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Prokofiev's Soviet Operas Nathan Seinen (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Prokofiev's Soviet Operas By Nathan Seinen (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Prokofiev's Soviet Operas by Nathan Seinen (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)


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Summary

Prokofiev's last four operas are major works of his career in the Soviet Union, yet the original versions remain unfamiliar since they exist only in manuscript form. This book offers bold new interpretations, draws on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, and includes comparisons with works of literature, film, and theatre.

Prokofiev's Soviet Operas Summary

Prokofiev's Soviet Operas by Nathan Seinen (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Prokofiev considered himself to be primarily a composer of opera, and his return to Russia in the mid-1930s was partially motivated by the goal to renew his activity in this genre. His Soviet career coincided with the height of the Stalin era, when official interest and involvement in opera increased, leading to demands for nationalism and heroism to be represented on the stage to promote the Soviet Union and the Stalinist regime. Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials and engaging with recent scholarship in Slavonic studies, this book investigates encounters between Prokofiev's late operas and the aesthetics of socialist realism, contemporary culture (including literature, film, and theatre), political ideology, and the obstacles of bureaucratic interventions and historical events. This contextual approach is interwoven with critical interpretations of the operas in their original versions, providing a new account of their stylistic and formal features and connections to operatic traditions.

Prokofiev's Soviet Operas Reviews

'As the first sustained study of Prokofiev's late operas, Prokofiev's Soviet Operas is an impressive contribution to our understanding of music in Stalinist Russia.' Kevin Bartig, The Russian Review
'... Nathan Seinen sheds new light on Sergei Prokofev's long career as an opera composer, focusing on the four works composed in the Soviet Union ... the analysis abounds in felicitous and often original insights.' P. R. Bullock, The Slavonic and East European Review

About Nathan Seinen (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Nathan Seinen is Assistant Professor of Musicology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His articles have appeared in Music & Letters and the Cambridge Opera Journal, and he is the 2010 recipient of the Alfred Einstein Award from the American Musicological Society.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Semyon Kotko and the melodrama of high Stalinism; 2. Buffered by Buffa: Betrothal in a Monastery; 3. Kutuzov's victory, Prokofiev's defeat: the revisions of War and Peace; 4. The Story of a Real Man and late Stalinist subjectivity; Conclusion.

Additional information

GOR013479768
9781107460799
1107460794
Prokofiev's Soviet Operas by Nathan Seinen (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Cambridge University Press
2021-07-22
269
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Prokofiev's Soviet Operas