As the center stage of Russian musical and performance culture, the Bolshoi Theater has throughout the years reflected all major phases in the development of Russian and world music and the performing arts.  This Repertoire, left in manuscript by the author when he died in 1973, lists all productions of the Bolshoi Theater from its opening more than 200 years ago through 1955, including operas, ballets, plays and special events.  This is the most complete work of its kind ever published. Included are descriptions of many operas and ballets that were previously undiscovered and are otherwise unknown.

 

Using this catalog, researchers can track the birth and unique development of Russian opera, which stems from the folk comic opera of the late 18th century.  (One of the authors who wrote for the Bolshoi Theater was Catherine the Great, whose opera was staged under condition of anonymity.)  French, Italian and Austrian operas (including Mozart’s Magic Flute, and dozens of others) occupied an important place in the Bolshoi repertoire of the early 19th century.  The Bolshoi also organized classical music concerts, including the works of such composers as Beethoven,Chopin, Handel, Haydn and others.  However, the most glorious chapter in the Bolshoi’s history was its ballet performances.  Ever since Italian choreographers began staging ballets at the Bolshoi in the late 18th century, ballet played a large part in the repertoire of the theater.  In the first quarter of the 19th century alone, 137 ballets were staged.  However, the fame of the Bolshoi as a leader in classical ballet really began after the staging of ballets by Marius Petipa, the famous French choreographer.

 

Until the early 20th century, the repertoire of the Bolshoi included not only ballet and opera but also vaudeville, comedy and drama.  This catalog lists only those productions that contained music. Besides operas, ballets and vaudeville, the catalog lists dramas and melodramas for which special music was written, as well as oratorios by Haydn and others performed at the Bolshoi.

 

The work is organized by year, and each year is divided into Operas and Ballets.  Within each category, there is a chronological listing of  all new productions for the year.  Each entry includes the name of the composer and the librettist. For each newly staged opera or ballet, there is information on the subject matter and the main cast members, set designers, orchestra conductors, and often long, detailed synopses of the libretto. In addition, for each year there are separate lists of works first produced in prior years and included in that year's Current Repertoire, in alphabetical order. Although the Russian edition only provided each person's initials, this new edition includes full names and dates for almost all of the significant composers and librettists and many of the performers, and brief comments on each one.

 

Although Fedorov, a great Russian historian of the theater and music, expected to see his magnum opus published within a few years after he had completed his work, unknown political currents prevented that from happening, and he died, sadly, without ever seeing it in print. The manuscript languished afterward for 25 years before being offered by Vyacheslav Nechaev to Norman Ross for publication. The work was typed for Ross in Moscow and published in New York in Russian a few years later, but only 50 copies exist around the world, in libraries and private collections. The current edition has been by translated computer software, but subsequently verified word by word by a team headed by Ross and including a professional translator and a young music historian, both in Russia. Foreign works, translated into Russian by Fedorov and his predecssors, were translated into English by the software, but are now in their original languages. For example, "The Troubador" is now restored to "Il Trovatore." (Ross published several other works left in manuscript by deceased authors, including Iona I. Gintsburg, Sergei Postnikov and Mikhail Bulgakov.)

                                                           

The book contains an insert with illustrations and has separate indexes for operas and ballets, by composer and librettist, etc., with a biblography and an index to people not included in other indexes. Throughout the book the reader will find unique detailed descriptions by Fedorov of the major events related to the Bolshoi Theater, such as fires and rebuilding, and commentaries on the flow of foreign troupes and on political undercurrents.

 

The materials used in compiling this catalog came from The Bolshoi Theater Museum, TsGALI (Central State Archive for Literature and Arts, St. Petersburg), and the Central Research Library of the Russian Theatrical Performers’ Union.  The compiler also used related materials originally published in the Moskovskie vedomosti.

Published by agreement with the Central Research Library of the Russian Theatrical Performers’ Union. The English edition has been greatly facilitated by Alexey Beklemeshev (djin1110@yandex.ru) in Krasnodar, primarily, and Aliona Eudokimova, in St. Petersburg. Beklemeshev, an extraordinary professional translator, not living near a research library, did all his research online, Eudokimova, whose contributions were fewer, was able to use the resources of the Library of the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, whose card catalog we published on microfiche in the 1990s.

 

ISBN: 978-0-88354-999-5, 576 pages, library binding, illustrations, acid-free paper…....................................…………….$49

 

Publication date: March 15, 2022

 

To purchase your copy email: info@rosspub.com