“Arkhangelsky and Baliev, Baliev and Arkhangelsky”: Notes about the Music in the Cabaret Theater “Letuchaya Mysh”
Abstract
The article is devoted to the issue of the “sound space” of one of the leading Russian theaters of
small caliber – “Letuchaya mysh’” [“The Bat”] directed by Nikita Feodorovich Baliev. The musical
setting for the theatrical programs was based on two principles of work with the musical material,
conditionally labelled as “the original” and “the derived.” What is meant here under “the original”
is the music especially written for theatrical numbers, while “the derived” stands for quotations or
derivations of other composers’ music. One of the key figures in the life and activities of the “Letuchaya
mysh’” was Alexei Alexeyevich Arkhangelsky (1881–1943) – a composer who wrote regularly for
the theater and performed in it the duties of its musical director. The attempt is made in the article
to reconstruct the life and artistic path of Arkhangelsky, carried out, among other things, with the
incorporation of materials from archives in Russia and other countries. For analytical observations the
most exemplary of all his published compositions have been chosen: the vocal miniatures “Katen’ka,”
the Eastern song “Na gore stoit dukhan” [“The Caucasian Tavern Stands on the Hill”] and “Songs
by Nikita Baliev” set to poems by Nikolai Agnivtsev. The issue of the functioning of music in the
conditions of “cabaret synthesis” is set by the example of operettas and “operas for dramatic artists”
– “The Tambov Treasurer’s Wife,” “Count Nulin” and “The Queen of Spades.”
Keywords: music in Russian cabarets and miniature theaters, cabaret theater “Letuchaya mysh”
[“The Bat”], Le Théâtre de la Chauve-Souris, The Bat, Nikita Baliev, Alexei Arkhangelsky.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33779/2587-6341.2021.3.028-042
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