Mariinsky Theatre
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The Mariinsky Theatre (Russian: Мариинский театр), also spelled Maryinsky Theatre {previously known as the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre (1860-circa 1920), the National Academy of Opera and Ballet (1920-1935), and the Kirov Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet named for Sergei Kirov (1935-1992)} is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. The Mariinsky Theatre is named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II. Since Yuri Temirkanov's retirement in 1988, the world-famous conductor Valery Gergiev serves as its general director.
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[edit] Buildings
The Imperial opera and ballet theatre in St Petersburg was established in 1783 at the behest of Catherine the Great, although an Italian ballet troupe had performed at the Russian court since the early 18th century. Originally, the ballet and opera performances were given in the wooden Karl Knipper Theatre on Tsaritsa Meadow, near the present-day Tripartite Bridge (also known as the Little Theatre or the Maly Theatre). The Hermitage Theatre, next door to the Winter Palace, was used to host performances for an elite audience of aristocratic guests invited by the Empress.
A permanent theatre building for the new company of opera and ballet artists was designed by Antonio Rinaldi and opened in 1783. Known as the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre the structure was situated on Theatre Square. Both names were coined to distinguish it from the wooden Little Theatre: "Kamenny" is the Russian word for "stone" and "Bolshoi" is the Russian word for "big". In 1836, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was renovated to a design by Albert Cavos (son of Caterino Cavos, an opera composer), and served as the principal theatre of the Imperial Ballet and opera.
On 29 January 1849, the Equestrian circus (Конный цирк) opened on Theatre Square. This was also the work of the architect Cavos. The building was designed to double as a theatre.[1] It was a wooden structure in the then-fashionable neo-Byzantine style. Ten years later, when this circus burnt down, Cavos rebuilt it as an opera and ballet house with the largest stage in the world. With a seating capacity of 1,625 and a U-shaped Italian-style auditorium, the theatre opened on 2 October 1860 with a performance of A Life for the Tsar. The new theatre was named Mariinsky after its royal patroness, Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
In 2003, the post-modernist architect Dominique Perrault won a much-publicized contest for his design for a new home for the theatre, adjacent to the current building. The historic original structure will undergo a complete renovation, expected to begin in Autumn 2006.
[edit] Traditions
The Imperial Mariinsky Theatre and its predecessor, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, hosted the premieres of all the operas of Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. At the behest of the theatre director Ivan Vsevolozhsky, both the Imperial Ballet and the Imperial Opera were relocated to the Mariinksy Theatre in 1886, as the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was considered unsafe. It was there that the renowned choreographer Marius Petipa presented many of his masterpieces, including such staples of the ballet repertory as the The Sleeping Beauty in 1890, The Nutcracker in 1892, Raymonda in 1898, and the definitive revival of Swan Lake (with Lev Ivanov) in 1895.
The first original ballet to be produced there was Petipa's The Magic Pills, to the music of Léon Minkus.
World premieres of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel, Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Iolanthe, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella, and Khachaturian's Spartacus were also produced there.
The imperial and Soviet theater was the home of numerous great impresarios, conductors, and musicians. The Vaganova Academy of Russia Ballet, the ballet school of the Mariinksy Theatre, spawned careers of Mathilde Kschessinskaya, Olga Preobrajenskaya, Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky, Marina Semenova, George Balanchine, Galina Ulanova, Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Irina Kolpakova, Altynai Asylmuratova, and in more recent tines dancers of renown like Diana Vishneva, and Svetlana Zakharova.
[edit] The present day Opera Company
Under Yuri Temirkanov, Principal Conductor from 1976 to 1988, the Opera Company continued to stage innovative productions of both modern and classic Russian operas. However, since 1988, under the artistic leadership of Valery Gergiev, the Opera Company has entered a new era of artistic excellence and creativity.
Although functioning separately from the Theatre’s Ballet Company, both Opera and Ballet Companies are headed by Gergiev as Artistic Director of the entire Theatre. His tenure as head of the present day Opera Company at the Mariinsky Theatre began in 1988 and (especially since 1993), Gergiev’s impact on opera there has been enormous. Firstly, he reorganized the company’s operations and established links with many of the world's great opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra Bastille, La Scala, La Fenice, the Tel Aviv Opera, the Washington National Opera and the San Francisco Opera. Today, the Opera Company regularly tours to most of these cities.
Gergiev has also been innovative as far as Russian opera is concerned: in 1989 there was an all-Mussorgsky festival featuring the composer’s entire operatic output . Similarly, many of Prokofiev’s operas were presented from the late 1990s. Operas by non-Russian composers began to be performed in their original languages, which helped the Opera Company to incorporate world trends. The annual international Stars of the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, started by Gergiev in 1993, has also put the Mariinsky on the world’s cultural map. That year, as a salute to the imperial origins of the Mariinsky, Verdi´s La forza del destino, which received its premiere in Saint Petersburg in 1863, was produced with its original sets, costumes and scenery. Since then, it has become a characteristic of the White Nights Festival to present the premieres from the company’s upcoming season during this magical period, when the hours of darkness practically disappear as the summer solstice approaches.
Presently, the Company lists on its roster 22 sopranos (of which Anna Netrebko may be the best known); 13 mezzo-sopranos (with Olga Borodina familiar to US and European audiences); 23 tenors; eight baritones; and 14 basses. With Gergiev in charge overall, there is a Head of Stage Administration, a Stage Director, Stage Managers and Assistants, along with 14 accompanists.
[edit] References
- Krasovskaya V.M. Балет Ленинграда: Академический театр оперы и балета им. С.М. Кирова. Leningrad, 1961.
- Beauvert, Thierry. Opera Houses of the World, The Vendome Press, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-86565-978-8
- Allison, John (ed.), Great Opera Houses of the World, Supplement to Opera Magazine, London, 2003.
[edit] External links
- Mariinsky Theatre Official Website
- Gallery of the Mariinsky Theatre
- Virtual Tour of the main hall of the Mariinsky Theatre
- Panorama of Theatre Square outside of the Mariinsky Theatre
- New Building of the Mariinsky Theatre
- Satellite image of the Theatre, centered on the main entrance
