Hermitage Theatre

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Hermitage Theatre

The Hermitage Theatre (Ermitazhnïy teatr) in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
, Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
is one of five Hermitage

Hermitage Museum

The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art , and one of the oldest art gallery and museums of human history and culture in the world....
buildings lining the Palace Embankment of the Neva River

Neva River

The Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast and the city of Saint Petersburg to the Gulf of Finland....
.

The palatial theatre was built between 1783 and 1787 at the behest of Catherine the Great to a Palladian

Palladian architecture

Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Republic of Venice architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of Palladio's original concepts....
design by Giacomo Quarenghi

Giacomo Quarenghi

Giacomo Quarenghi was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of Palladian architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg....
.

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The Hermitage Theatre (Ermitazhnïy teatr) in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
is one of five Hermitage

Hermitage Museum

Neva River

Palladian architecture

Giacomo Quarenghi

Giacomo Quarenghi was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of Palladian architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg....
. The crumbling Third Winter Palace of Peter the Great

Peter I of Russia

Peter I the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V of Russia....
was demolished to make room for the new structure, although its old foundations are still visible in the ground floor. Quarenghi's designs for the theatre were engraved and published in 1787, earning him a European reputation.

The semicircular auditorium

Auditorium

An auditorium is where the audience is located in order to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens....
is decorated with color marble and surrounded with ten niches for statues of Apollo

Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
and the muse

Muse

File:Muse reading Louvre CA2220.jpgThe Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts....
s. As the interior has never been overhauled, the original stage machinery remains in situ

In situ

In situ is a Latin phrase meaning in the place. It is used in many different contexts....
, but the elaborate sets, an acclaimed work of the Turinese

Turín

Tur?n is a municipality in the Ahuachap?n Department Departments of El Salvador of El Salvador....
artist Pietro Gonzaga (1751-1831), were lost during the years of Soviet neglect.

The ceremonial opening of the theatre took place on 22 November 1785. Though the auditorium could seat no more than 250 spectators, it was seldom overcrowded. Usually, the performance would be attended by several dozen aristocratic spectators, all invited by the monarch herself. As a sign of gratitude, a separate loge was reserved for the architect Quarenghi and his family. In the 19th century, selected members of the diplomatic corps were admitted to the theatre as well.

Although the building was used to entertain the imperial family until the Russian Revolution

Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union....
, it came to be viewed as a rare monument to Catherine's personal tastes and affections. The empress brought out several comedies specifically to be staged in this theatre, which also saw the premieres of Domenico Cimarosa

Domenico Cimarosa

Domenico Cimarosa was an Music of Italy opera composer of the Teatro di San Carlo#The great age of Neapolitan opera. He wrote more than eighty operas during his lifetime, including his masterpiece, Il matrimonio segreto ....
's operas composed to her own libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, Musical theater, and ballet....
s. As for the costumes, they were chosen from a 15,000-dress personal garderobe

Garderobe

According to Frank Bottomley , Garderobes were "Properly, not a latrine or privy but a small room or large cupboard, usually adjoining the chamber or solar_ and providing safe-keeping for valuable clothes and other possessions of price: cloth, jewels, spices, plate and money." ...
of the late Empress Elizabeth

Elizabeth of Russia

Elizaveta Petrovna , also known as Yelisavet and Elizabeth, was an Empress of Russia who took the country into the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War ....
.

Mathilde Kschessinska

Mathilde Kschessinska

Mathilde Kschessinskaya , was the first Russian prima ballerina assoluta in the world. Today, she is probably best known for her love affair with the future Emperor Nicholas II....
, Anna Pavlova, and Fyodor Chaliapin were among the great artists who performed at the Hermitage Theatre for the last Russian tsar

Nicholas II of Russia

Nicholas II was the last Tsar of Russian Empire, Grand Prince of Finland, and claimant to the title of King of Poland. His official title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is currently regarded as Saint Nicholas the Passion Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church....
. Among the ballets performed there was the premiere of Marius Petipa

Marius Petipa

Marius Ivanovich Petipa was a ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Marius Petipa is cited nearly unanimously by the most noted artists of the classical ballet to be the most influential balletmaster and choreographer that has ever lived ....
's Harlequinade, in 1900. The Bolsheviks closed the theatre and utilised the building for administrative purposes. It was not until 1991 that performances were resumed on this stage, with the likes of Svyatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich

Mstislav Rostropovich

Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire , , known to close friends as ?Slava,? was a Russians cellist and conducting....
and Yelena Obraztsova appearing as guest stars.

Hermitage Theatre

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