Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre
Encyclopedia
The Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre is a musical theatre
in Moscow
.
The theatre was created on 1 September 1941 when the Stanislavski Opera Theatre and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
's musical theatre were merged. Although Constantin Stanislavski and Nemirovich worked together at the Moscow Art Theatre
(which they had established in 1898), their musical companies operated independently for the two decades of the Interwar period
. The present-day theatre is based in its own building with one opera
and two chamber music
halls in Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street, near Pushkin Square
. The program traditionally includes opera and ballet
by Prokofiev
, Puccini
, Tchaikovsky
, Verdi
and other classical composers.
, though it later severed its connection with the theatre. Its successful production of Werther
in 1923 was banned while the director was abroad. In 1924 it was renamed the "Stanislavski Opera Studio" and in 1926 it became the "Stanislavski Opera Studio-Theatre
," when it moved into its own permanent base at the Dmitrovsky Theatre. In 1928 it became the Stanislavski Opera Theatre. Shortly before his death in 1938 Stanislavski invited Vsevolod Meyerhold
to take over the direction of the company; Meyerhold led the theatre up to his own arrest in June 1939.
Conductors : include Mikhail Zhukov
1922-32, 1935–38, current (2011) is Felix Korobov
.
but soon left for independent work. Nemirovich leaned towards popular operetta
and vaudeville
. At the end of 1920 he started production of Lecocq
's La fille de Madame Angot
, causing an uproar of the "serious drama" core of Moscow Art Theatre company. The show premiered in May 1920, starring guests singers from Poland
and Bolshoi company, and became a sell-out hit. A number of successful shows followed until 1925, when the company left for a long tour of Europe and the United States. Nemirovich took up an American offer and stayed in Hollywood until September 1927; a substantial part of his company refused to return to Soviet Russia; the company itself disintegrated.
When Nemirovich returned to the USSR in 1926, he had to start from scratch. For years, his operetta studio did not have a permanent base and orchestra, borrowing both from Stanislavski's theatre in Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street. The company produced primarily musical comedy shows but also the "serious" opera - Traviata and Katerina Izmailova
, both in 1934; Katerina Izmailova was banned in 1935 and resumed in 1962.
and nearby military bases. Immediately upon the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa
it returned to Moscow; the shows resumed on 10 August. Stanislavski's company returned to Moscow from Yaroslavl
. On 1 September 1941 the companies, reduced in number, were merged to become the "Moscow State Musical Theatre of Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko." Nemirovich was appointed its artistic director
. Keen on overcoming the limitations of the opera
genre, he defended the title of a musical theatre
. In September 1941 part of the company was evacuated first to Nalchik
, then to Tbilisi
and finally Ashabad; Nemirovich with the core of his company stayed in Moscow, performing for the troops. His Moscow company was the only Moscow theatre performing in the disastrous October–November 1941.
Nemirovich, after a short evacuation to Tbilisi, returned to Moscow in September 1942; he died in April 1943. After his death the theatre was managed by Joseph Tumanishvili (stage direction) and Samuil Samosud
(musical department). Over four years of the war the company, split in small groups, performed 770 shows for the front-line troops. Two of its staff were killed in action and one group of artists was taken prisoners of war.
and Lev Mikhailov), continued operation as a primarily classical opera house; it retained some successful vaudevilles produced in 1930s, but their share was gradually reduced. In 1960s–1980s the theatre regularly collaborated with Komische Oper Berlin
, inviting Walter Felsenstein
and Dieter Mueller to produce musicals in Moscow.
In 1976 Pravda
launched an unforgiving attack against the "revised" version of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades
. The show was salvaged through support of artistic circles.
In 1989 the theatre suffered its first disastrous fire. The main hall was not damaged, but the fire destroyed the props storage; 20 titles were canceled for years. In December 1990 the company refused to perform in a strike action
against the management. The city of Moscow shut down the theatre for two weeks; in January 1991 it reopened under the same management. In July 1991 the orchestra and the choir resigned with their conductors, taking some of the opera soloists with them, finally prompting a replacement of the management.
(chief conductor), Igor Zelensky (artistic director of ballet) and Vladimir Arefiev (chief stage designer).
The company's repertoire since 2005 has included:
's estate. Parts of the ground floor of Saltykov's house survived the fire of 1812
and subsequent expansions and are now integrated in the theatre lobby and the small concert hall. In 1839 Praskovya Saltykova leased the building to Moscow Merchant Society. The Club regularly invited notable musicians; in 1843 it presented concerts by Franz Liszt
. Liszt had to play two grand pianos, one by one, so that each quest in a crowded hall could see his face and hands; the audience rewarded Liszt with a three-meter sturgeon
and a gypsy choir show. Moscow legend asserts that Liszt's affection to gypsy art stemmed from the Moscow shows of 1843.
In the middle of 19th century the Saltykovs sold the building to Bakhrushin family. The Bakhrushins continued leasing the building to the Merchants' Club until 1908, when the tenants relocated to a the new building
three blocks away. Then the owners leased the building to short-lived theatres, cabarets and a casino, until in 1913 they struck a deal with fashionable impressario Friedrich Thomas. Bakhrushins commissioned Karl Gippius to build a large concert hall adjacent to Saltykov's mansion; Thomas came in to manage Maxim's Moscow
. The new venue was a hit among the wealthy patrons; quest stars ranged from opera singers to Inayat Khan
, the founder of Universal Sufism
.
After the 1917 revolution
the building, now known as Dmitrovsky Theatre was shared by different theater companies. Stanislavsky moved in the main hall of Dmitrovsky theatre in 1926. Nemirovich theater did not have a permanent base; it shared the stage and training areas with Stanislavsky theatre. In 1938–1939 the whole compound was rebuilt to its current shape; the stalinist
facade hides original structures of Saltykov's ballroom and the 1913 cabaret hall.
In 1937 the theatre acquired the bells of the demolished Strastnoy convent, used as stage props; in 1990s they were donated to the church in Arbat District.
In May 2005, when the theatre was evacuated and closed for a scheduled renovation, the main stage was destroyed by an accidental fire; the load-bearing structures and smaller concert halls survived. The company moved to Bolshoi theatre
and later moved out of country for a long overseas tour. The small stage was reopened in February 2006, the main stage in September 2006.
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
The theatre was created on 1 September 1941 when the Stanislavski Opera Theatre and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko was a Georgian-born Russian theatre director, writer, pedagogue, playwright, producer and theatre organizer, who founded the Moscow Art Theatre with his colleague, Konstantin Stanislavsky, in 1898.-Biography:Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko was born...
's musical theatre were merged. Although Constantin Stanislavski and Nemirovich worked together at 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...
(which they had established in 1898), their musical companies operated independently for the two decades of the Interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
. The present-day theatre is based in its own building with one opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and two chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
halls in Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street, near Pushkin Square
Pushkin Square
Pushkinskaya Square or Pushkin Square in Moscow, historically known as Strastnaya Square and renamed for Alexander Pushkin in 1937, is located at the junction of the Boulevard Ring and Tverskaya Street, 2 km northwest of the Kremlin...
. The program traditionally includes opera and ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
by 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...
, Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
, Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
, 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...
and other classical composers.
Stanislavski's Opera Studio
In 1918 Stanislavski founded an Opera Studio under the auspices of the Bolshoi TheatreBolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
, though it later severed its connection with the theatre. Its successful production of Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
in 1923 was banned while the director was abroad. In 1924 it was renamed the "Stanislavski Opera Studio" and in 1926 it became the "Stanislavski Opera Studio-Theatre
Studio Theatre
A studio theatre is a 20th-century term that describes a small theatre space. Studio theatres often have a flexible auditorium whose stage and seating may be re-arranged to suit the specific requirements of a production...
," when it moved into its own permanent base at the Dmitrovsky Theatre. In 1928 it became the Stanislavski Opera Theatre. Shortly before his death in 1938 Stanislavski invited Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a great Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre.-Early...
to take over the direction of the company; Meyerhold led the theatre up to his own arrest in June 1939.
Conductors : include Mikhail Zhukov
Mikhail Zhukov (conductor)
Mikhail Nikolayevich Zhukov was a Russian conductor and composer.Zhukov graduated 1918 from the National Choral Academy in Moscow. In 1919-22 he was first concert master, then 1922-32 conductor at the Stanislavsky Opera Studio...
1922-32, 1935–38, current (2011) is Felix Korobov
Felix Korobov
Felix Korobov is a Russian conductor and cellist. A graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory, cello and conducting , he was the conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia and joined the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre in 1999 and the Novaya Opera Theatre...
.
Nemirovich-Danchenko musical theatre
Nemirovich had participated in the Bolshoi's production of The Snow MaidenThe Snow Maiden
The Snow Maiden: A Spring Fairy Tale is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composed during 1880–1881. The Russian libretto, by the composer, is based on the like-named play by Alexander Ostrovsky .The first performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera took place at the...
but soon left for independent work. Nemirovich leaned towards popular operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
and vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
. At the end of 1920 he started production of Lecocq
Alexandre Charles Lecocq
Alexandre Charles Lecocq was a French musical composer. He was admitted into the Conservatoire in 1849, being already an accomplished pianist. He studied under François Bazin, François Benoist, and Fromental Halévy, winning the first prize for harmony in 1850, and the second prize for fugue in 1852...
's La fille de Madame Angot
La fille de Madame Angot
La fille de Madame Angot is an opéra comique in three acts by Charles Lecocq. The French text was by Clairville, Paul Siraudin and Victor Koning.-Performance history:...
, causing an uproar of the "serious drama" core of Moscow Art Theatre company. The show premiered in May 1920, starring guests singers from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Bolshoi company, and became a sell-out hit. A number of successful shows followed until 1925, when the company left for a long tour of Europe and the United States. Nemirovich took up an American offer and stayed in Hollywood until September 1927; a substantial part of his company refused to return to Soviet Russia; the company itself disintegrated.
When Nemirovich returned to the USSR in 1926, he had to start from scratch. For years, his operetta studio did not have a permanent base and orchestra, borrowing both from Stanislavski's theatre in Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street. The company produced primarily musical comedy shows but also the "serious" opera - Traviata and Katerina Izmailova
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is an opera in four acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op.29. The libretto was written by Alexander Preis and the composer, and is based on the story Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov. The opera is sometimes referred to informally as Lady Macbeth...
, both in 1934; Katerina Izmailova was banned in 1935 and resumed in 1962.
War and merger
In June 1941 Nemirovich's company performed on a tour in MurmanskMurmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
and nearby military bases. Immediately upon the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
it returned to Moscow; the shows resumed on 10 August. Stanislavski's company returned to Moscow from Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...
. On 1 September 1941 the companies, reduced in number, were merged to become the "Moscow State Musical Theatre of Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko." Nemirovich was appointed its artistic director
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...
. Keen on overcoming the limitations of the opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
genre, he defended the title of a musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
. In September 1941 part of the company was evacuated first to Nalchik
Nalchik
Nalchik is the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northwest of Beslan in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania. It covers an area of...
, then to Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
and finally Ashabad; Nemirovich with the core of his company stayed in Moscow, performing for the troops. His Moscow company was the only Moscow theatre performing in the disastrous October–November 1941.
Nemirovich, after a short evacuation to Tbilisi, returned to Moscow in September 1942; he died in April 1943. After his death the theatre was managed by Joseph Tumanishvili (stage direction) and Samuil Samosud
Samuil Samosud
Samuil Abramovich Samosud |Georgia]], — Moscow, 6 November 1964) was a Russian conductor. He started his musical career on the cello, before conducting in the Mariinsky Theater, Petrograd in 1917. From 1918 to 1936 he conducted at the Maly Operny, Leningrad. In 1936 he became musical...
(musical department). Over four years of the war the company, split in small groups, performed 770 shows for the front-line troops. Two of its staff were killed in action and one group of artists was taken prisoners of war.
Post-war period
After the war the theatre, directed by Samosud (and later Dmitri KitajenkoDmitri Kitajenko
Dmitri Georgievich Kitayenko is a Russian conductor.He was born in Leningrad and studied at the Glinka Conservatory and those of Leningrad and Moscow. He was a prizewinner in the first Herbert von Karajan competition in 1969....
and Lev Mikhailov), continued operation as a primarily classical opera house; it retained some successful vaudevilles produced in 1930s, but their share was gradually reduced. In 1960s–1980s the theatre regularly collaborated with Komische Oper Berlin
Komische Oper Berlin
The Komische Oper Berlin is an opera company in Berlin, Germany, which specializes in German language productions of opera, operetta and musicals....
, inviting Walter Felsenstein
Walter Felsenstein
Walter Felsenstein was an Austrian theater and opera director.He was one of the most important exponents of textual accuracy, productions in which dramatic and musical values were exquisitely researched and balanced...
and Dieter Mueller to produce musicals in Moscow.
In 1976 Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
launched an unforgiving attack against the "revised" version of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...
. The show was salvaged through support of artistic circles.
In 1989 the theatre suffered its first disastrous fire. The main hall was not damaged, but the fire destroyed the props storage; 20 titles were canceled for years. In December 1990 the company refused to perform in a strike action
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
against the management. The city of Moscow shut down the theatre for two weeks; in January 1991 it reopened under the same management. In July 1991 the orchestra and the choir resigned with their conductors, taking some of the opera soloists with them, finally prompting a replacement of the management.
Today
The theatre, surviving a second fire in 2005, is currently managed by Vladimir Urin (general director), Alexander Titel (artistic director of opera), Felix KorobovFelix Korobov
Felix Korobov is a Russian conductor and cellist. A graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory, cello and conducting , he was the conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia and joined the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre in 1999 and the Novaya Opera Theatre...
(chief conductor), Igor Zelensky (artistic director of ballet) and Vladimir Arefiev (chief stage designer).
The company's repertoire since 2005 has included:
- Operas - including: Betrothal in a Monastery, a burlesque double-bill Cafe "Socrate" featuring Erik SatieErik SatieÉric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
's SocrateSocrateSocrate is a work for voice and piano by Erik Satie. First published in 1919 for voice and piano, in 1920 a different publisher reissued the piece "revised and corrected". A third version of the work exists, for small orchestra and voice, for which the manuscript has disappeared and which is...
and Darius MilhaudDarius MilhaudDarius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
's Le pauvre matelotLe pauvre matelotLe pauvre matelot is a three act opera composed by Darius Milhaud with libretto by Jean Cocteau. Its first performance was at the Opéra-Comique on December 16, 1927. Le pauvre matelot is short, lasting about 35 minutes when performed, and is dedicated to Henri Sauguet...
, Bizet's CarmenCarmenCarmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Cosi fan tutteCosì fan tutteCosì fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, The DemonThe Demon (opera)The Demon is an opera in three acts by Russian composer Anton Rubinstein. The work was composed in 1871. The libretto was by Pavel Viskovatov, based on the poem of the same name by Mikhail Lermontov.-Background:...
, Die FledermausDie FledermausDie Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
, Eugene OneginEugene OneginEugene Onegin is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin.It is a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary heroes . It was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832...
Vladimir KobekinVladimir KobekinVladimir Aleksandrovich Kobekin is a Russian composer chiefly admired for his opera compositions....
's comic opera Hamlet (Prince of Denmark)(Russian) Comedy (2008), Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La BohèmeLa bohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, La Forza del DestinoLa forza del destinoLa forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...
, La TraviataLa traviataLa traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, Les Contes d'HoffmannLes contes d'HoffmannLes contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
, Lucia di LammermoorLucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
, Madama ButterflyMadama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
, May NightMay NightMay Night is an opera in three acts, four scenes, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov from a libretto by the composer and is based on Nikolai Gogol's story May Night, or the Drowned Maiden, from his collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka....
, Moscow, CheryomushkiMoscow, CheryomushkiMoscow, Cheryomushki is an operetta in three acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op. 105. It is sometimes referred to as simply Cheryomushki...
, Pelléas et Mélisande, Pique Dame, The Tale of Tsar SaltanThe Tale of Tsar SaltanThe Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan is an 1831 poem by Aleksandr Pushkin, written after the Russian fairy tale edited by Vladimir Dahl...
, ToscaToscaTosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
and WertherWertherWerther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
. - Ballet - Traditional Russian repertoire and experimental works such as John NeumeierJohn NeumeierJohn Neumeier is a well-known American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He has been the director and chief choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet since 1973. 5 years later he founded the Hamburg Ballet School, which also includes a boarding school...
's water ballet The Little Mermaid.
The building
The theatre stands on the site of Count Pyotr SaltykovPyotr Saltykov
Count Pyotr Semyonovich Saltykov was a Russian statesman and a military figure, russian general-fieldmarshal , son of Semyon Saltykov....
's estate. Parts of the ground floor of Saltykov's house survived the fire of 1812
Fire of Moscow (1812)
The 1812 Fire of Moscow broke out on September 14, 1812 in Moscow on the day when Russian troops and most residents abandoned the city and Napoleon's vanguard troops entered the city following the Battle of Borodino...
and subsequent expansions and are now integrated in the theatre lobby and the small concert hall. In 1839 Praskovya Saltykova leased the building to Moscow Merchant Society. The Club regularly invited notable musicians; in 1843 it presented concerts by Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
. Liszt had to play two grand pianos, one by one, so that each quest in a crowded hall could see his face and hands; the audience rewarded Liszt with a three-meter sturgeon
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
and a gypsy choir show. Moscow legend asserts that Liszt's affection to gypsy art stemmed from the Moscow shows of 1843.
In the middle of 19th century the Saltykovs sold the building to Bakhrushin family. The Bakhrushins continued leasing the building to the Merchants' Club until 1908, when the tenants relocated to a the new building
Lenkom Theatre
Lenkom Theatre is the official name of what was once known as the Moscow State Theatre named after Lenin's Komsomol. Designed by Illarion Ivanov-Schitz, it was built in 1907 to house a Merchant's Club, and was home to many theatrical and musical performances...
three blocks away. Then the owners leased the building to short-lived theatres, cabarets and a casino, until in 1913 they struck a deal with fashionable impressario Friedrich Thomas. Bakhrushins commissioned Karl Gippius to build a large concert hall adjacent to Saltykov's mansion; Thomas came in to manage Maxim's Moscow
Maxim's Paris
Maxim's is the name of a restaurant in Paris, France, located at No. 3 of the rue Royale. It is known for its art nouveau interior decor.-History:...
. The new venue was a hit among the wealthy patrons; quest stars ranged from opera singers to Inayat Khan
Inayat Khan
Inayat Khan was an exemplar of Universal Sufism and founder of the "Sufi Order in the West" in 1914 . Later, in 1923, the Sufi Order of the London period was dissolved into a new organization formed under Swiss law and called the "International Sufi Movement"...
, the founder of Universal Sufism
Universal Sufism
Universal Sufism is a universalist spiritual movement founded by Hazrat Inayat Khan while traveling throughout the West between 1910 and 1926, based on unity of all people and religions and the presence of spiritual guidance in all people, places and things. It is to some extent influenced by the ...
.
After the 1917 revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
the building, now known as Dmitrovsky Theatre was shared by different theater companies. Stanislavsky moved in the main hall of Dmitrovsky theatre in 1926. Nemirovich theater did not have a permanent base; it shared the stage and training areas with Stanislavsky theatre. In 1938–1939 the whole compound was rebuilt to its current shape; the stalinist
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...
facade hides original structures of Saltykov's ballroom and the 1913 cabaret hall.
In 1937 the theatre acquired the bells of the demolished Strastnoy convent, used as stage props; in 1990s they were donated to the church in Arbat District.
In May 2005, when the theatre was evacuated and closed for a scheduled renovation, the main stage was destroyed by an accidental fire; the load-bearing structures and smaller concert halls survived. The company moved to Bolshoi theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
and later moved out of country for a long overseas tour. The small stage was reopened in February 2006, the main stage in September 2006.