Moscow

The Moscow Bolshoy (= greater) theatre is world famous. It was opened in 1825 on the premises of the burnt down Petrovsky theatre. Many renovations and extensions followed in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The last renovation was finished in 2011. During World War II the company was evacuated to Samara.

The Ballet company, going back to 1776, is now the largest one in the world with over 200 dancers.

The present operetta and musical theatre with 1600 seats was built in the 1890s as the private opera house of Savva Mamontov. Here the famous singer Fyodor Shalyapin started his career.

Main concert hall with 1505 seats, built in 1938-39 as theatre for the productions of Meyerhold and later becoming the platform for the USSR State S.O.

The ‘House of Music’, in full: ‘Moscow International Performing Arts Centre’, was opened in 2003 and houses the National P.O. of Russia. The circular main hall has 1735 seats and an organ by Glatter-Goetz/Klais with 84 stops. There are also a smaller hall and a theatre.

Outside, at the foot of the stairse, is a monument of Shostakovich (G. Franglyan, 2015).

Behind the prosaic façade of the former Congress palace at the edge of the Kremlin is a beautiful hall for the performances of the Kremlin ballet, the (less expensive) rival of the Bolshoy ballet.

This extensive museum, also – somewhat confusing ─ called ‘Glinka Museum’, has the best collection of instruments in Russia. In five halls c. 1000 Russian, Western, ethnic and mechanical instruments are displayed, besides autographs (notes, letters) by Russian composers and foreigners, incl. Berlioz, Brahms, Wagner and Debussy.

The Moscow Conservatory was established in 1866 by Nikolay Rubinstein ­─ the younger brother of Anton ─ and is since 1870 housed in this former aristocratic mansion. Its main concert hall with the beautiful oval portraits of composers, was created in 1901 by the architect V. Zagorsky and has the best organ of Russia, built by Cavaillé-Coll for the Paris World Exhibition of 1900. In this hall the famous Tchaikovsky Piano Competitions are held since 1958.

There are more concert halls and memorials of the institute’s history are displayed.

Tchaikovsky was a teacher here from 1866 until 1894; his monument is outside.

A second conservatory is the Gnesin Academy. Three pianists, the sisters Yevgenia, Yelena and Maria Gnesin, founded this institute with famous alumni, incl. the composers Khachaturian, Shebalin and Knipper, the conductor Svetlanov and the pianists Berezovsky, Kissin and the Dutch glamour virtuoso Wibi Soerjadi.

From the many places where Tchaikovsky lived during his Moscow years, the one in the village of Kudrino ─ now a part of Moscow ─ became a museum in 2012. The 2^nd Symphony and the Tempest overture were written here and he worked at the opera The Snowmaiden. About other addresses no information was retrieved.

The house of Tchaikovsky’s benefactress and ‘pen-friend’ Nadezhda von Meck (1831-94); she was the rich widow of a railway magnate and welcomed many composers. In 1880 she hosted Henryk Wieniawski, who was fallen ill during his tour; some weeks later he died. In 1881/82 Claude Debussy was the piano teacher of her daughter; as soon as he made her a proposal of marriage he was fired. Also Nikolay Rubinstein was a frequent guest. As for Tchaikovsky: he stayed only in the house when the lady was absent; they arranged never to meet in person. The house is called ‘house of three composers’, but the plaque only mentions Tchaikovsky, not even the resident herself.

Behind this exuberantly decorated façade lived the composer Sergey Taneyev from 1904 until his death in 1915.

House of Aleksandr Skryabin from 1912 until his death in 1915. With the help of his family it became a museum already in 1922, but its present manifestation is from 2013. The house and furnishings were mostly kept in its original state. Among the many exhibits, the clavier à lumières for his tone poem Prometheus (1910) will attract extra attention.

Sergey Rakhmaninov lived here from 1905 until 1917, when he left the country. His monument is in the park opposite.

In the same park a monument of the bard Vladimir Vysotsky, treated later on (> 4041).

Skryabin and Rakhmaninov appeared as pianists in the house of Sergey Shchukin, a rich music lover and art collector. His collection include for example 40 Matisses! Thus the 18^th century Trubetskoy palace is, honestly said, more an exquisite art museum than an important trace of musical history, but still worth mentioning here.

The beautiful house of the great singer Fyodor Shalyapin with its tasteful interior was reconstructed into its original state and made accessible to the public in the 1980s. He lived here from 1910 until 1922.

Sergey Prokofiev lived here from 1936 to 1941, his first house since his return to the Soviet Union.

The last house of Prokofiev, from 1947 until his death on 5.III.1953 (the same day as Stalin’s death!). Since 2008 it is the Prokofiev museum, with a reconstruction of his study and a display of autographs, photos and personal belongings. Outside, in the middle of the pedestrian lane, stands his monument, erected in 2016.

The favourite hotel of statesmen and actors since 1909. Prokofiev stayed here in 1936, working at Peter and the Wolf, after an idea of Natalya Sats, who would establish a children’s theatre in 1965. Cf. the next item.

The Natalya Sats musical theatre, built in 1979 in the outskirts of Moscow, keeps alive Sats’ legacy and presents opera, ballet and symphonic music in adaptations for children. Peter and the Wolf is just the thing for this theatre indeed! It has two auditoriums with 1100 resp. 320 seats. There is also an exhibition about its history.

Dmitry Shostakovich lived in apartment 87 of this building from 1945 to 1962. A comfortable house, except for the loud traffic noise.

From 1962 until his death in 1975, Shostakovich lived here in a house where also Kabalevski and Khachaturian were residents. In the street there is a Khachaturian monument (G. Frangulian, 2006).

This house was from 1935 the residence of various artists of the Bolshoy theatre. The apartment of the conductor Nikolay Golovanov (1891-1953) is accessible to the public.

Aleksandr Goldenweiser was a pianist, teacher, writer and composer. He was a friend of Tolstoy; his colleagues Skryabin, Rakhmaninov, Catoire, Medtner and Glière were his guests. In 1959 he decided to open his house full of memorials to the public. It still is a museum.

Vladimir Vysotsky (1938-80) was an actor and a balladeer with a gravelly voice, singing of low life and disillusionment. As a representative of the Russian underground he was immensely popular.

Graves of the bard Vladimir Vysotsky, the great conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov, +2002 and the composer Nikolay Roslavets, +1944. The modernist Roslavets, denounced in the Soviet Union, was buried in an unmarked grave; in 1990 his grave was marked, but afterwards vandalized...

Grave of the Irish pianist and composer John Field (1782-1837). In 1802 he made a tour with his teacher Clementi, which ended in St. Petersburg. Russia became his domicile; from 1821 he lived in Moscow. Field, the ‘inventor’ of the Nocturne, is considered a forerunner of Chopin.

The graves of Nikolay Rubinstein, Taneyev and Skryabin are close together. Other graves: Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Also the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the singer Galina Vishnevskaya, a famous couple, were buried here. 

The composers Myaskovsky, Glière, Mosolov, Kabalevski, Vainberg died in Moscow too. Where are their graves?