Symphonic Etudes: Portraits of Russian Operas and Ballets
- Author: Asafyev, Boris
Asafev and Haas provide many intruguing, thematically interconnected insights into 'golden age' Russian opera
Symphonic Etudes: Portraits of Russian Operas and Ballets
- Author: Asafyev, Boris
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Asafev and Haas provide many intruguing, thematically interconnected insights into 'golden age' Russian opera
About
When Boris Asafyev's first edition of Symphonic Etudes appeared in 1922, it was recognized as the most extensive, insightful, and sophisticated text on Russian opera and ballet yet written. The second edition in 1970 was accepted as a classic of music criticism and has since functioned as a foundation for Russian nineteenth-century scholarship. Now this important book is available in English, its text and footnotes fully translated and annotated by David Haas. Symphonic Etudes: Portraits of Russian Operas and Ballets is divided into 19 essays, most of which were originally written for program booklets distributed during the 1921-22 season of the St. Petersburg State Theatre. The book's chronological coverage extends from the 1830s until World War I, with particular attention given to Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila, the operas of Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and Musorgsky, and the first two of Stravinsky's ballets. Rather than provide his literate Russian audience with superfluous plot summaries and lists of characters, Asafyev instead created "psychological and stylistic" portraits. As a result, each work discussed emerges as a distinctive achievement as well as a means for examining one or more aspects of an unfolding national tradition. David Haas provides a translator's preface and introductory essay that will acquaint the reader with the basic terms, concepts, and significance of Asafyev's operatic aesthetics, while extensive translator's endnotes give accurate score references and serve to illuminate the author's numerous literary and other allusions. With the new accessibility of this pioneering work, Anglophone readers—students, teachers, scholars, and music lovers alike—will have access to an insider's appreciation of Russia's multigenerational contributions to music for the stage.
Contents
- Part 1 Translator's
- Preface
- Part 2 Introduction Igor Glebov and the Audiences of Symphonic Etudes
- Chapter 3 1. A Slavonic Liturgy to Eros
- Chapter 4 2. Intermezzo I
- Chapter 5 3. Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
- Chapter 6 4. The Maid of Pskov
- Chapter 7 5. May Night
- Chapter 8 6. Snow-Maiden (A Tale of Spring)
- Chapter 9 7. Incantations
- Chapter 10 8. Christmas Eve (A True-Life Carol)
- Chapter 11 9. The Problem of a City Made Visible
- Chapter 12 10. Tale
- Chapter 13 11. The Legend of the Invisible City
- Chapter 14 12. Kingdom of Skomorokhi
- Chapter 15 13. Intermezzo II
- Chapter 16 14. The Operas of Tchaikovsky
- Chapter 17 15. The Queen of Spades
- Chapter 18 16. Modest Petrovich Musorgsky (1839-1881): Toward a Reappraisal of His Works
- Chapter 19 17. Intermezzo III
- Chapter 20 18. Igor Stravinsky and His Ballets
- Chapter 21 19. In Lieu of a Finale
- Part 22 Index of Russian Operas, Ballets, and Principal Roles
- Part 23 General
- Index
- Part 24 About the Author
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Asafev and Haas provide many intruguing, thematically interconnected insights into 'golden age' Russian opera
