Mikhailovsky Theater

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Mikhailovsky Theater, Saint Petersburg, "Arts Square", corner of Mikhailovskaya ulica

The State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater St. Petersburg MP Mussorgsky - Mikhailovsky Theater ( Russian Миха́йловский теа́тр ) in Saint Petersburg , in the 19th century also "Théâtre Michel", in the 20th century long " Maly Theater " ("Small Opera House") , next to the Mariinsky Theater, is the most important opera house in the city. Built in 1833, in the 19th century it was mainly used by French drama and opera ensembles, was an important experimental site for Soviet music theater in the 1920s and has had its own ballet company since 1933 .

history

Historical view from 1935: View of the “Platz der Künste”, on the left the Mikhailovsky Theater

The theater building was built based on a decree by Tsar Nicholas I based on a design by Alexander Pavlovich Brjullow in the neoclassical style. It owes its name to the Tsar's brother, Grand Duke Michael Pawlowitsch Romanow (Russian Михаил - Michail), on whose name day it was opened on November 8, 1833. Until the Russian Revolution , German, French and Italian theater and opera ensembles played the game. French pieces alternated with Russian and German pieces. In between there were musical performances and concerts. Renowned actors who appeared at Michailowski included Jeanne Sylvanie Arnould-Plessy, Rachel Félix, Lucien Guitry and Sarah Bernhardt . Pieces by Molière , Victor Hugo , Victorien Sardou and Alexandre Dumas were performed in French. The theater was considered the house of French culture.

After the complete renovation of the interior, commissioned by Alberto Cavos, the architect of the Mariinsky Theater , to increase the seating capacity, a new era began in 1859. Opéra-comique and operettas found their way into the Mikhailovsky Theater. The works of Jacques Offenbach were particularly successful , including his Orpheus in the Underworld in 1859 and the Russian premiere of La belle Hélène on April 9, 1866 in the presence of Tsar Alexander II . The main female roles were played by French operetta divas such as Hortense Schneider and Anna Judic , who were famous for their erotic charisma. In the 1890s, major operas and ballets were increasingly performed. Marius Petipa created the choreographies. From the turn of the century, ensembles from the Alexandrinsky Theater and the Mariinsky Theater also played in the Mikhailovsky Theater, starring Fyodor Chalyapin and Matilda Kschessinskaja .

After the Bolsheviks came to power , the theater was closed for a short time. The French theater companies had to leave the country. On March 6, 1918, the Michailowski was reopened as an opera house with a performance of Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia .

Prokofiev
Meyerhold
Shostakovich

The theater only got its own ensemble in the 1920s. Under the direction of the artistic director Samuil Abramowitsch Samossud , it developed into a central experimental facility for Soviet music theater. The first two operas by Dmitri Shostakovich premiered here: on June 16, 1929 Die Nase (conducted by Samosud) and in 1934 Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (staged by Nikolai Smolich , also conducted by Samosud). After sixteen performances, Die Nase had to be taken off the program in 1931 under political pressure. The allegations against the opera were that a positive hero would be missing and the composition was formalistic . After an unsigned “Verriss” in Pravda in 1936 , Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was banned from the Soviet Union. Productions by Vsevolod Meyerhold were also heavily criticized by the state in the 1930s, which accused him of “anti-Soviet propaganda”. His new staging of Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame in 1935 at Mikhailovsky was seen as a bow to the realism demanded by the government and nevertheless set the scene. The staged premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's monumental work War and Peace in 1946 was well received by the educated public of the house, but also criticized by communist cultural policy . The composer worked on the regime's change requests until his death in 1953.

In the early 1930s, the Russian choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov built a ballet troupe on the Mikhailovsky. The first premiere, Les Millions d'Arlequin based on a composition by Riccardo Drigo , took place on June 13, 1933. The house only received the official status of not only an opera but also a ballet theater in 1963.

Meyerhold's last opera production was Rigoletto on March 10, 1939 in Michailowski. During the Second World War , the theater could no longer employ directors like him and Smolich and lost its reputation as a center for experimental productions. When the Leningrad blockade by the German army and the bombardment of the city began in 1941 , the Mikhailovsky ensemble was evacuated to Orenburg , where it performed the ballet La Fille mal gardée on May 1, 1944 . The theater building was not destroyed.

present

Since 2007 the businessman Wladimir Kechman has been managing director of the Mikhailovsky Theater, which had the house and stage equipment restored. Mikhail Tatarnikov is the musical director and chief conductor. Mariss Jansons is there to advise the theater.

Michail Messerer became ballet master in 2009 and artistic director of the ballet in January 2018. From 2011 to 2013, the Spaniard Nacho Duato was the first foreign ballet director in Russia since the French Marius Petipa over a hundred years ago to take over the artistic direction with the task of modernizing the purely classical company with 130 dancers. The dance stars Iwan Wassiljew and Natalja Ossipowa then switched from Bolshoi to Michailowski ballet. Duato developed his own versions of Sleeping Beauty , Romeo and Juliet and The Nutcracker . In 2013 the troupe showed their choreography of Sleeping Beauty at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

The Mikhailovsky Ballet performed in London in 2008, 2010 and 2013. After its last guest appearance , it received the National Dance Award in 2014 in the category “best ballet company”, and Natalia Ossipova was honored as “best dancer” for her performances with the Mikhailovsky ballet. With the performance of Flames of Paris (Пла́мя Пари́жа), a choreography by Vasily Vaynonen from 1932 to music by Boris Assafjew , the Mikhailovsky Ballet made its US debut in 2014 at the David H. Koch Theater in New York City . The piece is an allegory that the French Revolution uses as an analogy to the Russian. Natalja Ossipowa and Ivan Vasiliev danced the main roles.

The repertoire of music theater includes operas and operettas, especially pieces by Tchaikovsky , Verdi , Johann Strauss and Offenbach . In 2013 the opera ensemble made a guest appearance at the Savonlinna Opera Festival .

Surname

After the Russian Revolution, the name of the house was changed several times, first to "Ex-Mikhailovsky", then to "Maly Operny Teatr" ("Small Opera House") or "Leningrad Small Opera Theater" in contrast to the larger Mariinsky, later to "State Small Theater" for opera and ballet Leningrad ”. In literature it is often shortened to “Maly Theater” and sometimes confused with the Moscow Maly Theater . After further name changes, it was named after the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1989 . In 2001 the pre-revolutionary name reappeared. In 2007 it got its original name "Mikhailovsky Theater" back with the addition in 1991 "State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater St. Petersburg MP Mussorgsky".

gallery

  • Auditorium with 980 seats

  • Stage and orchestra pit

  • Performance of Jolanthe in 2011

Web links

Commons : Mikhailovsky Theater  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Joachim Lange: Theater in Saint Petersburg. The beginning of something. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , July 14, 2009.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f History of the Mikhaylovsky Theater , official website (English), accessed January 28, 2018
  3. ^ A b Daniel Jaffé: Historical Dictionary of Russian Music. Scarecrow Press, Lanham MD 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-5311-9 , p. 200.
  4. ↑ a b Eckart Kröplin : Dmitri Schostakowitsch. In: Udo Bermbach (Ed.): Opera in the 20th century. Development tendencies and composers. JB Metzler, Stuttgart et al. 2000, ISBN 3-476-01733-8 , p. 519.
  5. ^ Sigrid Neef : Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera . Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin (GDR) 1985, p. 533 .
  6. ↑ Manfred Hildermeier : History of the Soviet Union. 1917-1991. The rise and fall of the first socialist state. CH Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-43588-2 , p. 568.
  7. ^ Sigrid Neef : Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera . Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin (GDR) 1985, p. 370 f .
  8. ↑ Михайловский театр - Театр Оперы и балета им. Мусоргского, Классицизм, Архитектор Брюллов А. П., Росси К. И., Кавос А. К., Искусств пл., 1, Инженерная ул., 1 ( ru ) October 28, 2012. Accessed August 8, 2016.
  9. ^ Wilbur Zelinsky, Leszek A. Kosiński: The Emergency Evacuation of Cities. A Cross-national Historical and Geographical Study. Rowman & Littlefield, Savage MD 1991, ISBN 0-8476-7673-0 , p. 157.
  10. ↑ Fedor Lopukhov: Writings on Ballet and Music. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 2002, ISBN 0-299-18274-6 , p. 193.
  11. ^ Eva Gerberding: The Mikhailovsky Theater. Merian, St. Petersburg 11/2009 edition.
  12. ↑ Mikhail Tatarnikov. State Opera Unter den Linden, Berlin
  13. ↑ Artistic Management: Mikhail Messerer, Michailowski Theater
  14. ↑ Personal section . In: tanz , January 2012, p. 30, ( online ).
  15. ↑ Angela Reinhardt: to Russia: Nacho Duato. In: tanz , October 2010, p. 33, ( online ).
  16. ^ House: Bavarian State Opera . Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  17. ↑ National Dance awards honor Natalia Osipova and Rambert's Dane Hurst. In: The Guardian , Jan. 27, 2014.
  18. ^ Brian Seibert: By Turns Restrained and Rowdy, in a Playful Revolutionary Tale. Mikhailovsky Ballet Performs 'Flames in Paris' in US debut. In: The New York Times , November 16, 2014.
  19. ↑ Archived copy . Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  20. ^ Sigrid Neef : Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera . Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin (GDR) 1985, p. 370 .

Coordinates: 59 ° 56 ′ 16.3 ″  N , 30 ° 19 ′ 44.9 ″  E