Jane Simpson Posted April 15, 2003 Report Share Posted April 15, 2003 I've just bought, secondhand, a large book about the Bolshoi Ballet. It has a 20-page introduction, a list of the company in 1951-2, and then hundreds of photographs. It was published in Moscow in 1955, and the cover shows the corps de ballet in Swan Lake (in colour). My problem is that it is all in Russian, and although I can work out the names of the ballets and the dancers, I can't read the name of the author or the publisher so I can't add it to my list properly! Can anyone enlighten me, please? Quote Link to comment
rg Posted April 15, 2003 Report Share Posted April 15, 2003 i THINK i've seen this book at a friend's place. does it have the hammer&sickle-pattered house curtain on the end papers? i almost snagged my own copy of this book recently but then didn't. not, mind you, that i read much russian. if you could scan the title page or if a photocopy of the page could be scanned maybe clever alexandra could put the image up somehow here and all those who do read russian could enlighten you. possibly for starters these catalogue entries from NYPL for the Perf. Arts at Linc. Cent. would help: Moscow. Bolshoi Theater. Title:Opera [and] ballet. Imprint:Moscow, State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of the U. S. S. R., 1956. Description:1 v. (chiefly illus., ports.) 25 cm. 1956 Author:Moscow. Bolshoi Theater. Title Opera [and] ballet. Imprint: Moscow, State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of the U. S. S. R., 1956. Description:1 v. (chiefly illus., ports.) 25 cm. 1958 Title:Bol'shoi teatr SSSR: opera, balet. [Otvetstvennyi redaktor I. F. Belza. Imprint:Moskva, Gos. muzykal'noe izd-vo, 1958] Description:565 p. (chiefly illus., ports.) 35 cm. Notes:Bibliography: p. 547-[564] 1955 Author:Moscow. Bolshoi Theater. Title:Balet Gosudarstvennogo ordena Lenina akademicheskogo Bol'shogo teatr SSSR. [Pod obshchei redaktsiei A. I. Anisimova] Imprint:[Moskva] Gos. izd-vo izobraziltel'nogo iskusstva, 1955. Description:1 v. 27 cm. Notes:On cover: Balet Bol'shogo teatra SSSR. Chiefly plates. 1952 Author:Shaverdian, A. I. (Aleksandr Isaakovich) Title:Bol'shoi teatr Soiuza SSR. Imprint:Moskva, Gos. muzykal'noe izd-vo, 1952. Description:227 p. illus., ports. 23 cm. Quote Link to comment
Jane Simpson Posted April 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2003 Yes, it has the house courtain as end-papers: I'd guess it's the next-to-last of the ones you list. It has some amazing photos, especially of the Bronze Horseman - but a lot of them have been rather clumsily retouched. Quote Link to comment
Guest Marc Haegeman Posted April 15, 2003 Report Share Posted April 15, 2003 Jane, it's the next to last. Editor is A.I. Anisimov, Photography by Georgy Petrusov. Published by the State Publishing House of Fine Arts, [Moscow]1955. It's a strange book which could have been a treasure trove for 1950s ballet photography. Unfortunately, an over-eager editor has been retouching the photos beyond recognition. The company's list for 1951-1952 is interesting though. Some of the Bolshoi legends and lesser gods like Semyonova, Plisetskaya, Ulanova, Lepeshinskaya, Golovkina, Messerer, Koren, Kondratov, Yermolaev are simply listed as part of the crowd. Ballet masters are none less than Vainonen, Zakharov, and Lavrovsky. Quote Link to comment
Jane Simpson Posted April 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2003 Thankyou, Marc - I can now add it to my spreadsheet! Quote Link to comment
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