Musical Drama Theatre

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Theaters, Concert Organizations
MUSICAL DRAMA THEATRE, operated in St. Petersburg (Petrograd) in 1912-19. Also performed at the Grand Hall of the Conservatory. Its founder and art director was I. M. Lapitsky. The Musical Drama Theatre was the first opera theatre to have a director, following theatrical principles developed by K.S. Stanislavsky, working to reorganise the opera stage, and struggling against the tradition of aimless opera staging. Thanks to an improvement of the rehearsal process and a reworking of the singer-actors' methods, graduates of the Conservatory were chosen for the troupe. Many of them achieved fame and successfully performed in Russia and abroad, including L.A. Andreeva-Delmas, M.I Brian, P M. Zhuravlenko, S.Y. Levik, M.I. Litvinenko-Wolgemut, and A.I. Mozzhukhin. Many celebrated singers, including L.Y. Lipkovskaya, L.V. Sobinov, also appeared on Musical Drama Theatre's stage. The theatre's musical director, conductor М. A. Bikhter, did a great deal for renewed theatrical relations between music and scenery. Other conductors included A.E. Margulyan, A.V. Pavlov-Abrenin, and G. Fitelberg; and designers included I.Y. Bilibin, M.V. Dobuzhinsky, and N.K. Roerich. Among production that provoked strong public response were Eugene Onegin by P.I. Tchaikovsky (1912), Carmen by G. Bizet, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) by R. Wagner, Boris Godunov by M.P. Musorgsky (1913), The Stone Guest by A.S. Dargomyzhsky, and Pelleas et Melisande by C. Debussy (1915). The Musical Drama Theatre's artistic achievement went down in the history of opera-theatre as a truly unique one; although it was not appreciated at the time, its stage direction techniques were assimilated into the art by the late 20th century.

References: Левик С. Ю. Записки оперного певца. 2-е изд., перераб. и доп. М., 1962; Его же. Четверть века в опере. М., 1970; Гозенпуд А. А. Русский оперный театр между двух революций, 1905-1917. Л., 1975.

E. V. Tretyakova. Andreeva-Delmas Lyubov Alexandrovna
Bikhter Mikhail Alexeevich
Bilibin Ivan Yakovlevich
Bizet Georges
Brian Maria Isaakovna
Dargomyzhsky Alexander Sergeevich
Debussy Claude Achille
Dobuzhinsky Mstislav Valerianovich
Fitelberg Grzegorz
Lapitsky (alias Mikhailov) Iosif Mikhailovich
Levik Sergey Yurievich
Lipkovskaya Lidia Yakovlevna
Litvinenko-Wolgemut Maria Ivanovna
Margulyan Arnold Evadyevich
Mozzhukhin Alexander Ilyich
Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich
Pavlov-Abrenin Alexander Vasilievich
Roerich Nikolay Konstantinovich
Sobinov Leonid Vitalievich
Stanislavsky Konstantin Sergeevich
Tchaikovsky Peter Ilyich
Wagner Richard
Zhuravlenko Pavel Maximovich
Левик С. Ю. Записки оперного певца. 2-е изд., перераб. и доп. М., 1962
Гозенпуд А. А. Русский оперный театр между двух революций, 1905–1917. Л., 1975
Левик С. Ю. Четверть века в опере. М., 1970 Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory