After the October Revolution the Mariinsky Theatre was in a very uneasy
situation. Many leading actors had left, Eduard Napravnik had passed away,
lengthy negotiations between the new management, headed by Ivan Ekskuzovich,
and the balletmaster Fokine had not given any results. The theatre did not
have Artistic Director. However, the theatre's creative potential was
inexhaustible, and many brilliant productions appeared in that difficult
period.
Leading figures in the Mariinsky of 1920s were the conductor Vladimir
Dranishnikov, the balletmaster Fyodor Lopukhov and the director Sergey
Radlov. The new leaders had two principal aims: the preservation of the
classical heritage and the creation of a repertoire tuned in to the voice of
the epoch. New singers were introduced to the existing opera productions,
ballet masterpieces of the past were restored. The creation of the
contemporary repertoire turned out to be much more of a problem. The work on
operas by Richard Strauss, Franz Schreker and Alban Berg as well as
innovative works of Sergey Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky was successful. The
new theatre design by constructivist artists M. Levin and E. Yakunina
corresponded with the new music.
Fyodor Lopukhov was the first to introduce to the ballet stage modern
images, using the methods of classical dance, enriched with the elements of
acrobatics. The balletmaster's ideas were shared by the young composers
Dmitry Shostakovich and Vladimir Deshevov, the artists Leonid Tchupiatov and
Tatiana Bruni.
In the same period the young members of the ballet company, artists and
critics established The Young Ballet union. In this circle the dancer Georgy
Balanchivadze (in the future - George Balanchine) staged his first concert
numbers. In 1923 for The Young Ballet union Fyodor Lopukhov created his
first program ballet without a plot - The Magnificence of the Universe -
based on the music of the 4th symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven.
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