Probably, each of us, when mentioning the name of the great Russian composer P. I. Tchaikovsky's first associations will be similar. This is the inspired music of the Swan Lake ballet and the majestic First Concerto for piano and orchestra. And also - the International Competition of Performers and the Moscow State Conservatory, the main concert venue of which is the Great Hall.
The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory is located in the pedestrian zone of the historical center of Moscow at house number 13/6 on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street. Leaving the Arbatskaya metro station on Nikitsky Boulevard, turning to Nizhny Kislovsky lane and reaching Maly Kislovsky lane, you find yourself on Bolshaya Nikitskaya. Further - a square with a monument to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. And behind it is a beautiful old building with a semi-rotunda. This is the renowned BZK.
The famous architect V. P. Zagorovsky, who designed a concert hall for the Moscow Conservatory, created a monumental architectural structure. From the old house of the late 18th century, which belonged to Princess Dashkova, only the facade and the semi-rotunda were left. During the design and construction, various architectural solutions were used, both classical and inherent in the Art Nouveau era. Among them:
- numerous arched ceilings and columns,
- huge massive staircases in the foyer and fanciful spiral staircases leading to the amphitheater,
- semicircular windows and bas-relief medallions,
- pilasters with floral ornaments and honed details.
The vestibule, which is divided into three naves, is made in the spirit of an ancient temple. The main thing in the external and internal decoration of the hall is a combination of light colors and strict lines.
Thanks to such a magnificent design in the Great Hall, academicism is combined with stylishness. It is majestic and chamber at the same time.
In 1901, at the opening of the Great Hall, the St. Petersburg Northern Glass Society presented the Moscow State Conservatory with a stained-glass window depicting St. Cecilia, who is revered by Christians as the patroness of sacred music.
During one of the bombings in 1941, a window with a stained-glass window was knocked out by a blast wave. The opening in the wall measuring 5 by 4, 3 meters was walled up, and the lost historical image was forgotten for many years. In the "dashing 90s" the remnants of the glass sheet that had survived to this time were simply thrown into a landfill. The masterpiece was restored, and this was done as close as possible to the original, thanks to the fact that the dimensional drawings of the entire stained glass window and its fragments were preserved. A handful of precious fragments, which were miraculously saved by Mosproekt employee Alexander Bernstein, was used to select modern analogues of stained glass.
In the spring of 2011, after the completion of large-scale reconstruction of the Great Hall of the Conservatory, the restored stained glass window took its original place in the foyer of the parterre.
The work of the workshop, headed by Vadim Lebedev, an employee of the Hermitage's stained glass restoration and history department, was duly appreciated and blessed by the Moscow Patriarchate. The rite of consecration was performed by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who studied at this leading music university in the country and is now a member of its board of trustees. At the same time, the musicians received an image of the Holy Martyr Cyclia (Cecilia) of Rome with a particle of relics as a gift. The relic was received with reverence by the rector of the Moscow Conservatory, Professor Alexander Sergeevich Sokolov.
Thanks to the diligence and efforts of many people, the famous temple of music came to life after reconstruction, returned its legendary "prayer" and acquired even greater spirituality.
To move from everyday to sublime, you just need to come to the Great Hall shortly before the start of the concert event.
There is a special conservative atmosphere here. In the foyer and lobbies on all floors, there are expositions dedicated to the history of music and the country's leading music university. Of interest are the posters of the past concerts, and photographs of teachers and students of the conservatory of different years. Busts, statues and picturesque canvases, as well as exhibits of the N. G. Rubinstein Museum - everything is conducive to communication with the beautiful. In addition to this, you can familiarize yourself with thematic exhibitions of artists and photographers, replenish your collection of classical music recordings.
To the right of the central entrance to the hall is Ilya Repin's painting "Slavic Composers", which depicts a meeting of famous and little-known musicians of the 19th century. The peculiarity of this picture is that the artist brought together people who lived at different times. But they belonged to the same musical era, and this union and common contribution to world culture.
On both sides of the hall, from the stage to the amphitheater, there are stucco medallions with portraits made by famous artists. The great Russian composers - Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rubinstein, Dargomyzhsky, Borodin, as well as the masters of foreign classical music - Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin look at the listener from the canvases.
Above the stage there is a bas-relief depicting the founder of the conservatory, Nikolai Grigorievich Rubinstein, whose name was given to the building of the Great Hall in 2006.
The appearance of Saint Cecilia, inscribed in the interior when decorating arches over boxes and flights of stairs, recalls her patronage of the famous temple of art. Even in the elements of stucco decoration and in the metal frame of the lamps one can see the ancient musical emblems of orchestral strings and wind instruments - the lyre and the trumpet.
Everything here is subordinated to classical music and is filled with this music.
One of the features of the Great Hall is the unique instrument installed on its stage.
The organ was purchased in Paris, with the money of Moscow patrons of art, by order of the railway magnate, Baron Sergei Pavlovich von Derviz, whose children studied with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. On the tablet of the organ prospect, the inscription "the gift of S. P. von Derviz", engraved in gold letters, is still preserved.
The famous French master Aristide Cavalier-Coll took over the production, whose instruments adorn Notre Dame Cathedral, as well as concert halls around the world. The design and construction of the organ took over two years. Created by the spring of 1899, the instrument became the last work of the outstanding master of organ building in Europe, and is considered the best embodiment of his creative ideas. At the 10th Paris World Exhibition in 1900, the Covalier-Coll organ won the Grand Prix.
The patriarch or the king of instruments (this is what the musicians call the organ) is of great academic and educational importance for the conservatory. Over the long years of his service to music, he has become an integral participant in solo, choral, ensemble and symphony concerts. Unlike temple organs, which have solemn loudness, the academic conservatory instrument has a low, soulful sound, so that every note is heard.
For uniqueness, "colossal services and authority in the field of pure art", in 1988 the organ of the BZK was awarded the status of an artistic and historical monument.
The main advantage of the Great Hall is its unique acoustics. Amplification is used only for the voices of the announcers leading the concert. Everything else is absolutely "live" sound. The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory is rightfully considered one of the world's acoustic masterpieces.
It was possible to achieve excellent sound transmission through complex calculations of the proportions of space, the selection of materials and strict adherence to the laws of acoustics, made more than a hundred years ago.
The stage is in the shape of a shell and is a hollow wooden box that perfectly reflects sound. The floor and ceiling of the hall are like two resonating violins. And the ceiling has an intermediate layer of air. In order not to disturb the reverberation time (that is, the gradual attenuation of sound), all parameters of sound absorption of materials used for upholstery, wall plastering, flooring, etc. are taken into account. For the correct sound, it is also necessary to ensure a stable temperature and humidity regime in the hall.
The responsibility for strict observance of the original acoustic conditions in the BZK is entrusted to the chief specialist for monitoring acoustics Anatoly Lifshits. It is he who commands the sound "parade of seven notes" today. According to him, the basic principle of acoustics is a correctly calculated air volume of the hall. That is, it is necessary that the ratio "width-height-length" was optimal. In the BZK, one viewer has 6, 8 cubic meters of air. Due to this, the music penetrates the listener, and we feel it, figuratively speaking, "with all the fibers of our soul."
Thanks to the unique acoustics and original architectural solutions, there are practically no so-called “inconvenient places” in the hall, the existence of which the viewer can encounter at many theater and music venues. For example, even the Bolshoi Theater has zones where it is not very clear to see or hear.
The Concert Hall of the Moscow Conservatory is designed for 1,737 listeners, and each of them is quite comfortable to perceive the sound palette of seven magic notes.
The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory is a mecca for all musicians, a paradise for audials. When the whole audience breathes to the beat, no one applauds where there is no need to applaud. When both listeners and their mobile phones are silent, and in every particle of air there is only music.
Today this legendary place is one of the largest and most important venues for the sound of symphonic and opera music. The leading soloists and the best orchestras of the world perform here, the events of the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Rostropovich Festival are held.
For connoisseurs and connoisseurs of music, professional musicians and amateurs, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory is a meeting with Her Majesty the Classics. And not only musical, but also acoustic and architectural.
