Metadata: Theatrical Design and Materials for the Design of Drama, Opera, and Ballet Performances
Collection
- Country:
- Russia
- Holding institution:
- St. Petersburg State Theatrical Library
- Holding institution (official language):
- САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКАЯ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННАЯ ТЕАТРАЛЬНАЯ БИБЛИОТЕКА
- Postal address:
- 191011, St. Petersburg, ul. Zodchego Rossi, d. 2.
- Phone number:
- +7 (812) 5717711
- Web address:
- http://www.sptl.spb.ru
- Email:
- sptl@sptl.spb.ru
- Reference number:
- F. 6
- Title:
- Theatrical Design and Materials for the Design of Drama, Opera, and Ballet Performances
- Title (official language):
- Монтировки и материалы к монтировкам драматических, оперных и балетных спектаклей
- Creator/accumulator:
- Archival Materials Sector
- Date(s):
- 1886/1954
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 381 storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
- The fonds contains records and fragmentary materials pertaining to the design / mise en scene of theatrical performances, as well as cast lists and lists of costumes and stage props. There are also multiple copies of documents, insofar as in several cases there are copies containing different markup. The fonds’ materials are divided into the following sections: “Drama performances – design and materials pertaining to same”; “Operas and operettas – design and materials pertaining to same”; and “Ballets – design and materials pertaining to same.” Pertaining to the history of Jews in Russia are materials on the production design of performances on Jewish subjects, including documents (manuscript and typewritten) on the Leningrad Malyi Opera Theater’s production of Karl Gutzkow’s play Uriel Acosta, including a cast list, description of decorations, furniture, props, costumes, the “hairdressing unit,” headwear, shoes, etc. (1910); analogous materials pertaining to the same theatre’s production of a show based on D. Ia. Aizman’s fairy tale The Radiant God, which takes place in Granada in the mid-14th c. (1919); design records pertaining to productions of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice at the A. S. Pushkin Drama Theater (1897, 1903, 1909); design materials pertaining to a production of A. N. Serov’s opera Judith at the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater (undated); etc.
- Archival history:
- The St. Petersburg State Theatrical Library was founded 30 August 1756 per the edict of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna that established the first professional Russian theatre. It arose as a repertoire library of the Russian Theater Troupe, and was subsequently reorganized as the Central Library of the Directorate of Imperial Theaters. However, it is clear from archival research that the library of the Russian Theater Troupe began to take shape well before the edict itself. In particular, this is attested to by copies of manuscript plays housed in the library dating from 1754 through 1759 marked “From the Library of the Court Theater.” The name and agency jurisdiction of the library changed on numerous occasions: from 1759-1889, it was called the Library of the Russian Court Theater; from 1889-1917, the Central Library of the Directorate of Imperial Theaters; from 1917-31, the Central Russian Drama Library; from 1931-34, the Library of the A. S. Pushkin Theater; from 1934-93, the A. V. Lunacharskii Leningrad State Library; and since 1993, the St. Petersburg State Theatrical Library (SPb GTB). Since 1889, the library’s fonds have been supplemented with collections of plays from other state troupes (French, German, and Italian) working in St. Petersburg in the 18th-19th c. After 1917, the library opened its fonds to all persons interested in the theatre arts. Currently the library’s fonds number over 700,000 storage units. A third of them (manuscripts, rare and valuable publications, personal papers of theatre figures, decoration and costume designs, theatre programs and posters, one-of-a-kind photographic images, etc.) are housed in the library’s Department of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archival and Visual Materials. All materials of this department are catalogued (including in card catalogues), insofar as the St. Petersburg State Theatrical Library employs the library accounting system (with the exception of the Archival Materials Sector, which has inventories).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Collections of the Archival Materials Sector (f. 1-6, 10, 18, and 44) were formed from personal document collections of leading figures of the Russian stage; also included are the editorial archives of two periodicals: the journal Biriuch [The Herald] (1918-21) and the newspaper Za Sovetskoe iskusstvo [For Soviet Art] (1930s-60s). The fonds of the Book Preservation Department (OKKh) has printed copies of both publications; as does the fonds of the reading room. (The St. Petersburg State Theatrical Library website has digital issues of the journal Biriuch and two Petrograd State Theater Herald collections, as well as a system of supplementary indexes; see http://biruch.sptl.spb.ru/ – accessed 4 May 2015.)
- Access points: locations:
- Russia
- St Petersburg
- Access points: persons/families:
- Acosta, Uriel
- Aizman, D. Ia.
- Gutzkow, Karl
- Serov, A. N.
- Shakespeare
- Subject terms:
- Literature
- Literature--Novels, poetry, and plays
- Manuscripts
- Theatre
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds includes a single inventory systematised according to the alphabetical-themtaic principle.
- Finding aids:
- An inventory is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary