| International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts Société Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle |  |
The Importance of Collecting the Russian Emigration Theatrical Material in View of the Influence the Émigrés Exerted on the World Art and CultureNadezda Mosusova Documents et Temoignages des Arts du Spectacle: Pourquoi et Comment? / Collecting and Recording the Performing Arts: Why and How? Société Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle / International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts 20e Congrès International / 20th International Congress Antwerp 4-7 September 1994. Acta. Antwerp : 1995, pp. 57-59 The study of the Russian theatrical emigration could be focused on the following major topics: 1. Research into the cultural activities of the Russian emigrants beyond the national borders over the period from 1905 to 1917. a) Visiting tours of Berlin, Prague and Vienna made by the MHT in 1906 (the first departure from Russia of Stanislavsky and hudozhestveniks). The commitments in Belgrade of individual members of the MHT - Alexander Andreyev, until World War I. It is possible that such cases existed elsewhere (like Alla Nazimova). b) Visiting tours abroad made by prominent operatic singers from Russia, initiated by the guest appearance in Paris in 1908 of the complete Maryinski Theatre ensemble who performed the opera Boris Godunov with Fuodor Shalyapin in the title role. The performing of other Russian operas in Paris and London before World War I. c) The activity of Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes from 1909 to 1918 (its uninterrupted activity during World War I, the American tour in 1916 and the tours of Spain and France - Paris in 1917). 2. The very process of emigrating from 1917 to 1930. Departing of artists in stages. The activities of outstanding groups and individual performers in the Soviet Russia from 1917 to the instant of their respective emigration. The artists who held prominent positions in managing the cultural life of the Soviet Russia emigrated after they had been attempting for several years to make some contribution in the artistic field under the communist regime. a) Destiny of the MHT during the civil war, the splitting up and reuniting of the ensemble, the tours of Western and South Europe and the USA. The stances of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Dachenko. Disintegration of the ensemble. Bringing together the activities of the so-called dissident groups of the MHT in Czechoslovakia (Maria Germanova), Yugoslavia (Belgrade - Yuri Rakitin), Bulgaria (Nikolai Massalitinov at the head of the National Theatre of Sophia). The repercussions of Stanislavsky's "Methods" on the American Theatre and film. b) The activity of the Russian operatic - ballet emigration in Germany, France (Diaghilev's Ballets Russes as an Emigrés Institution), two Opera Russe in Paris. The activity of the Russian ballet and opera in Monte Carlo, Nice, Scala di Milano, Teatro Liceo, Teatre Calon, opera houses in Antwerp and Brussels, the Baltic and Scandinavian countries and the Balkans. The accomplishments of theatre painters at institutionalised theatres such as Belgrade Opera, on individual and group levels. c) The achievements of composers of the first and second generation of Russian emigrants as well as of the writers in the fields of opera, ballet, theatre and film: Sergei Rahmaninov, Alexander Glazunov, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofyev, Alexander Grechaninov, Nikolai Cherepnyin, Dimitri Tiomkin, Alexander Cherepnin, Nikolai Nabokov, Vernon Duke (Dukelsky). Nikolai Yevreinov as playwright and director. 3. Connections between the Emigrés and the Soviet artistic and literature activities throughout the different stages of the twenties, first established in Berlin in the post-war year (Romantic Theatre of Boris Romanov), followed by the guest appearance in Paris of the Tairov Theatre. The encounter of Russian theatrical painters from both sides at the Art Deco Exhibition in Paris in 1925. The performing of Diaghilev's "Soviet" piece Pas d'acier by the Ballets Russes in 1927. In the same year quite a few guest performances were recorded of Emigrés artists visiting the USSR (Prokofyev above all). The question of the "returnees", Yakov Protazanov, Sergei Prokofyev (not to mention the writers Aleksei Tolstoy and Marina Tsvetayeva), Ivan Bilibin, the costume designer and stage-painter of the Russian operas performed abroad. In conclusion, pedagogic activity of the Russian actors (Michail Chehov) operatic singers, ballet dancers who opened ballet studios all over the world (Nikolai Legat in London, Olga Preobrazhenska in Paris etc.). General view on the Russian spirit and influence. Thinking people may get depressed, if not terrified, by recognising the fact that we are about to enter the 21st century and the accounts with the century that has almost gone have not as yet been settled. Deliberating on bygone times, especially on the events which occurred during last decade, one cannot but feel insecure, even perplexed. Turbulent times have come for historians: the old documents are getting lost and destroyed, new ones are being discovered, the witnesses are dead and there have still remained a number of questions to be answered, for instance the causes of Word War I, to take only that one example. Not all the archives have been opened, if there are any left, and the contemporary researcher's work is made even more difficult as he is thus being deprived of a possibility to use evidence from the past: nowadays that evidence plays a significant role in his attempting to explain the present time and foretell the one to come. The Russian revolution, or rather the real truth about it, fails into the category of inadequately explored phenomena associated with World War I. The truth about the revolution is also the truth about the great exodus of the Russian people, predominantly the Russian intelligentsia, that took place from 1917 to 1930. Beginning from 1917 and over a period of approximately 5-6 years the Russians had vastly populated Eastern and Western Europe, both Americas, the Middle and the Far East. If the revolution in Russia has changed the country's and the world's face in the most unpredictable way, it is high time the phenomenon of the Russian emigration were studied in all its segments given the influence the emigration has exerted on the world's technology, culture, art, literature and philosophy. If the Russian emigration of the inter-war period is regarded as the military, technical and cultural-artistic intelligentsia, then the third grouping, the artistic part, is to be associated with theatrical art to a considerable extent, be it expressed by a spoken word, music, dance, film (both mute and sound) or otherwise, along with its playwrights, composers, directors, choreographers, actors, singers, dancers, conductors, instrumentalists, teachers and last but not least stage and costume designers. The Russian emigration has almost died out. A lot of records and numerous cultural monuments evidencing the Russian emigration activity were destroyed during World War II. However, it would still be worth trying to collect possible remains. Let us recall that today there does not exist a history of the Russian emigration and from our standpoint an integral history of the Russian theatre in the diaspora should be written. Both should originate from the Russian mother country/metropolis which is to be blamed for not letting the world hear the real truth about the Russian emigrants. It is well known that until recently every aspect of the Russian Emigrés worldwide activity held a leading position on the list of prohibited topics in the former Soviet Union. The same can be said of other Eastern countries, the communist satellites, including former Yugoslavia. Russia has lately developed great interest in those artists, writers and musicians who departed from the country and bestowed the Russian culture upon others. Yugoslavia is now beginning to organise systematic studies on the impact the Russian emigration has made on its cultural development where theatre (opera, ballet, drama) of the inter-war period represents a sphere of the very strongly pronounced influence. It is not very likely that enterprises of the kind have so far been undertaken in the countries - former satellites of the USSR, but the West, especially London and Paris, once the centres of the Russian emigration, could dedicate their effort to research work into the artistic life of the Russian Emigrés since that life has been contributing to the enhancement and refinement of the Western countries' cultures. 20th Congress URL: http://www.sibmas.org/congresses/sibmas94/antw_17.html |
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