Natalya Sats
Encyclopedia
Natalya Sats was a Russian music teacher and director
of the Moscow Musical Theater for Children
, now named after her. Having been a victim of Soviet repressions, she pioneered the theater for children in Russia and received numerous awards for her work.
, Imperial Russia, where her father, Ilya Sats, was in political exile
. Ilya Sats was a composer
, who grew up in a Jewish family. He was a friend and protege of Leo Tolstoy
. Her mother, née
Anna Shchastnaya, was a singer and a daughter of a Ukrainian general. Although the parents met in Montpellier
, they got married in Irkutsk, only after Natalya was born. The family moved to Moscow in 1904, when Ilya Sats became music director of the Moscow Art Theatre
(MAT). After the October Revolution
in 1917, Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky proposed to start a theater for the children and the MAT director Konstantin Stanislavsky recommended 15 y.o. Natalya Sats. After many stage successes, she received both Russian and international recognition. In 1931 conductor Otto Klemperer
invited her to stage Wolfgang Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro
in Buenos Aires
, and Giuseppe Verdi
's Falstaff
in Berlin. Using her friendship with Sergei Prokofiev
, she commissioned him to write Peter and the Wolf
, which she premiered May 2, 1936. This play has received a wide international success, was recorded over 400 times, and translated to a number of languages.
In 1937, after the US ambassador attended one of her shows, she was arrested and taken to the Lubyanka prison
. She was in any case condemned as the mistress of Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky
, one of the eight top Red Army commanders purged by Stalin in 1937. She refused to sign a confession, and was only sentenced to 5 years of labor camp
in Siberia
. At the end of her sentence, she was not allowed to return to Moscow, and moved to Alma-Ata (now Almaty
, Kazakhstan
). There, she started a new theater for the children, which she directed for 13 years. After Joseph Stalin
's death in 1953, Sats was fully rehabilitated
and returned to Moscow in 1958. With the support of Russian cultural elite, she demanded to be given an opportunity to start a new theater for the children. After seven years, in 1965, Musical Theater for Children
opened its doors. With her troupe, she traveled the world, performing in many countries and languages. She also wrote three books, including a two-volume autobiography
Sketches from My Life, translated into English in 1985.
For her work, Sats received numerous awards, including USSR State Prize
(1972), People's Artist of the USSR
award (1975), Lenin Prize
(1982), Hero of Socialist Labor
medal (1983), and Lenin Komsomol Prize
(1985). She was elected a member of USSR Union of Writers
in 1962.
Sats died 18 December 1993, and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery
in Moscow next to her father. The Musical Theater for Children and the State Theater for Children in Almaty were then renamed in her honor. Sats' daughter, Roksana Sats, continues her work in the theater.
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
of the Moscow Musical Theater for Children
Natalya Sats Musical Theater
The Natalya Sats Musical Theater, formally known as the Moscow State Academic Children’s Music Theater Named After Natalya Sats. Moscow, Russia theater specializing in opera, ballet and dramatic theater productions for children...
, now named after her. Having been a victim of Soviet repressions, she pioneered the theater for children in Russia and received numerous awards for her work.
Biography
Sats was born August 27, 1903 in IrkutskIrkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
, Imperial Russia, where her father, Ilya Sats, was in political exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
. Ilya Sats was a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, who grew up in a Jewish family. He was a friend and protege of Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
. Her mother, née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Anna Shchastnaya, was a singer and a daughter of a Ukrainian general. Although the parents met in Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
, they got married in Irkutsk, only after Natalya was born. The family moved to Moscow in 1904, when Ilya Sats became music director of the Moscow Art Theatre
Moscow Art Theatre
The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...
(MAT). After the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
in 1917, Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky proposed to start a theater for the children and the MAT director Konstantin Stanislavsky recommended 15 y.o. Natalya Sats. After many stage successes, she received both Russian and international recognition. In 1931 conductor Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...
invited her to stage Wolfgang Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, and Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
in Berlin. Using her friendship with Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
, she commissioned him to write Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf , Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children's story , spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra....
, which she premiered May 2, 1936. This play has received a wide international success, was recorded over 400 times, and translated to a number of languages.
In 1937, after the US ambassador attended one of her shows, she was arrested and taken to the Lubyanka prison
Lubyanka (KGB)
The Lubyanka is the popular name for the headquarters of the KGB and affiliated prison on Lubyanka Square in Moscow. It is a large building with a facade of yellow brick, designed by Alexander V...
. She was in any case condemned as the mistress of Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, commander in chief of the Red Army , and one of the most prominent victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge.-Early life:...
, one of the eight top Red Army commanders purged by Stalin in 1937. She refused to sign a confession, and was only sentenced to 5 years of labor camp
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. At the end of her sentence, she was not allowed to return to Moscow, and moved to Alma-Ata (now Almaty
Almaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
). There, she started a new theater for the children, which she directed for 13 years. After Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's death in 1953, Sats was fully rehabilitated
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
and returned to Moscow in 1958. With the support of Russian cultural elite, she demanded to be given an opportunity to start a new theater for the children. After seven years, in 1965, Musical Theater for Children
Natalya Sats Musical Theater
The Natalya Sats Musical Theater, formally known as the Moscow State Academic Children’s Music Theater Named After Natalya Sats. Moscow, Russia theater specializing in opera, ballet and dramatic theater productions for children...
opened its doors. With her troupe, she traveled the world, performing in many countries and languages. She also wrote three books, including a two-volume autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
Sketches from My Life, translated into English in 1985.
For her work, Sats received numerous awards, including USSR State Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
(1972), People's Artist of the USSR
People's Artist of the USSR
People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...
award (1975), Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
(1982), Hero of Socialist Labor
Hero of Socialist Labor
Hero of Socialist Labour was an honorary title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. It was the highest degree of distinction for exceptional achievements in national economy and culture...
medal (1983), and Lenin Komsomol Prize
Lenin Komsomol Prize
Lenin Komsomol Prize was a Soviet annual award for the best works in science, engineering, literature or art carried out by young authors of age not exceeding 33 years...
(1985). She was elected a member of USSR Union of Writers
USSR Union of Writers
The USSR Union of Writers, or Union of Soviet Writers was a creative union of professional writers in the USSR. It was founded in 1932 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party after disbanding a number of other writers' organizations: RAPP, Proletkult, and VOAPP.The aim of...
in 1962.
Sats died 18 December 1993, and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery is the most famous cemetery in Moscow, Russia. It is next to the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. It should not be confused with the Novodevichy Cemetery in Saint Petersburg....
in Moscow next to her father. The Musical Theater for Children and the State Theater for Children in Almaty were then renamed in her honor. Sats' daughter, Roksana Sats, continues her work in the theater.
External links
- Natalya Sats, 90, Dies; Children's Opera Head, obituary in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, December 22, 1993. - Natalia Sats--Triumph of the Human Spirit, an essay.
- Short biography of Natalia Sats, on the Natalya Sats Musical TheaterNatalya Sats Musical TheaterThe Natalya Sats Musical Theater, formally known as the Moscow State Academic Children’s Music Theater Named After Natalya Sats. Moscow, Russia theater specializing in opera, ballet and dramatic theater productions for children...
website.