Mariinsky Theatre
The Mariinsky Theatre (Russian: Мариинский театр), formerly known as the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre (1935-1992) and as the National Academy of Opera and Ballet (1920-1935), is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Since Yuri Temirkanov's retirement in 1988, the world-famous conductor Valery Gergiev serves as its general director.
Buildings
The Imperial opera and ballet theatre in St Petersburg was established in 1783 on 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 the Tsaritsa Meadow near the present-day Tripartite Bridge (also known as the Little Theatre or the Maly Theatre). The Hermitage Theatre, situated next door to the Winter Palace, was used to host performances before 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 Kamenny Theatre (or the Bolshoi Theatre of Saint Petersburg), 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 reconstructed to a design by Albert Cavos (son of Caterino Cavos, an opera composer).
On 29 January 1849, construction was completed of an Equestrian circus (Конный цирк) on Theatre Square. This was also the work of the architect Cavos. The building was designed to be able to double as a theatre.[1] It was a wooden construction in a 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 the 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.
As the sheer size of the new stage called for ever more spectacular and ever more extravagant productions, which eventually revolutionized the world of ballet, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre appeared outdated and entered the period of artistic decline. It was finally demolished in the 1890s to make room for the St Petersburg Conservatory, while the remaining troupe was transferred to the Mariinsky.
In 2003, a postmodernist architect Dominique Perrault won a much publicized contest to design a new building for the theatre, which would be situated side by side with the old one. The historic building is in need of updating, too. It is expected to close for the 14-month refurbishment in Autumn 2006.
Traditions
The Imperial Mariinsky Theatre and its predecessor, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, hosted premieres of all the operas by 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 relocted to the Mariinksy Theatre in 1886. It was there that the renowned choreographer Marius Petipa presented many of his masterpieces, including such staples of the world 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 ballet to be given at the Mariinsky was Petipa's 1884 revival of the Saint-Lèon/Pugni La Vivadière. 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 Choreographic Institute, the ballet school of the Mariinksy Theatre, spawned careers of Mathilde Kschessinska, Olga Preobrajenska, Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky, 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.
The present day Opera Company
While Yuri Temirkanov served as Principal Conductor from 1976 to 1988, during which time he was innovative in staging both modern and classic Russian operas, it was with the beginning of the Valery Gergiev years that the Opera Company began a new era of artistic excellence and innovation.
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 instituted 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. Nowadays regular tours by the opera company take place to many of these cities.
Gergiev has also been innovative as far as Russian opera is concerned: in 1989 there was an all-Mussorgsky festival feature 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 adopt 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. One of the main characteristics of this festival is its tradition to stage all the premieres of the current season. As a salute to the imperial traditions of the theatre, Verdi´s La forza del destino, which received its premiere in Saint Petersburg in 1863, was produced with its original sets, costumes and scenery; in addition many striking premieres of the company’s future season were presented during this extraordinary period of the summer when the hours of darkness are few.
Presently, on its roster, the Company lists twenty-two sopranos (of which Anna Netrebko may be the best known); thirteen mezzo-sopranos (with Olga Borodina familiar to US and European audiences); twenty-three tenors; eight baritones; and fourteen basses. With Gergiev in charge overall, there is a Head of Stage Administration, a Stage Director, Stage Managers and Assistants, along with fourteen accompanists.
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.