The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow is one of the famous theatres in the world. Situated in the heart of Moscow, close to the Teatralnaya Square, it is one of the places that ballet and opera lovers dream to visit. People often associate the theatre with the famous Bolshoi Ballet Company but it this theatre also has one of the most prestigious Opera Companies in the world.

What does “Bolshoi” mean?

“Bolshoi” in Russian means large or great. It is an impressive theatre and the architecture is incredible. It is one of the most famous landmarks in Moscow. Sadly the building that you see now is not the original.

They rebuilt it several times in different places, burnt down to the ground once and a second fire left only the stone walls. The last time was with the Napoleon invasion in 1812.

Over the years many Opera singers and Ballet dancers became famous through their performances onstage at the Bolshoi Theatre. One of them is the famous Russian opera singers, Fyodor Shalyapin.

What is a performance without music and many talented composers like Rahmaninov, composed for the theatre.

Both Ballet and Opera were very popular during the bourgeois-era and the theatre was booming but what happened when Lenin and Stalin came into power? Lenin in particular could not stand anything that remotely referred to Tsarism.

In reality not much happened. The Bolshoi Theatre had a name change in 1919 and became the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre.There was however an attempt to have it abolished but it was not successful. In a nutshell, neither ballet nor opera were banned but the productions were censored.

Stalin put a ban on all foreign productions and allowed only Soviet Opera. In my opinion this had positive and negative implications for the Russian theatre. First of all there were no exposure to foreign compositions. The theatre was completely isolated from the rest of the world and had to rely solely on Russian composers. This is not necessarily a bad thing and brilliant composers contributed to work that is now called classics. The ban did not last forever and in 1950, they lift it.

Most famous performances at the Bolshoi Theatre:

Swan Lake, Giselle, Traviatta, Khovanschina, Spartacus, Iolanta, Boris Godunov.

I have never been to an opera performance and really wanted to see one during our last visit to Russia. Unfortunately tickets to the Bolshoi Theatre is very expensive and we didn’t go. If you want to see ballet performances and you are travelling on a budget then I suggest you visit one of the many other theatres that are cheaper. In 2008 we saw Swan Lake in St. Petersburg. The performance was excellent and the prices of tickets very reasonable.

Interesting fact of the Bolshoi Theatre:

The Bolshoi Theatre features on the 100 Rouble Note.

Performances:
Daily 19:00. Closed: Mondays.

When: 17 May 2012
Where: Moscow,Russia