TWO THEATRES
Russian project for the XVIII International Architectural
exhibition at Venezia
(la Biennale di Venezia) |
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The Bolshoy — The History of a Building
Like many other remarkable buildings, the Bolshoy
Theater in Moscow influences audience in other ways besides its
current appearance: the shadows of all the other theaters that have
stood on this spot mark the structure. An attentive glance will
uncover traces of countless reconstructions, rearrangements and
renovations in the interior and on the facades. This palpable sense
of the theater's many strata is hard to convey in words. A short
history of the building, though, is sufficient to give the reader a
good idea of the main problems.
The first in a series of theatrical structures was given the name
the Petrovski Theater according to its location on Petrovka Street,
but it was known popularly as the Maddox Theater for its
entrepreneur, Michael Maddox. This building was erected in 1776—1780
to a project by the Moscow architect Kh. I. Rozenberg. It stood on
approximately the same spot as the present theater but was a
building of two volumes, the main facade of which faced Petrovka
Street. The tall auditorium with levels of boxes and a raked
parterre was sumptuously decorated in the spirit of early
classicism, i.e., in the French style. The facades were rather
modest and representative of the style known "orderless classicism".
The Maddox theater burned down in 1805; its charred ruins stood on
Petrovka until 1815, when by order of Emperor Alexander I
reconstruction of the square in front of the theater, subsequently
named Theater Square, was begun.
The project by Moscow architect Osip Beauvais called for a massive
rectangular square surrounded with identically styled buildings. The
construction of a new theater was planned for the northern section
of the square. At the competition held by the Academy of Arts,
Petersburg architect A. A. Mikhailov's project was declared the
winner. The design called for a typical solution in the Empire
style: a rectangular volume with an eight column Doric portico on
the main butt-end facade with a tall central portion decorated with
Apollo's quadriga set against a deep, arched niche.
Mikhailov's project was substantially reworked by Beauvais, who
developed the triumphal decor and original construction of the
auditorium, somewhat modified the proportions of the entire building
(it became shorter), and also left the rustication, which on
Mikhailov's project covered the whole surface of the walls, on only
the lowest third of the facades. The result of this retooling and
the architect's supervision of construction was that Petersburg
Empire was given a Muscovite softness. During construction of the
new building in 1821—1827 the theater was given its current name. It
was called the Bolshoy (Grand) Petrovski while the smaller theater
of drama on the same square was called the Maly (Little) Petrovski.
The Empire styled Bolshoy Theater was reconstructed twice. The first
time was in 1843 with a project by the architect A. S. Nikitin
redesigned the layout of the boxes and replaced the original Ionic
capitals of the portico with more archaic looking Ionic capitals. In
1847 the service areas were laid out anew.
In 1853 the Bolshoy Petrovski Theater of Mikhailov and Beauvais
burned. The remaining line of walls and standing columns of the
portico served as the basis for the restoration and reconstruction
of the building undertaken by Petersburg architect A. K. Cavos, the
scion of theatrical family and who specialized in the architecture
of theaters. The existing dimensions of the theater are still
Mikhailov and Beauvais's but the treatment of the facades and
interior belong to an entirely new era, that of eclecticism.
Kavos kept the columns of the portico but exchanged the Ionic
capitals for composite ones, which gave the facade decorations a
more sumptuous but at the same time vain character. The strip of
rustication along the lower third of the building was also
preserved; it was made deeper and more detailed. The smooth surfaces
of the upper two thirds were filled in with a more graphic
rustication. The architect labored to fill in the blank surfaces of
the walls, characteristic of the Empire style, with window
platbands, panels, niches and other similar decorations, the style
of which can be described as neo-Renaissance with individual
elements of late classicism. This style, in which the rich and
sumptuous treatment corresponds to the abundance of "scientific"
forms, forced the architect to change the design of the upper
portion of the main facade: the sloping pitch of the roof was here
replaced by a second sloping fronton that repeated the fronton of
the portico while the sculpture of Apollo's quadriga by Petersburg
sculptor Peter Clodt was set against a backdrop of a row of windows
that replaced the original arched niche. The dry, fragmentary nature
of the facade decor of the Bolshoy Theater was not very noticeable
because the Empire style architecture continued to set a monumental
scale, (something which cannot be said, for instance, of the
Mariinski Theater, also executed by Cavos a few years later).
The stated criticism of Cavos's facades does not hold for the
interior. The stage, with its technical solutions and fireproofing,
the auditorium, with its increased number of levels and luxurious
finishing (in the "Renaissance mixed with Byzantine" style, in the
words of the architect), and the foyer with its complex style all
help to create the visible luxury and sense of celebration
characteristic of opera houses.
After Cavos's capital reconstruction, the Bolshoy was redone several
other times as well. At the end of the 18th century, in 1895—1896
the original neo-Renaissance decor of the imperial foyer was
replaced by the neo-Rococo style. At the same time, work began on
shoring up the sinking foundation, a project that continues to this
day.
In the Soviet era, the 1920s and 30s saw practically continuous work
to reequip the theater. First the brick vaulting was replaced with
reinforced concrete. Then the cloakroom buried by Cavos was dug out.
Finally, staircases were reworked and a additional foyer was added.
In 1940—41 a large-scale project to reconstruct the Bolshoy was
developed by an entire collective under the leadership of the famous
neoclassical architect Ivan Zholtovski. This project, perhaps
luckily never realized, called for the return to the original Empire
decor. The Zholtovski project marked the end of the period of
reconstructions and the start of an entire epoch of cautious
restorations. This era, which lasted for the entire second half of
the 20th century, featured the careful restoration of the gold
leafing, the painting of the facades, engineering fortification and
work with the applied and decorative forms in the interior. Thanks
to these almost imperceptible improvements that for a time preserved
its forms, Muscovites began to perceive the Bolshoy as something
immutable and permanent.
Vladimir Sedov
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