PRICE

$ 21.00

Buy now

Khozhdenie v Nevidimyi Grad

Paradigmy Russkoi Klassicheskoi Opery

This book by a well-known critic is unique for its approach to opera as an anthropological phenomenon. Opera is remarkable for its abundant genetic, emotional, and intellectual links with the world and haughty independence from everyday life combined with banal bowing to Zeitgeist. The book examines Russian operatic works in the light of world culture, philosophy, mythology, and analytical psychology. The author attempts to lay bare the symbolic structure of different operas and to show the specifics of Russian opera within the context of European culture. Thus, he isolates motifs of a feminine inviolable Russia in the image of Chaikovskii’s Tatiana, the myth of Sacred Rus and the myth of Petersburg, the image of a dancing Foe in Russian opera (Borodin’s “Prince Igor”), an ideal of asexual rule (Rimskii’-Korsakov’s Berendei). Tenors, who dominated late 19th century Russian operatic stage, blended in their arias all preexisting literary trends, including Sentimentalism, Romanticism, and Realism. Bibliographic references, index of the best known Russian operas, chronology of important European first performances from the late 16th to early 20th centuries.