Moscow Music Theater

(full name, K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theater), a theater founded in 1941 as a result of the merging of the K. S. Stanislavsky Opera Theater and the V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theater. (The former had been founded in 1918 as the opera studio of the Bolshoi Theater and became a theater in 1928, and the latter had been founded in 1919 as the music studio of the Moscow Art Theater and became a theater in 1926.) The theater company follows the principles of the Moscow Art Theater and strives through a synthesis of music, voice, and drama to reveal the ideological and artistic content of the works being presented.

The Moscow Music Theater devotes special attention to the works of Soviet composers. Among its productions have been Nadezhda Svetlova by Dzerzhinskii (1943), Liubov’ Iarovaia by Enke (1947), The Family of Taras by Kabalevskii (1951; State Prize of the USSR, 1952), In the Storm by Khrennikov (1952), The Dawn by Molchanov (1956), War and Peace (1957) and Betrothal in the Monastery (1959) by Prokofiev, The Gadfly by Spadavecchia (1960), Katerina Izmailova by Shostakovich (1962), The Value of Life by Nikolaev (1965), The Baseborn Son-in-law by Khrennikov (1967), Virineia by Slonimskii (1967), Colas Breugnon by Kabalevskii (1971), and Three Lives by Taktakishvili (1972). Ballets staged at the theater have included Lola by Vasilenko (1943; State Prize of the USSR, 1946), The Coast of Happiness by Spadavecchia (1948), Joan of Arc by Peiko (1957), Poem by Tsinadze (1964), Lonely White Sail by Aleksandrov (1970), Cinderella by Prokofiev (1971), and Gayane by Khachaturian (1972).

The theater has staged the operas Iolanthe by Tchaikovsky, Carmen by Bizet, Manon by Massenet, and Mavra by Stravinsky, as well as the operettas The Gipsy Baron by J. Strauss, The Beggar Student by Millocker, and Donna Juanita by von Suppé. The theater has also staged the ballets Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky, Don Juan by R. Strauss, Pictures at an Exhibition to the music of Mussorgsky, Snow Maiden to the music of Tchaikovsky, and Paquita by Minkus.

The theater’s stage directors have included L. V. Baratov, P. A. Markov, I. M. Tumanov, and P. S. Zlatogorov. The conductors have been S. A. Samosud, K. D. Abdullaev, E. A. Akulov, and V. A. Edel’man. The troupe has consisted of such singers as S. M. Golemba, M. S. Gol’dina, N. F. Kemarskaia, M. L. Mel’ttser, P. I. Mokeev, A. A. Rosnitskaia, S. A. Tsenin, T. S. Iudina, and Iu. P. Iunitskii and such ballet soloists as V. P. Burmeister, M. S. Sorokina, A. A. Klein, and I. V. Kurilov. The theatrical troupe includes (1973) the singers People’s Artist of the USSR V. A. Kandelaki; People’s Artists of the RSFSR N. S. Isakova and L. I. Boldin; Honored Artists of the RSFSR V. A. Kaevchenko, A. M. Mishchevskii, E. I. Maksimenko, E. T. Sarkisian, and T. F. Ianko; and Honored Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR I. A. Dzhafarov. The actors include N. A. Avdoshina, N. L. Gutarovich, L. K. Zakharenko, N. V. Korshunov, and G. A. Pisarenko, and the ballet soloists are People’s Artist of the USSR V. T. Bovt, People’s Artist of the RSFSR E. E. Vlasova, and Honored Artists of the RSFSR S. A. Vinogradova and Iu. V. Grigor’ev, as well as the dancers G. N. Krapivina, M. S. Drozdova, and V. S. Tedeev. The principal conductor is D. G. Kitaenko, and the principal stage director is People’s Artist of the RSFSR L. D. Mikhailov. People’s Artist of the RSFSR A. V. Chichinadze is the principal choreographer. The main chorus master is I. K. Mertens, and the principal artist (set and costume designer) is Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR A. F. Lushin.

The ballet troupe has toured France, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Finland, Latin America, Japan, and other countries, and the opera company has performed in the German Democratic Republic. The name “academic” was bestowed upon the theater in 1964. The theater was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1969.