In the 1950s, the stage rehearsals of a new ballet were taking place simultaneously in Moscow and Leningrad. At the Bolshoi, Spartacus was being prepared by Igor Moiseyev, at the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre (now Mariinsky) by Leonid Jakobson. The Leningrad premiere was given on the 27th of December 1956 and forestalled the Moscow one by almost two years. The latter was staged on the 11th of March 1958. At the premiere, the role of Aegina was danced by Maya Plisetskaya and Harmodius by Nikolai Fadeyechev. Moiseyev’s version was performed only six times during one season and then disappeared from the stage for ever.

Jacobson had reconsidered and enriched his Leningrad version, and transferred his production to the Bolshoi Theatre in 1962. Both primary references to Spartacus turned out to be just a small step towards the grand success that was to await the production by Yuri Grigorovich. The premiere of the world-famous ballet Spartacus, that has become a calling card of the Bolshoi Theatre, took place on the 9th of April 1968.