Title of the article:

CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF MOSCOW AT THE TURN OF THE 19th CENTURY: NOBLE THEATERS OF THE CITY. MAIN TYPES AND FEATURES OF OPERATION

Author(s):

Alexey V. Belov

Information about the author/authors

Alexey V. Belov — PhD in History, Senior Researcher, Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dmitry Ulyanov 19, 117292 Moscow, Russia.
ORCID ID: https//orcid.org/0000-0001-5606-0086
E-mail: belovavhist@mail.ru

Section

Theory and history of culture

Year

2022

Volume

Vol. 65

Pages

pp. 62–70

Received

April 20, 2021

Approved after reviewing

July 08, 2021

Date of publication

September 28, 2022

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2022-65-62-70

Index UDK

008

Index BBK

71(2) + 85.33(2)

Abstract

The paper examines the place and significance of the city`s noble manor theaters in the cultural environment of Moscow in the second half of the 18th – early 19th centuries. The priority attention of the study is drawn to the frontier of two centuries, since this historical stage was marked by a final rooting of the hitherto mostly alien Western European theater tradition in the Russian city (primarily metropolitan) society, which led to the further development of theatrical art as an integral part of national culture of Russia. Along with this, the last years of the 18th century became the peak of the manor theater as part of the urban cultural space of Moscow. The noble character of the “old” capital as well as the dense ring of “Moscow” — suburban estates, oriented in all aspects of their life to Moscow — contributed to this momentum. Based on the census of Moscow theaters conducted in the last years of the 18th century, the study provides characteristics of the main types of home stage groups, which are divided into a number of independent types, differing from each other in a degree of openness, main goals of existence, circle of participants and social component of their activities. The paper explains the features and goals of their functioning, analyzing such a phenomenon of the cultural life of Moscow of those years as “noble” performances and “noble” actors. The research also dwells on some of the most notable and characteristic creative groups, stage venues and stage ministers, presenting an assessment of the nature of their work. The author draws special attention to the importance of home city theaters and orchestras in the development of public theater art in the country, formation of the necessary creative personnel, appearance of new talented actors on the Moscow`s imperial stage, including those maintaining their dependent serfdom. The study concludes with an assessment of the subjective and objective reasons of the decay of manor theaters in Moscow and Russia, as well as their transformation on a new “commercial” basis in the first half of the 19th century.

Keywords

cultural environment of the city, Moscow, theater, capital, noble theater, manor theater.

References

1 Ageeva O. G. Imperatorskii dvor Rossii epokhi Pavla I [Imperial Court of Russia of the Era of Paul I] ]. Moscow, Fond “Sviaz' Epokh” Publ., 2018. 456 р. (In Russian)

2 Beskin E. M. Istoriia russkogo teatra [History of the Russian Theater]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gosizdat Publ., 1928. Part I. 243 p. (In Russian)

3 Bocharov N. P. Statisticheskie svedeniia o chastnykh teatrakh v Moskve v kontse proshlogo stoletiia i Bol'shoi Petrovskii teatr [Statistics on Private Theaters in Moscow at the End of the Last Century and the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater]. In: Moskva i moskvichi, istoriko-statisticheskie ocherki, issledovaniia I zametki [Moscow and Muscovites, Historical and Statistical Essays, Studies and Notes]. Moscow, Tipografiia M. P. Shchepkina Publ., 1998, vol. I, pp. 70–98. (In Russian)

4 Vsevolodskii-Gerngross V. N. Istoriia russkogo teatra: v 2 t. [History of the Russian Theater: in 2 Vols.]. Leningrad, Moscow, Tea-kino-pechat' Publ., 1929. Vol. I. 576 p. (In Russian)

5 Dolgorukov I. M. Povest' o rozhdenii moem, proiskhozhdenii i vsei zhizni, pisannaia mnoi samim [The Story of My Birth, My Origin, and My Life, Written by Myself]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2005. Vol. 2. 726 p. (In Russian)

6 Dynnik T. A. Krepostnoi teatr [Serf Theater]. Moscow, Leningrad, Academia Publ., 1933. 343 p. (In Russian)

7 Evreinov N. N. Istoriia Russkogo teatra [History of the Russian Theater]. Istoriia russkogo teatra [History of the Russian Theater]. Moscow, Ekspo Publ., 2019, pp. 7–372. (In Russian)

8 Matveev N. Moskva i zhizn' v nei nakanune nashestviia 1812 goda [Moscow and Life in it on the Eve of the Invasion of 1812]. Moscow, Tipo-litografiia Tovarishchestva I. N. Kushnerev I K° Publ., 1912. 254 p. (In Russian)

9 Mel'tsin M. O. Dolgorukov I. M. Povest' o rozhdenii moem. Prilozheniia [Dolgorukov I. M. The Tale of My Birth. Notes]. In: Dolgorukov I. M. Povest' o rozhdenii moem, proiskhozhdenii i vsei zhizni, pisannaia mnoi samim [The Tale of My Birth, Origin and Whole Life, Written by Myself]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2005, vol. 2, pp. 514–556. (In Russian)

10 Miliukov A. [P.] Dobroe staroe vremia. Ocherki bylago [Good Old Time. Essays of the Past]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiia Skariatina Publ., 1872. 266 p. (In Russian)

11 Pimen (Blagovo D. D.), Ornatskaia T. I. Rasskazy babushki: iz vospominanii piati pokolenii, zapisannye i sobrannye ee vnukom D. Blagovo [Grandmother's Stories: from the Memoirs of Five Generations, Recorded and Collected by Her Grandson D. Blagovo]. Leningrad, Nauka, Leningradskoe otdelenie Publ., 1989. 471 p. (In Russian)

12 Polevoi N. Moi vospominaniia o russkom teatre i russkoi dramaturgii [My Memories of the Russian Theater and Russian Drama]. In: Repertuar russkogo teatra, izdavaemyi I. Pesotskim, na 1840 god [Repertoire of the Russian Theater, Published by I. Pesotsky, for 1840]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiia A. A. Pliushara Publ., 1840, vol. I, pp. 1–12. (In Russian)

13 Pyliaev M. I. Staraia Moskva: Rasskazy iz byloi zhizni pervoprestol'noi stolitsy [Old Moscow: Stories from the Bygone days of the First Throne Capital]. Moscow, Moskovskii rabochii Publ., 1990. 416 p. (In Russian)

14 Sakhnovskii V. G. Krepostnoi usadebnyi teatr. Kratkoe vvedenie k ego tipologicheskomu izucheniiu [Serf Manor Theater. Brief Introduction to Its Typological Study]. Leningrad, Kolos Publ., 1924. 60 p. (In Russian)

PDF-file

Download