Maria Georgievna Gargyants,
Junior Researcher, St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Management System of Theatrical and Musical Institutions in Besieged Leningrad (June 1941 – January 1942)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2022-6-6
This article aims to analyze the strategy of cultural institutions' management bodies for the preservation of concert life in the rear and at the front. This article analyzes the historiography devoted to the cultural organizations of the besieged Leningrad, both as a complex and also focused on theaters, the Leningrad Philharmonic Society, and the work of the Leningrad Radio Committee and the Conservatory. The article uses previously unpublished records of the Leningrad Regional Directorate of the Arts, decisions and resolutions of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, and annual reports of the theaters held by the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg, the Central State Archive of the Ministry of Defense (Gatchina) which enable us to ascertain the attendance of theaters and the Philharmonic on the eve of the blockade, how it changed later, the prices for tickets and their availability to an average citizen, and how many concerts were organized on the stage. The conclusion is made that the preservation of cultural life in the city was promoted by rearrangement of the theater's main tasks from stationary performances to military-patronage work, as well as formation of regular concerts in the Red Army Theater and the Theater of the Baltic Navy. This is proved by the materials of statistics by comparing the number of concerts given in stationary theatres and the number of guest concerts, as well as by changes in the repertoire.
Publishing: 28/12/2022
The article has been received by the editor on 14/09/2022
How to cite: Gargyants M.G. The Management System of Theatrical and Musical Institutions in Besieged Leningrad (June 1941 – January 1942) // Historical Courier, 2022, No. 6 (26), pp. 88–97. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2022/ISTKURIER-2022-6-06.pdf]
Links: Issue 6 2022
Keywords: History of the USSR; Siege of Leningrad; the Great Patriotic War; history of theatres and music of the 1940s