In conditions of -geometry, the production of and resonances in collisions of nuclei with carbon nuclei at 4.2 GeV/ per nucleon was investigated for the first time. The masses and widths of resonances were obtained based on an analysis of the experimental and background invariant mass distributions of pairs. The contributions to the pion production from decays of resonances, as well as from direct pion creation, and the relative number of nucleons excited to at freeze-out were estimated. The results obtained were compared to the corresponding data for C+C collisions at the same initial momentum 4.2 GeV/ per nucleon.