A couple of days ago, we celebrated the 50th anniversary (wow! ) of the marriage of Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin and Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya, two of the truly great artists to come out of the Soviet era in Russia.

And their relationship has been a great one, as their marriage--done so Plisetskaya could get a better apartment in Moscow!--enhanced the artistic reputations of both. Two of the ballets Shchedrin wrote--Carmen (1967) and Anna Karenina (1971)--were written to be performed by his wife Maya.

I'm glad they're still around because both of them have legendary reputations in Russia even now. Congratulations to both and may they celebrate many more anniversaries!

(For those who are fluent in Russian, you can read the article about their 50th anniversary from Izvestia's web site here: http://www.izvestia.ru/person/article3121101/ )