Wagner and Russia (Cambridge Studies in Russian Literature) [Hardcover]

Rosamund Bartlett (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cambridge Studies in Russian Literature | Publication Date: February 24, 1995

This book explores the immense influence of the composer Richard Wagner on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian writers, musicians and artists. It contains a history of the production of Wagner's works in Russia and the Soviet Union (by directors including Meyerhold and Eisenstein), an account of Wagner's visit to Russia in 1863, and a detailed investigation of the impact of his music and ideas on the Russian Modernist movement. The last two chapters explore the fate of Wagner's works after the 1917 Revolution, when he was first hailed but then reviled, and finally rehabilitated during the years of glasnost.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...offers a wealth of information on the reception of Wagner in Russia, and it provides a broad view of a theme which as hitherto only been treated in shorter essays....will be useful in both the undergraduate and graduate classroom. It reads fluidly and is handsomely laid out..." Slavic and East European Journal

"...an essential source for all those who wish to pursue the subject further." The Russian Review

"I recognize with gratitude the work Bartlett has undertaken in collecting so much undeniably helpful information under one cover." Opera Quarterly

"This fine study traces Wagner's music and ideas in Russia from 1841 to 1991, detailing his reception and performance history, the factors that shaped them, and his admirers and detractors." Slavic Review

"...a rich volume, blending vivid strands of Russian music, art, theater, philosophy, and politics....Without question, the landscape of Wagner's reception and influence has been significantly enlarged by Bartlett's fine and ambitious text." Carol Reynolds, Book Reviews

Book Description

Wagner is often held to have exerted a greater impact on modern culture than any other artist, yet the history of the reception of his works in Russia has until now remained largely unexplored. This book, which draws extensively on unpublished archival materials and other contemporary sources, aims to show that in certain important respects, Wagner's music and ideas found more fertile ground in Russia than anywhere else in Europe. Beginning with the first mention of Wagner's name in the Russian press in 1841, and ending almost 150 years later when the composer was finally rehabilitated during the years of glasnost, this study provides the first detailed account of Wagner's visit to Russia in 1863, and a history of the productions of his works in Russia both before and after the Revolution (including radical stagings by Meyerhold and Eisenstein). The book pays special attention to Wagner's important influence on the Russian Modernist movement, focusing particularly on his impact on the leading Symbolist writers, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Andrey Bely and Aleksandr Blok.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 436 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521440718
• ISBN-13: 978-0521440714
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,580,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( W ) > Wagner, Richard

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