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This new collection views Russian music through the Greek triad of "the Good, the True, and the Beautiful" to investigate how the idea of ";nation"; embeds itself in the public discourse about music and other arts with results at times invigorating, at times corrupting. In our divided, post-Cold War, and now post-9/11 world, Russian music, formerly a quiet corner on the margins of musicology, has become a site of noisy contention. Richard Taruskin assesses the political and cultural stakes that attach to it in the era of Pussy Riot and renewed international tensions, before turning to individual cases from the nineteenth century to the present. Much of the volume is devoted to the resolutely cosmopolitan but inveterately Russian Igor Stravinsky, one of the major forces in the music of the twentieth century and subject of particular interest to composers and music theorists all over the world. Taruskin here revisits him for the first time since the 1990s, when everything changed for Russia and its cultural products. Other essays are devoted to the cultural and social policies of the Soviet Union and their effect on the music produced there as those policies swung away from Communist internationalism to traditional Russian nationalism; to the musicians of the Russian postrevolutionary diaspora; and to the tension between the compelling artistic quality of works such as Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps or Prokofieff's Zdravitsa and the antihumanistic or totalitarian messages they convey. Russian Music at Home and Abroad addresses these concerns in a personal and critical way, characteristically demonstrating Taruskin's authority and ability to bring living history out of the shadows.

Music --- History and criticism. --- Stravinsky, Igor, --- Stravinsky, Igor --- Stravinski, Igor --- Strawinsky, Igor --- Strawinski, Igor --- Criticism and interpretation. --- Stravinskij, Igor' Fëdorovič --- Istrāvīnskī, Īgūr, --- Stravinski, Igor, --- Stravinskiĭ, I. F. --- Stravinskiĭ, Igorʹ Fedorovich, --- Stravinskij, Igor Fiodorovič, --- Strawiński, Igor Fiodorowicz, --- Strawinskij, Igor, --- Strawinsky, I. --- Strawinsky, Igor, --- Strawinsky, Jgor, --- Стравинский, Игорь, --- סטראווינסקי, איגור --- סטראוינסקי, איגור --- 19th century russian music. --- 20th century russian music. --- contemporary russian music. --- international response to russian music. --- music history. --- music of the former soviet union. --- musicology. --- pokifieff. --- postrevolutionary russian music. --- pussy riot. --- russian composers. --- russian cultural products. --- russian music history. --- russian music. --- russian musicology. --- russian national music. --- russias antihumanistic music. --- sacre du printemps. --- stavinsky. --- zdravitsa.

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An aesthetic, historical, and theoretical study of four scores, Russian Opera and the Symbolist Movement is a groundbreaking and imaginative treatment of the important yet neglected topic of Russian opera in the Silver Age. Spanning the gap between the supernatural Russian music of the nineteenth century and the compositions of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, this exceptionally insightful and well-researched book explores how Russian symbolist poets interpreted opera and prompted operatic innovation. Simon Morrison shows how these works, though stylistically and technically different, reveal the extent to which the operatic representation of the miraculous can be translated into its enactment.Morrison treats these largely unstudied pieces by canonical composers: Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, Rimsky-Korsakov's Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya, Scriabin's unfinished Mysterium, and Prokofiev's Fiery Angel. The chapters, revisionist studies of these composers and scores, address separate aspects of Symbolist poetics, discussing such topics as literary and musical decadence, pagan-Christian syncretism, theurgy, and life creation, or the portrayal of art in life. The appendix offers the first complete English-language translation of Scriabin's libretto for the Preparatory Act.Providing valuable insight into both the Symbolist enterprise and Russian musicology, this book casts new light on opera's evolving, ambiguous place in fin de siècle culture.

Opera --- Symbolism (Literary movement) --- Literary movements --- Comic opera --- Lyric drama --- Opera, Comic --- Operas --- Drama --- Dramatic music --- Singspiel --- History --- History and criticism --- canonical composers. --- drama. --- fiery angel. --- fin de siecle. --- legend of the invisible city of kitezh. --- libretto. --- maiden fevroniya. --- miracles. --- music history. --- music interpretation. --- music theory. --- music. --- musicology. --- mysterium. --- opera. --- operatic innovation. --- performance. --- performing arts. --- poetics. --- prokofiev. --- queen of spades. --- rimsky korsakov. --- russian music. --- russian opera. --- scriabin. --- silver age. --- spectacle. --- stravinsky. --- supernatural russian music. --- supernatural. --- symbolist movement. --- syncretism. --- tchaikovsky. --- theater. --- theurgy. --- translation.

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The October Revolution of 1917 tore the fabric of Russian musical life: institutions collapsed, and leading composers emigrated or fell into silence. But in 1932, at the outset of the 'socialist realist' period, a new Stalinist music culture was emerging. Between these two dates lies a turbulent period of change which this book charts year by year. It sheds light on the vicious power struggles and ideological wars, the birth of new aesthetic credos, and the gradual increase of Party and state control over music, in the opera houses, the concert halls, the workers' clubs, and on the streets. The book not only provides a detailed and nuanced depiction of the early Soviet musical landscape, but brings it to life by giving voice to the leading actors and commentators of the day. The vibrant public discourse on music is presented through a selection of press articles, reviews and manifestos, all supplied with ample commentary. These myriad sources offer a new context for our understanding of Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Myaskovsky, while also showing how Western music was received in the USSR. This, however, is only half the story. The other half emerges from the private dimension of this cultural upheaval, traced through the letters, diaries and memoirs left by composers and other major players in the music world. These materials address the beliefs, motivations and actions of the Russian musical intelligentsia during the painful period of their adjustment to the changing demands of the new state. While following the twists and turns of official policies on music, the authors also offer their own explanations for the outcomes. The book offers unprecedented access to primary sources that have been unavailable in English, or which lay unknown on archival shelves. 'Music and Soviet Power' offers cultural history told through documents - both colourful and representative - with an extensive commentary and annotation throughout. MARINA FROLOVA-WALKER is Reader in Music History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. JONATHAN WALKER, who has a PhD in Musicology, is a freelance writer, teacher and pianist.

Composers --- Musical criticism --- Music --- Compositeurs --- Critique musicale --- Musique --- Attitudes --- Poltical aspects --- History and criticism --- Sources --- Aspect politique --- Histoire et critique --- Art music --- Art music, Western --- Classical music --- Musical compositions --- Musical works --- Serious music --- Western art music --- Western music (Western countries) --- Political aspects --- Music. --- Musik. --- History and criticism. --- Political aspects. --- Soviet Union. --- Sowjetunion. --- Cultural history. --- Music commentary. --- Music history. --- Myaskovsky. --- Octover Revolution of 1917. --- Primary sources. --- Prokofiev. --- Russia. --- Russian music. --- Shostakovich. --- Social realism. --- Soviet history. --- Stallinist music. --- USSR. --- Western music. --- Social aspects