The article is devoted to the reconstruction of the biography of E. A. Théleur , a dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher of the first half of the 19th century, author of Letters on Dancing, Reducing This Elegant and Healthful Exercise to Easy Scientific Principles (1831; 2nd ed. 1832), which contains the first original English system of dance notation. The research problem stems from the absence of reliable biographical information about E. A. Théleur . Drawing on new primary sources (records from the Old Bailey Proceedings and the Ancestry genealogical database), the author confirms his real name ( Edward Allcock Taylor ), establishes his dates of life (1797–1853), and traces his family history. Through an examination of newspaper periodicals and the memoirs of A. Bournonville, and the writings of A. Second, the author reconstructs the circumstances of E. A. Théleur’s Dance Academy and his trip to Paris in 1840. The findings fill a gap in world ballet historiography by introducing previously unknown archival data about the author of one of the key notation systems of the nineteenth century.

This article examines the teaching practices of the renowned Italian teacher Enrico Cecchetti in Russia. Drawing on archival sources manuscripts by E. Cecchetti, created in 1894 in St. Petersburg ( A Guide to Theatrical Dance Exercises for Every Day of the Week for My Students and Theatrical Dance Exercises for Every Day of the Week for Students of Enrico Cecchetti ) the author analyzes the content of the teacher’s classes with his Russian students. By comparing the lesson plans from the manuscripts with materials from English textbooks on Cecchetti’s method, the author concludes that the foundations of Cecchetti’s authorial system were formed in Russia, during the teacher’s work with Russian performers. Based on a comparative analysis of English, Italian and Russian sources using the method of E. Cecchetti, the author reconstructs and provides a description of several adagio exercises from St. Petersburg manuscripts that are absent from English textbooks: Développé en tour et deux tour, Quart de tour, Six Relevés, Coupé-Fouetté simple, Fouetté simple .

This article explores the genre characteristics of the waltz as an integral part of the divertissement of the 19th-century French Grand Opera. Despite their success in the years of their premieres, many vibrant and interesting dance numbers remain undeservedly forgotten today and are rarely performed due to their omission in modern theatrical productions.

Based on little-studied ballets from the Grand Opera, this article reveals general trends in the development of genre expressive devices characteristic of the theatrical waltz. The role of the Viennese waltzes of Johann Strauss the Elder is highlighted, who’s compositional and performing art brought to French music a freedom of tempo and a unique plasticity consonant with the aesthetics of early Romanticism.

Using waltzes by G. Meyerbeer, F. Halévy, C. Gounod, A. Thomas, C. Saint-Saëns, and J. Massenet, this article traces the dynamics of changes in musical language and identifies the specific features of the development of melodic-rhythmic and agogic devices. The process of gradual compositional and structural transformations is analyzed from early stage incarnations to complex symphonic forms in the works of composers of the late 19th century. Over the course of a century, the waltz underwent a transformation from a genre-based, everyday piece to a psychologically subtle means of musical dramaturgy, becoming a symbol of the Romantic era and paving the way for further transformations in 20th-century music.

The second part of the article examines the most significant features of the musical solution of two choreographic performances dedicated to the image of the artist A. Toulouse-Lautrec. The figurative and dramatic significance of the choral component in the performance Henri (2014, choreographer L. Aleksandrova, composer M. Sobyanina) is highlighted and noted. The musical specificity, including intonation, composition, and genre, of the production Toulouse-Lautrec (2021, choreographer K. Belarbi, composer B. Kule) is revealed. The author concludes that the music of all three ballet productions reviewed in both parts of the publication is marked by a tendency towards genre synthesis, which is caused both by the composer’s individuality and the unified artistic concept of the production.

The article examines the influence of F. Yarullin’s ballet on the iconography of the image of Shurale, the personified spirit of the forest. The main source of inspiration for composer F. Yarullin and librettist A. Fayzi was the poem of the same name by G. Tukai, written based on oral village legends. To better adapt it to the stage production, choreographer L. Yakobson changed the plot of the libretto, presenting Shurale as the main antagonist, as a result of which the character’s characterization acquired new connotations in comparison with folk ideas and G. Tukai’s poem. The ballet Shurale became one of the most important symbols of Tatar culture of the 20th century, influencing other forms of art. Using examples of graphic works, painting, and decorative and applied arts, the features of the development of visualization and interpretation of Shurale’s image are revealed, which allows us to consider iconography as the result of a dialogue between ballet and fine art.

The article examines the post-apocalyptic poetics of György Kurtág’s opera Fin de partie (2018), composed after Samuel Beckett’s play of the same title. The central focus is the image of Nagg and Nell in dustbins as the opera’s key macabre trope, interpreted through the concept of “transi without gisant”: unlike the medieval danse macabre tradition, where death is embedded in an eschatological perspective, in Kurtág the macabre loses its didactic teleology and acquires an ontological status it becomes the very condition of the operatic world’s existence. The study draws on methods of music-theatrical analysis, intermedial comparison (opera vs. Beckett’s play), and philosophical frameworks including J. Kristeva (abjection), S. Freud (the uncanny), D. Trigg (the liminal body), and K. Cohen (iconography of transi tombs). The image of bodies in bins is shown to function simultaneously on three levels: affective (Freudian uncanny), semiotic (Kristevan abjection), and ontological (Trigg’s liminal body). Together, these levels constitute a “transi without gisant” a fundamentally new type of macabre image in music theatre at the turn of the twenty-first century, from which eschatological teleology has been entirely removed.

This article explores the connections between philosophical foundations and aesthetic strategies in the works of three major composers of the late 20th century: John Cage (1912−1992), Toru Takemitsu (1930−1996), and Tang Dun (b. 1957). Through the prism of the Eastern philosophies of Zen Buddhism and Taoism, as well as the practice of sound performance and organic music, the influence of Cage’s concept of silence, rhythm, and chance on subsequent generations of composers is revealed. Particular attention is paid to rethinking the boundaries between art and life, the role of the listener as co-author, and the use of natural materials as instruments. The primary research method is a comparative analysis of the creative concepts of the three aforementioned composers. The conclusion of this study is that the creative legacy of John Cage, Toru Takemitsu, and Tan Dun comprises not only the musical works we know today, but also the artistic and philosophical model they offer for the interaction between art, nature, and society. The approach they offer demonstrates the potential of concepts such as silence, emptiness, and randomness, which shape specific forms of cinematic sound and are reflected in the development of new principles of musical thought overall, influencing a new generation of composers.

The article is devoted to the representation of the “us them” dichotomy as a fundamental layer of culture, which is revealed through the example of the Chinese opera The Dawns Here Are Quiet. From the perspective of strengthening Russian-Chinese intercultural communication and tolerance towards the “other”, the article analyzes the features of Tang Jianping’s compositional thinking. It traces the interconnection of Russian elements and Chinee aesthetics, the consonance of sacrificial love for the Motherland with the Confucian idea of humanity and selfless service, ren. Emphasis is placed on the appeal to the “alien” word in compositional technique through the reinterpretation of elements of musical language and symbolic generalizations. The composer’s understanding of “Russian” as the “other” that is not hostile ensures the translation of cultural artifacts into “our” space. It is concluded that by transforming the musical achievements of the Russian people and reinterpreting the “alien” narrative, Tang Jianping thereby projects Chinese cultural identity.

The article analyzes the premieres of M. P. Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov at the Mariinsky Theatre at the turn of the 2000s. In the productions of 1990, 1997, 2002, and 2006, the directorial approaches of various conceptual trends and methods are identified and examined; the constituent elements of stage direction are considered the principles of dramaturgical composition, choreographic and plastic texts, scenography and set design, the dramaturgy of individual scenes as well as the ideological aspects of the dramaturgy. The article cites excerpts from critics’ publications on the productions, reflecting the atmosphere of the opera’s reception by audiences of those years.

This article is the result of the joint literary and artistic-critical co-creation of two co-authors, namely: soloist of the Mikhailovsky Ballet (1977–2020), teacher-choreographer of the Department of directing theatrical performances in St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture (1989–2020) A. B. Bregvadze and Professor of the Department of Choreographic Education at the Vaganova Ballet Academy O. I. Rozanova. A. B. Bregvadze’s goal is to share his deeply personal son’s experiences and memories of his mother, the remarkable ballerina of the Kirov (Mariinsky) Theatre, E. V. Minchenok. O. I. Rozanova’s task is to introduce the memoirs of E. V. Minchenok into scholarly discourse, accompanied by a brief preface, not only to draw attention to her but also to preserve her name in the history of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) ballet.