The success of Richard Wagner's Russian tour in 1863 convinced the Mariinsky
Theatre management to stage in the capital one of the operas by the great
composer. They chose Lohengrin.
Gradually Richard Wagner's music was becoming a part of the spiritual life
of the Russian society. In the period between 1900 and 1905 all the operas
of Der Ring des Nibelungen were presented on the Mariinsky stage.
In 1907 the Mariinsky Theatre offered subscriptions for the series of Wagner
's operas. "The conductor with the first series of performances was Eduard
Napravnik, that was : an even, calm, decorous divine service: The second
series was conducted by Coates ... If in the version of Napravnik Wagner's
music was shining as the altar of an unknown god, the same music conducted
by Coates, played at double speed, visibly had something in common with an
orgy in honour of Bacchus. The orchestra flamed, moaned and raved,
submitting to the volcanic temperament of the conductor", a contemporary
recalled.
Work on the tetralogy enabled the Mariinsky company to show its many
talents.
In 1909 Vsevolod Meyerhold produced Tristan and Isolde; in 1911 the theatre
returned to the early Wagner, presenting the premiere of Der Fliegende
Hollander. In 1914 Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg was staged.
World War I put an end to the performance of Wagner's operas in Russia. The
composer's work was banned "for patriotic reasons". Wagner's name appeared
again in the repertoire of the Mariinsky only after the end of hostilities
in 1918.
On 7 November 1923 the performance of Rienzi marked the sixth anniversary of
the October Revolution. In 1941, after a long break, the theatre returned to
Lohengrin. However, the premiere took place on the eve of World War II, and
the staging of Wagner's operas in Russia was again suspended for a long
time. Only in 1962 Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre produced Lohengrin.
The new stage in the interpretation of Wagner's musical dramas is connected
with the recent activities of the theatre and its Artistic Director - the
conductor Valery Gergiev.
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