A collection of drawings by set designer Alexander Golovin for Igor Stravinsky’s opera Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) will be exhibited at Bonhams London.
Titled “Music, Magic and Flight: Alexander Golovin’s Designs for the Lost Production of Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Le Rossignol’”, the show will run from May 24-June 6.
This elaborate production of Stravinsky’s 1914 opera opened on May 30, 1918 at the Mariinsky Theatre in Petrograd. It was only performed once.
At the time Russia was in the midst of the Bolshevik revolution. The Romanov Tsars were imprisoned to the south of the city and would be executed in the summer. This production was a final expression of the old Russia, before the austerity of the communist years rolled over the nation.
These exquisite drawings were smuggled out of the country some years later by a Russian doctor and have since found their way to the US.
Posted in: Art & Photography, Exhibition News
