Musicology Annotation << Back Heritage of Russian Opera of the First Half of the XIXth Century: Contemporary View Elena Smagina Article raises a number of issues in the study of the Russian opera heritage of the first half of the XIX century. The author focuses on forgotten and little-known composers’ names, on new and little-studied for musicology operas from «vaults» of Russian musical theatre, created by Russian and foreign composers D.A. Shelekhov («Genevieve Brabantskaya»), D.U. Struiskiy («Parasha-Siberian»), A. Sapienza («Ivan Tsarevich, Gold Helmet»), F. Sholz («Magic Rose») and others. Particularly emphasized the originality of artistic concept of opera works by A.N. Verstovsky and A.A. Alyabyev, reflecting the «autonomy» of their genre and stylistic searches. The author marked little-known historical («Babylon Ruins, or Celebration and Drop Giagfara Bermecida» by K. Cavos, «Jeanne d’Arc» by Z.A. Volkonskaya, «Tamerlane» by A. Sapienza, «Nidiy, or the Last Day of Pompeii» by K.U. Arnold) and fairy («Svetlana, or a Hundred Years in One Day» by W. Kately — K. Cavos) opera genres. Keywords: Dmitry Shelekhov, Dmitry Struiskiy, Alexei Lvov, Yuri Arnold, Vasily Kashperov, Matvey Bernard, Antonio Sapienza, Friedrich Scholz. Contacts: E-mail: evsmagina@yandex.ru Pp. 16-22.