Adrian Piotrovsky
Encyclopedia
Adrian Ivanovich Piotrovsky ( – 1938) was a Russian dramaturge, responsible for creating the synopsis for Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet
. He was the "acknowledged godfather" of the Theatre of Working Youth (Teatr Rabochey Molodyozhi: TRAM).
The illegitimate son of the classicist Faddei F. Zielinski
, Piotrovsky became Zielinski’s pupil and made scholarly translations of classical Greek plays. He was strongly influenced by Zielinski’s campaign to revive open-air Greek theatre, which would directly inspire Piotrovsky’s involvement in street theatre in the years following the October Revolution.
Piotrovsky also became a pupil and disciple of the theatre director Meyerhold, and for a while worked with Meyerhold in the Theatrical department of Narkompros (the Commissariat of Enlightenment under the leadership of Lunacharsky), teaching classes in Meyerhold’s "Courses in the Mastery of Staging"; but by the 1920s he had distanced himself from Meyerhold’s theatre. By this time he had become a close friend and colleague of the theatre director Sergei Radlov (who was also a disciple of Zielinski’s), and in 1919 their first collaborative project, The Battle of Salamis (a play intended for schoolchildren), was staged under Radlov’s direction.
By 1919 Piotrovsky was a member of the Petrograd Formalist group OPOYaZ,, and he wrote and directed plays at the People’s Comedy Theatre (Teatr narodnoy komedii). His essentially elitist creed was made clear in his article "Dictatorship", published in October 1920: in this he argued for the necessity of state control of the arts, as otherwise the arts would become prey to both the "petty shopkeeper" and the "man on the street".
He taught in the Division for the History and Theory of the Theatre (founded in 1920) at the State Institute for the History of the Arts (GIII). He was closely associated with TRAM, acting as its principle ideologue. By 1930 the theatre was under attack, accused of "formalism" by its critics from among journalists and rival proletarian organizations. In May 1931 his play Rule, Britannia was staged with music by Shostakovich.
He became artistic director of the Leningrad Film Studio
. In 1934 he met Prokofiev, and suggested to him the subject of Romeo and Juliet for a ballet. After Prokofiev had drafted an original treatment of the story, it was further worked upon by Piotrovsky and Radlov.
On 6 February 1936 he was attacked in a Pravda
editorial, "Balletic Falsehood", for his libretto, written in collaboration with F Lopukhov, of the ballet The Limpid Stream (with music by Shostakovich). He was arrested by the NKVD
in 1938 and died in captivity.
Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)
Romeo and Juliet is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It is one of the most enduringly popular ballets...
. He was the "acknowledged godfather" of the Theatre of Working Youth (Teatr Rabochey Molodyozhi: TRAM).
The illegitimate son of the classicist Faddei F. Zielinski
Faddei Zielinski
Tadeusz Stefan Zieliński ; September 14, 1859, Kiev Guberniya, Russia–May 8, 1944, Bavaria, Germany): was a polish prominent classical philologist, historian, translator of Sophocles, Euripides and other classical authors into Russian...
, Piotrovsky became Zielinski’s pupil and made scholarly translations of classical Greek plays. He was strongly influenced by Zielinski’s campaign to revive open-air Greek theatre, which would directly inspire Piotrovsky’s involvement in street theatre in the years following the October Revolution.
Piotrovsky also became a pupil and disciple of the theatre director Meyerhold, and for a while worked with Meyerhold in the Theatrical department of Narkompros (the Commissariat of Enlightenment under the leadership of Lunacharsky), teaching classes in Meyerhold’s "Courses in the Mastery of Staging"; but by the 1920s he had distanced himself from Meyerhold’s theatre. By this time he had become a close friend and colleague of the theatre director Sergei Radlov (who was also a disciple of Zielinski’s), and in 1919 their first collaborative project, The Battle of Salamis (a play intended for schoolchildren), was staged under Radlov’s direction.
By 1919 Piotrovsky was a member of the Petrograd Formalist group OPOYaZ,, and he wrote and directed plays at the People’s Comedy Theatre (Teatr narodnoy komedii). His essentially elitist creed was made clear in his article "Dictatorship", published in October 1920: in this he argued for the necessity of state control of the arts, as otherwise the arts would become prey to both the "petty shopkeeper" and the "man on the street".
He taught in the Division for the History and Theory of the Theatre (founded in 1920) at the State Institute for the History of the Arts (GIII). He was closely associated with TRAM, acting as its principle ideologue. By 1930 the theatre was under attack, accused of "formalism" by its critics from among journalists and rival proletarian organizations. In May 1931 his play Rule, Britannia was staged with music by Shostakovich.
He became artistic director of the Leningrad Film Studio
Lenfilm
Kinostudiya "Lenfilm" is a production unit of the Russian film industry, with its own film studio, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formerly Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R. Today OAO "Kinostudiya Lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners, and several private film studios,...
. In 1934 he met Prokofiev, and suggested to him the subject of Romeo and Juliet for a ballet. After Prokofiev had drafted an original treatment of the story, it was further worked upon by Piotrovsky and Radlov.
On 6 February 1936 he was attacked in a Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
editorial, "Balletic Falsehood", for his libretto, written in collaboration with F Lopukhov, of the ballet The Limpid Stream (with music by Shostakovich). He was arrested by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
in 1938 and died in captivity.
Sources
- Clark, Katerina Petersburg: Crucible of Cultural Revolution (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1995)
- McBurney, Gerard “Shostakovich and the theatre”: from The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich ed. Pauline Fairclough and David Fanning. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)
- Morrison, Simon The People’s Artist: Prokofiev’s Soviet Years (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008)