenko, Obraztsova and others.
Among the singers of the younger generation who emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, I. Morozov, P. Glubokoy, Kalinina, Matorin, Shemchuk, Rautio, Tarashchenko, and N. Terentyeva should be noted. Major conductors Altani, Suk, Cooper, Samosud, Pazovsky, Golovanov, Melik-Pashaev, Nebolsin, Khaikin, Kondrashin, Svetlanov, Rozhdestvensky, Rostropovich worked at the Bolshoi Theater. He performed here as a conductor Rachmaninov (1904-06). Among the best directors of the theater are Bartsal, Smolich, Baratov, B. Mordvinov, Pokrovsky. The Bolshoi Theater hosted tours of the world's leading opera houses: La Scala (1964, 1974, 1989), the Vienna State Opera (1971), the Berlin Comische Opera (1965)
Bolshoi Theater repertoire
During the existence of the theater, more than 800 works have been staged here. The repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater includes such operas as Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil (1834), Bellini's The Pirate (1837), Marschner's Hans Heiling, Adana's The Postman from Longjumeau (1839), Donizetti's The Favorite (1841), Aubert's "Mute from Portici" (1849), Verdi's "La Traviata" (1858), Verdi's "Il Trovatore", "Rigoletto" (1859), Gounod's "Faust" (1866), Thomas's "Mignon" (1879), "Masquerade Ball Verdi (1880), Wagner's Siegfried (1894), Berlioz's Trojans in Carthage (1899), Wagner's The Flying Dutchman (1902), Verdi's Don Carlos (1917), Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream ( 1964), Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Ravel's Spanish Hour (1978), Gluck's Iphigenia in Aulis (1983) and others. 
The Bolshoi Theater hosted world premieres of Tchaikovsky's operas The Voyevoda (1869), Mazeppa (1884), Cherevichki (1887); Rachmaninov's operas Aleko (1893), Francesca da Rimini and The Miserly Knight (1906), Prokofiev's The Gambler (1974), a number of operas by Cui, Arensky and many others. 
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the theater reached its peak. Many St. Petersburg artists seek the opportunity to participate in performances of the Bolshoi Theater. The names of F. Chaliapin, L. Sobinov, A. Nezhdanova are becoming widely known all over the world. In 1912 Fyodor Chaliapin staged Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina at the Bolshoi Theatre.
In the photo Fedor Chaliapin 
During this period, Sergei Rachmaninov 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 ardent temperament with fine orchestral decoration. Rachmaninoff improves the organization of the conductor's work - so, thanks to Rachmaninov, the conductor's stand, which was previously located behind the orchestra (facing the stage), is transferred to its modern place.
In the photo Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov
The first years after the revolution of 1917 are characterized by the struggle to preserve the Bolshoi Theater as such and, secondarily, to preserve part of its repertoire. Operas such as The Snow Maiden, Aida, La Traviata, and Verdi in general were attacked for ideological reasons. There were also proposals for the destruction of the ballet, as "a relic of the bourgeois past." However, despite this, both opera and ballet continued to develop in Moscow. The opera is dominated by works by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky. In 1927, director V. Lossky created a new version of Boris Godunov. Operas by Soviet composers are staged - "Trilby" by A. Yurasovsky (1924), "Love for Three Oranges" by S. Prokofiev (1927).
In the 1930s, Joseph Stalin's demand for the creation of "Soviet opera classics" appeared in the press. Works by I. Dzerzhinsky, B. Asafiev, R. Gliere are staged. At the same time, a strict ban on works by foreign composers is introduced. In 1935, the premiere of D. Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was held with great success with the public. However, this work, highly appreciated around the world, causes sharp discontent at the top. The well-known article "Muddle instead of Music", authored by Stalin, caused the disappearance of Shostakovich's opera from the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater
During the Great Patriotic War, the Bolshoi Theater was evacuated to Kuibyshev. The theater celebrates the end of the war with bright premieres of S. Prokofiev's ballets Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet, where Galina Ulanova shone. In subsequent years, the Bolshoi Theater turns to the work of the composers of the "fraternal countries" - Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary, and also reviews the productions of classical Russian operas (new productions of "Eugene Onegin", "Sadko", "Boris Godunov", "Khovanshchina" and many other). Most of these productions were staged by opera director Boris Pokrovsky, who came to the Bolshoi Theater in 1943. His performances in these years and the next few decades served as the "face" of the Bolshoi Opera
The troupe of the Bolshoi Theater often tours, having success in Italy, Great Britain, the USA and many other countries. 
At present, the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater has retained many classical productions of opera and ballet performances, but at the same time the theater is striving for new experiments. Directors who have already gained fame as film directors are involved in the work on operas. Among them are A. Sokurov, T. Chkheidze, E. Nyakroshus and others. 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 L. Desyatnikov's opera "Children of Rosenthal" (2005), in connection with the reputation of the author of the libretto, the writer V. Sorokin. The famous singer Galina Vishnevskaya expressed her indignation and rejection of the new play "Eugene Onegin" (2006, director D. Chernyakov), refusing to celebrate her anniversary on the stage of the Bolshoi, where such performances take place. At the same time, the mentioned performances, in spite of everything, have their fans.
The history of the Bolshoi Theatre, which is celebrating its 225th anniversary, is as majestic as it is intricate. From it, with equal success, you can create both an apocrypha and an adventurous novel. The theater was repeatedly burned, restored, rebuilt, merged and separated its troupe.
Twice-born (1776-1856)
The history of the Bolshoi Theatre, which is celebrating its 225th anniversary, is as majestic as it is intricate. From it, with equal success, you can create both an apocrypha and an adventurous novel. The theater was repeatedly burned, restored, rebuilt, merged and separated its troupe. And even the Bolshoi Theater has two dates of birth. Therefore, its centenary and bicentennial anniversaries will not be separated by a century, but by only 51 years. Why? Initially, the Bolshoi Theater counted its years from the day when a magnificent eight-column theater with the chariot of the god Apollo over the portico appeared on Theater Square - the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater, the construction of which became a real event for Moscow at the beginning of the 19th century. A beautiful building in a classical style, inside decorated in red and gold tones, according to contemporaries, was the best theater in Europe and was second in scale only to La Scala in Milan. Its opening took place on January 6 (18), 1825. In honor of this event, the prologue "The Triumph of the Muses" by M. Dmitriev was given with music by A. Alyabyev and A. Verstovsky. It allegorically depicted how the Genius of Russia, with the help of the muses, creates a new beautiful art on the ruins of the Medox theater - the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater.
However, the troupe, by whose forces the “Celebration of the Muses” that caused general delight was shown, had already existed for half a century by that time.
It was started by the provincial prosecutor Prince Pyotr Vasilyevich Urusov in 1772. On March 17 (28), 1776, the highest permission was given “to keep him all kinds of theatrical performances, as well as concerts, vauxhalls and masquerades, and besides him, no one should be allowed any such entertainment at all the time appointed by privilege, so that he would not be undermined.”
Three years later, he petitioned Empress Catherine II for a ten-year privilege to maintain a Russian theater in Moscow, undertaking to build a permanent theater building for the troupe. Alas, the first Russian theater in Moscow on Bolshaya Petrovsky Street burned down before the opening. This led to the decline of the prince's affairs. He handed over the business to his partner, the Englishman Michael Medox, an active and enterprising man. It was thanks to him that in the wasteland, regularly flooded by the Neglinka, despite all the fires and wars, the theater grew up, which eventually lost its geographical prefix Petrovsky and remained in history simply as the Bolshoi.
And yet, the Bolshoi Theater begins its calendar on March 17 (28), 1776. Therefore, in 1951, the 175th anniversary was celebrated, in 1976 - the 200th anniversary, and ahead - the 225th anniversary of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia.
Bolshoi Theater in the middle of the 19th century
The symbolic name of the performance, which opened the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater in 1825, "The Triumph of the Muses" - predetermined its history over the next quarter of a century. Participation in the first performance of outstanding masters of the stage - Pavel Mochalov, Nikolai Lavrov and Angelica Catalani - set the highest level of performance. The second quarter of the 19th century is the awareness of Russian art, and the Moscow theater in particular, of its national identity. The work of the composers Alexei Verstovsky and Alexander Varlamov, who for several decades were at the head of the Bolshoi Theater, contributed to its extraordinary rise. Thanks to their artistic will, the Russian operatic repertoire was formed on the Moscow Imperial stage. It was based on Verstovsky's operas "Pan Tvardovsky", "Vadim, or the Twelve Sleeping Maidens", "Askold's Grave", the ballets "The Magic Drum" by Alyabyev, "The Sultan's Amusements, or the Slave Seller", "Boy with a Finger" by Varlamov.
The ballet repertoire was as rich and varied as the opera. The head of the troupe, Adam Glushkovsky, a pupil of the St. Petersburg ballet school, a student of Sh. Didlo, who headed the Moscow ballet even before the Patriotic War of 1812, created original performances: “Ruslan and Lyudmila, or the Overthrow of Chernomor, the Evil Wizard”, “Three Belts, or the Russian Sandrilona ”,“ Black Shawl, or Punished Infidelity ”, transferred the best performances of Didelot to the Moscow stage. They showed the excellent training of the corps de ballet, the foundations of which were laid by the choreographer himself, who was also at the head of the ballet school. The main roles in the performances were performed by Glushkovsky himself and his wife Tatyana Ivanovna Glushkovskaya, as well as the Frenchwoman Felicata Gullen-Sor.
The main event in the activities of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater in the first half of the last century was the premiere of two operas by Mikhail Glinka. Both of them were first staged in St. Petersburg. Despite the fact that it was already possible to get from one Russian capital to another by train, Muscovites had to wait for new products for several years. "Life for the Tsar" was first performed at the Bolshoi Theater on September 7 (19), 1842. “... How to express the surprise of true music lovers when they were convinced from the first act that this opera solved a question important for art in general and for Russian art in particular, namely: the existence of Russian opera, Russian music ... With Glinka's opera is something that has long been sought and not found in Europe, a new element in art, and a new period begins in its history - the period of Russian music. Such a feat, let's say, in all honesty, is a matter not only of talent, but of genius! - exclaimed an outstanding writer, one of the founders of Russian musicology V. Odoevsky.
Four years later, the first performance of Ruslan and Lyudmila took place. But both operas by Glinka, despite favorable reviews from critics, did not last long in the repertoire. Even participation in the performances of guest performers Osip Petrov and Ekaterina Semyonova, who were temporarily ousted from St. Petersburg by Italian singers, did not save them. But decades later, it was "Life for the Tsar" and "Ruslan and Lyudmila" that became the favorite performances of the Russian public, they were destined to defeat the Italian opera mania that arose in the middle of the century. And by tradition, each theatrical season the Bolshoi Theater opened with one of Glinka's operas.
On the ballet stage, by the middle of the century, performances on Russian themes created by Isaac Ablez and Adam Glushkovsky were also forced out. The ball was ruled by Western romanticism. "La Sylphide", "Giselle", "Esmeralda" appeared in Moscow almost immediately after the European premieres. Taglioni and Elsler drove Muscovites crazy. But the Russian spirit continued to live in the Moscow ballet. Not a single guest performer could outshine Ekaterina Bankova, who performed in the same performances as visiting celebrities.
In order to accumulate strength before the next rise, the Bolshoi Theater had to endure many upheavals. And the first of them was a fire that destroyed the theater of Osip Bove in 1853. All that was left of the building was a charred shell. The scenery, costumes, rare instruments, and the music library were destroyed.
The competition for the best restoration project of the theater was won by the architect Albert Kavos. In May 1855, construction work began, which was completed after 16 (!) months. In August 1856, a new theater was opened with V. Bellini's opera "The Puritani". And there was something symbolic in the fact that he opened with an Italian opera. Shortly after its opening, the actual tenant of the Bolshoi Theater was the Italian Merelli, who brought a very strong Italian troupe to Moscow. The audience, with the enthusiasm of the new converts, preferred the Italian opera to the Russian one. All of Moscow flocked to listen to Desiree Artaud, Pauline Viardot, Adeline Patti and other Italian opera idols. The auditorium at these performances was always crowded.
Only three days a week were left for the Russian troupe - two for ballet and one for opera. The Russian opera, which had no material support and was abandoned by the public, was a sad sight.
And yet, despite any difficulties, the Russian operatic repertoire is steadily expanding: in 1858, A. Dargomyzhsky's "Mermaid" was presented, two operas by A. Serov, "Judith" (1865) and "Rogneda" (1868), were staged for the first time , "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by M. Glinka is resumed. A year later, P. Tchaikovsky made his debut on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater with the opera Voyevoda.
A turning point in the tastes of the public occurred in the 1870s. Russian operas appear one after another in the Bolshoi Theater: The Demon by A. Rubinstein (1879), Eugene Onegin by P. Tchaikovsky (1881), Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky (1888), The Queen of Spades (1891) and “Iolanta” (1893) by P. Tchaikovsky, “The Snow Maiden” by N. Rimsky Korsakov (1893), “Prince Igor” by A. Borodin (1898). Following the only Russian prima donna Ekaterina Semyonova, a whole galaxy of outstanding singers enters the Moscow stage. This is Alexandra Alexandrova-Kochetova, and Emilia Pavlovskaya, and Pavel Khokhlov. And already they, and not Italian singers, become favorites of the Moscow public. In the 70s, the owner of the most beautiful contralto Eulalia Kadmina enjoyed special affection of the audience. “Perhaps, the Russian public never knew, either before or later, such a peculiar performer, full of real tragic power,” they wrote about her. M. Eikhenvald was called the unsurpassed Snow Maiden, the baritone P. Khokhlov, whom Tchaikovsky highly appreciated, was the idol of the public.
In the ballet of the Bolshoi Theater in the middle of the century, Martha Muravyova, Praskovya Lebedeva, Nadezhda Bogdanova, Anna Sobeshchanskaya were played, and in their articles about Bogdanova, journalists emphasized "the superiority of the Russian ballerina over European celebrities."
However, after their departure from the stage, the Bolshoi Ballet found itself in a difficult position. Unlike St. Petersburg, where the unified artistic will of the choreographer dominated, ballet Moscow in the second half of the century was left without a talented leader. The raids of A. Saint-Leon and M. Petipa (who staged Don Quixote at the Bolshoi Theater in 1869, and made his debut in Moscow before the fire, in 1848) were short-lived. The repertoire was filled with occasional one-day performances (with the exception of Sergey Sokolov's Fern, or Night on Ivan Kupala, which lasted a long time in the repertoire). Even the production of "Swan Lake" (choreographer - Wenzel Reisinger) by P. Tchaikovsky, who created his first ballet especially for the Bolshoi Theater, ended in failure. Each new premiere only irritated the public and the press. The auditorium at ballet performances, which in the middle of the century gave a solid income, began to be empty. In the 1880s, the question of liquidating the troupe was seriously raised.
And yet, thanks to such outstanding masters as Lydia Geiten and Vasily Geltser, the Bolshoi Ballet was preserved.
On the eve of the new century XX
Approaching the turn of the century, the Bolshoi Theater lived a stormy life. At this time, Russian art was approaching one of the peaks of its heyday. Moscow was at the center of a vibrant artistic life. A stone's throw from Theater Square, the Moscow Public Art Theater opened, the whole city was eager to see the performances of the Mamontov Russian Private Opera and the symphony meetings of the Russian Musical Society. Not wanting to fall behind and lose the audience, the Bolshoi Theater rapidly made up for lost time in previous decades, ambitiously wanting to fit into the Russian cultural process.
This was facilitated by two experienced musicians who came to the theater at that time. Ippolit Altani led the orchestra, Ulrich Avranek - the choir. The professionalism of these bands, which have grown significantly not only quantitatively (there were about 120 musicians in each), but also qualitatively, invariably aroused admiration. Outstanding masters shone in the opera troupe of the Bolshoi Theater: Pavel Khokhlov, Elizaveta Lavrovskaya, Bogomir Korsov continued their careers, Maria Deisha-Sionitskaya arrived from St. Petersburg, Lavrenty Donskoy, a native of Kostroma peasants, became the leading tenor, Margarita Eikhenwald was just beginning her journey.
This made it possible to include in the repertoire virtually all world classics - operas by G. Verdi, V. Bellini, G. Donizetti, C. Gounod, J. Meyerbeer, L. Delibes, R. Wagner. New works by P. Tchaikovsky regularly appeared on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. With difficulty, but still, the composers of the New Russian School made their way: in 1888, the premiere of "Boris Godunov" by M. Mussorgsky took place, in 1892 - "The Snow Maiden", in 1898 - "The Night Before Christmas" by N. Rimsky- Korsakov.
In the same year he got on the Moscow Imperial stage "Prince Igor" by A. Borodin. This revived interest in the Bolshoi Theater and, in no small measure, contributed to the fact that by the end of the century singers joined the troupe, thanks to whom the opera of the Bolshoi Theater reached great heights in the next century. The ballet of the Bolshoi Theater also came to the end of the 19th century in magnificent professional form. The Moscow Theater School worked without interruption, producing well-trained dancers. Caustic feuilleton comments, such as the one posted in 1867: “And what are the corps de ballet sylphs now? .. all so well-fed, as if deigning to eat pancakes, and dragging their legs as if they were caught” - have become irrelevant. The brilliant Lydia Gaten, who had no rivals for two decades and carried the entire ballerina repertoire on her shoulders, was replaced by several world-class ballerinas. One after another debuted Adeline Juri, Lyubov Roslavleva, Ekaterina Geltser. Vasily Tikhomirov was transferred from St. Petersburg to Moscow and became the premier of the Moscow ballet for many years. True, unlike the masters of the opera troupe, so far their talents have not had a worthy application: secondary meaningless ballet extravaganzas by Jose Mendes reigned on the stage.
It is symbolic that in 1899 choreographer Alexander Gorsky, whose name is associated with the heyday of Moscow ballet in the first quarter of the 20th century, made his debut on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater with the transfer of Marius Petipa's ballet The Sleeping Beauty.
In 1899 Fyodor Chaliapin joined the troupe.
A new era began at the Bolshoi Theater, which coincided with the advent of a new era. XX century
1917 has come
By the beginning of 1917, there were no signs of revolutionary events at the Bolshoi Theater. True, there were already some self-governing bodies, for example, a corporation of orchestra artists, headed by the concertmaster of the group of 2 violins, Ya.K. Korolev. Thanks to the active actions of the corporation, the orchestra received the right to arrange symphony concerts at the Bolshoi Theater. The last of them took place on January 7, 1917 and was dedicated to the work of S. Rachmaninov. Conducted by the author. "Cliff", "Isle of the Dead" and "Bells" were performed. The choir of the Bolshoi Theater and soloists E. Stepanova, A. Labinsky and S. Migai took part in the concert.
On February 10, the theater showed the premiere of Verdi's Don Carlos, which became the first production of this opera on the Russian stage.
After the February Revolution and the overthrow of the autocracy, the management of St. Petersburg and Moscow theaters remained common and concentrated in the hands of their former director V. A. Telyakovsky. On March 6, by order of the Commissioner of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, N. N. Lvov, A. I. Yuzhin was appointed authorized commissioner for the management of theaters in Moscow (Big and Small). On March 8, at a meeting of all employees of the former imperial theaters - musicians, opera soloists, ballet dancers, stage workers - L.V. Sobinov was unanimously elected manager of the Bolshoi Theater, and this election was approved by the Ministry of the Provisional Government. On March 12, searchers arrived; from the economic and service part, and L. V. Sobinov headed the actual artistic part of the Bolshoi Theater.
It must be said that “Soloist of His Majesty”, “Soloist of the Imperial Theaters” L. Sobinov broke the contract with the Imperial Theaters back in 1915, unable to fulfill all the whims of the directorate, and performed either in performances of the Musical Drama Theater in Petrograd, or in Zimin theater in Moscow. When the February Revolution took place, Sobinov returned to the Bolshoi Theater.
On March 13, the first "free solemn performance" took place at the Bolshoi Theater. Before it began, L. V. Sobinov delivered a speech:
Citizens and citizens! With today's performance, our pride, the Bolshoi Theater, opens the first page of its new free life. Bright minds and pure, warm hearts united under the banner of art. Art sometimes inspired the fighters of the idea and gave them wings! The same art, when the storm subsides, which made the whole world tremble, will glorify and sing folk heroes. In their immortal feat, it will draw bright inspiration and endless strength. And then the two best gifts of the human spirit - art and freedom - will merge into a single mighty stream. And our Bolshoi Theatre, this marvelous temple of art, will become a temple of freedom in the new life.
March 31 L. Sobinov is appointed commissar of the Bolshoi Theater and the Theater School. Its activities are aimed at combating the tendencies of the former directorate of the Imperial Theaters to interfere with the work of the Bolshoi. It comes down to a strike. In protest against encroachments on the autonomy of the theater, the troupe suspended the performance of Prince Igor and asked the Moscow Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies to support the demands of the theater staff. The next day, a delegation was sent from the Moscow City Council to the theater, welcoming the Bolshoi Theater in the struggle for its rights. There is a document confirming the respect of the theater staff for L. Sobinov: “The Corporation of Artists, having elected you as a director, as the best and staunchest defender and spokesman for the interests of art, earnestly asks you to accept this election and notify you of your consent.”
In order No. 1 dated April 6, L. Sobinov addressed the team with the following appeal: “I make a special request to my comrades, artists of the opera, ballet, orchestra and choir, to all staging, artistic, technical and service personnel, artistic, pedagogical the staff and members of the Theater School to make every effort for the successful completion of the theater season and the academic year of the school and for the preparation, on the basis of mutual trust and comradely unity, of the upcoming work in the next theatrical year.
In the same season, on April 29, the 20th anniversary of L. Sobinov's debut at the Bolshoi Theater was celebrated. There was an opera by J. Bizet "Pearl Seekers". Comrades on the stage warmly welcomed the hero of the day. Without undressing, in the costume of Nadir, Leonid Vitalyevich delivered a response speech.
“Citizens, citizens, soldiers! I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your greeting and thank you not on my own behalf, but on behalf of the entire Bolshoi Theater, to which you provided such moral support at a difficult moment.
In the difficult days of the birth of Russian freedom, our theater, which until then represented an unorganized collection of people who “served” in the Bolshoi Theater, merged into a single whole and based its future on the elective principle as a self-governing unit.
This elective principle saved us from ruin and breathed into us the breath of new life.
It would seem to live and be happy. The representative of the Provisional Government, appointed to liquidate the affairs of the Ministry of the Court and Appanages, went to meet us halfway - welcomed our work and, at the request of the entire troupe, gave me, the elected manager, the rights of commissar and director of the theater.
Our autonomy did not interfere with the idea of uniting all state theaters in the interests of the state. For this, a person of authority and close to the theater was needed. Such a person has been found. It was Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko.
This name is familiar and dear to Moscow: it would unite everyone, but... he refused.
Other people came, very respectable, respected, but alien to the theater. They came with the confidence that it was people outside the theater who would give reforms and new beginnings.
Three days had not passed before attempts began to put an end to our self-government.
Our elective offices have been postponed, and we have been promised a new regulation on the management of theaters the other day. We still do not know who and when it was developed.
The telegram muffledly says that it meets the wishes of theater workers, which ones we do not know. We did not participate, we were not invited, but on the other hand, we know that the recently thrown down fetters of the order are again trying to confuse us, again the discretion of the order is arguing with the will of the organized whole, and the hushed order rank is raising its voice, accustomed to shouting.
I could not take responsibility for such reforms and resigned as director.
But as an elected theater manager, I protest against the seizure of the fate of our theater in irresponsible hands.
And we, our entire community, are now appealing to representatives of public organizations and the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies to support the Bolshoi Theater and not give it to the Petrograd reformers for administrative experiments.
Let them be engaged in the stable department, specific winemaking, card factory, but they will leave the theater alone.
Some points of this speech require clarification.
The new regulation on the management of theaters was issued on May 7, 1917 and provided for the separate management of the Maly and Bolshoi Theaters, and Sobinov was called an authorized representative for the Bolshoi Theater and the Theater School, and not a commissar, i.e., in fact, a director, according to the order of March 31.
Mentioning the telegram, Sobinov means the telegram he received from the Commissioner of the Provisional Government for the department of the former. yard and destinies (this included the stable department, and winemaking, and the card factory) F.A. Golovina.
And here is the text of the telegram itself: “I am very sorry that you resigned your powers due to a misunderstanding. I earnestly ask you to continue working until the case is clarified. One of these days, a new general regulation on the management of theaters, known to Yuzhin, will be released, meeting the wishes of theater workers. Commissar Golovin.
However, L.V. Sobinov does not stop directing the Bolshoi Theater, he works in contact with the Moscow Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. On May 1, 1917, he himself participates in a performance in favor of the Moscow Council at the Bolshoi Theater and performs excerpts from Eugene Onegin.
Already on the eve of the October Revolution, on October 9, 1917, the Political Directorate of the Military Ministry sent the following letter: “To the Commissar of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater L.V. Sobinov.
In accordance with the petition of the Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies, you are appointed commissar over the theater of the Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies (the former Zimin Theater).
After the October Revolution, E.K. Malinovskaya, who was considered the commissar of all theaters, was placed at the head of all Moscow theaters. L. Sobinov remained as director of the Bolshoi Theater, and a council (elected) was created to help him.
