Russian Opera and the Symbolist MovementAn 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. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Chaikovsky and Decadence | 45 |
RimskyKorsakov and Religious Syncretism | 115 |
Scriabin and Theurgy | 184 |
Prokofiev and Mimesis | 242 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aleksandr Blok appears arietta artistic Belïy bells Belsky Blok Blok's Bryusov cards Chaikovsky characters chord chorus chromatic City of Kitezh commedia dell'arte composer composer's Count Heinrich Madiel Countess creative death depiction divine drama dream Example Faust Fevroniya Fiery Angel Greater Kitezh Grishka harmonies Herman human Ibid intermède invisible city Ivanov Legend of Kitezh leitmotif libretto Liza major melody Mephistopheles Meyerhold minor Moscow motif Mysterium mystic Nikolai novella octatonic octatonic scale Old Believers opera opus orchestral ostinato passages performance Petersburg pitches poem poet poetic Preparatory Act Prokofiev Pushkin Queen of Spades reality recalls rehearsal number religious Renata Richard Taruskin Rimsky Rimsky-Korsakov Ruprecht Russian Symbolism Russian Symbolist Sabaneyev scene score Scriabin shto sketches Skryabin Solovyov song soul sound Soviet spiritual stage supernatural Svetlïy symbol Symphony Taruskin Tatar-Mongols Theater tion tonality transformation Tristan und Isolde vocal Volnï Vospominaniya vsyo Wagner wave whole-tone yego