The Negotiation of Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Russian Opera
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Not Russian Enough The Negotiation of Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Russian Opera R H ©?=>> Rutger Helmers Print production by F&N Boekservice Typeset using: LATEX ?" Typeface: Linux Libertine Music typesetting: LilyPond Not Russian Enough: The Negotiation of Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Russian Opera Niet Russisch genoeg: nationalisme en de negentiende-eeuwse Russische operapraktijk (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) P ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magniVcus, prof. dr. G. J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag ? februari ?=>? des ochtends te >=.@= uur door Rutger Milo Helmers geboren op E november >FE= te Amersfoort Promotor: Prof. dr. E. G. J. Wennekes Co-promotor: Dr. M. V. Frolova-Walker Contents Preface · vii Acknowledgements · viii Preliminary Notes · x List of Abbreviations · xiii Introduction: The Part and the Whole · > Russia and the West · C The Russian Opera World · >= The Historiographical Legacy · >B Russianness RedeVned · ?> The Four Case Studies · ?A > A Life for the Tsar · ?F Glinka’s Changing Attitude to Italian Music · @@ The Italianisms of A Life for the Tsar · @F Liberties · BA Reminiscences · C> Conclusion · CB v vi CON TEN TS ? Judith · CD Serov the Cosmopolitan · D= Long-Buried Nationalities · E> Judith and Russianness · FE Conclusion · >=D @ The Maid of Orléans · >>> The Requirements of the Operatic Stage · >>C Schiller, The Maid, and Grand Opera Dramaturgy · >?> Whose Music Is It? · >@A Conclusion · >AD A The Tsar’s Bride · >B> The Surprises of The Tsar’s Bride · >BB Breaking with the Past · >CE Breaking with the Future · >E> Torniamo all’antico · >FB Conclusion · ?=C Conclusion · ?>@ Western Conventions · ?>A Russianness · ?>C Russianness and Local Colour · ?>E Opening Up the Borders · ??= Bibliography · ??@ Samenvatting (Summary in Dutch) · ?AF Curriculum Vitae · ?BD Preface is about the complex and contested relation between Tthe art of opera and national thought in nineteenth-century Russia. More than once, when telling people about the subject of my research, I have been confronted with the question: ‘Why Russian music? What is your special connection with Russia?’ Some seemed surprised to Vnd that there was none, that I had neither lived in Russia nor had any Russian grandparents or distant Russian cousins that might explain my interests. By now, of course, I do have a special connection with Russia, but it has been the result of, rather than the reason for, my scholarly engagement with the country’s musical past. I have always been glad that there was no such motivation, feeling that it would somehow devalue the intrinsic interest of Russian music and its history if only Russians and people with Russian family cared about it. Having no prior ties to Russia, nor, I must admit, a particular predilection for Russian opera, I more or less had to stumble upon the subject. This happened during my master’s, when I ended up at the University of Cambridge studying with Marina Frolova-Walker as an Erasmus student in the spring of ?==C. My main musicological interests so far had been nineteenth-century music and nationalism; by the time I returned home, Russian music, and opera in particular, had become a permanent fascination. My late attraction to Russian culture meant that I had to devote a large part of my Vrst year as a Ph. D. candidate to the study of the Russian language, and then had to develop my reading proVciency along the way. I hope that, after vii viii ACK NOWLEDGEMEN TS four years of study, my knowledge of Russian culture and the Russian language will prove to be suXcient—even if it inevitably falls short of that of native Russians—and that any shortcomings on this account are compensated by the fresh perspectives and critical distance allowed by my outsider’s position. I have tried to make this dissertation accessible and stimulating for those who are already familiar with the history of Russian opera as well as for those with an interest in music, opera, or cultural history who do not yet have a particular aXnity with the repertoire I have studied. I hope I have been able to communicate my enthusiasm in the pages that follow. Acknowledgements Howard Becker began his study Art Worlds with an anecdote about the English novellist Anthony Trollope, who claimed to owe his success above anyone else to the old groom who dutifully woke him up and served him coUee every morning, and thus contributed to the writer’s steady literary production. It is just one example to illustrate how most human endeavour, even the seemingly most solitary, is dependent on the support and cooperation of others, and this applies to scholars as much as artists. The present work, too, has been the outcome of a collective eUort, and obviously so, as my reliance on the work of previous authors is extensively documented in the footnotes and bibliography. My debts to others, however, run much deeper and wider than that. There are many people and institutes to whom I owe a more personal gratitude, and there are a number of them who, other than Trollope’s groom, I should not like to remain anonymous. My Vrst words of thanks should of course go to my supervisors Emile Wennekes and Marina Frolova-Walker, without whom I would never have embarked on this project, let alone have completed it. Even though Russia is located somewhere on the fringes of Emile’s broad range of interests, he has been unfailingly supportive of my work, especially during the Vnal stages, when—without exaggeration—he was available day and night. His observations and suggestions were always an incentive to further explorations, and his faith in the project and my abilities have given me the conVdence to continue along the chosen path. Marina’s expertise in the Veld of Russian music, meanwhile, has been both indispensable and inspiring. Although we have inevitably worked at some remove from each other ever since I returned to Utrecht after my semester in Cambridge in ?==C, she has continued to oUer her support from across the Channel whenever it was needed, and the many ACK NOWLEDGEMEN TS ix ideas and comments she generously shared with me—whether through e-mail, phone, or in person in Cambridge, Utrecht, or a pub in Durham—have greatly shaped my own thoughts on the subject. I would like to thank the Institute for History and Culture () at Utrecht University, which graciously funded my research and oUered a hospitable working environment; as well as my fellow-musicologists at the department of Media and Culture Studies ( ), who provided the disciplinary framework for my studies, and gave me the much-appreciated opportunity to acquire some teaching experience. A number of other institutes have also contributed greatly to my research and my life as a doctoral student: my graduate school, the Huizinga Institute for Cultural History, where I met many kindred spirits working in other historical disciplines than my own, and which oUered me an unforgettable introduction to the city of St Petersburg in the Cultural Transfer study trip; the Russian National Library and the Russian Institute for the History of the Arts (), where I have acquired the majority of my source materials; and the Netherlands Institute in St Petersburg ( ), who oUered warm and friendly local support for my visits to Russia in many ways. I would also like to express my gratitude to the following individuals for a variety reasons: my principal teacher of the Russian language, Alla Peeters- Podgaevskaja, for equipping me with all the skills required for Vnding my way around St Petersburg and reading my Russian sources; Joost van Gemert of the Utrecht University Library, for being so kind to acquire several hard-to-obtain and expensive sources for me; Katya Chernyakova and Olga Panteleyeva, who may not even remember, but who brought me my Vrst set of photocopies from St Petersburg; Roger Parker, who, like Marina, inspired me during my stay in Cambridge in ?==C and helped me on several other occasions; and the members of my assessment committee, professors Louis Grijp, Karl Kügle, Joep Leerssen, Francis Maes, and Richard Taruskin, who were all so kind to invest their precious time to study and evaluate my manuscript. I am also grateful to my roommates and/or coUee-drinking companions at the , Bart, Maarten, Harm, Alastair, Jacco, Jörg, Matjaž, whose com- pany made life as an ‘aio’ so much more bearable; my fellow-members of the intervision group, Auke, Claartje, Feike, Koen, and Marjolijn, for our not-so-frequent, not-so-structured but highly enjoyable sessions of mutual mental support; and various friends outside the ivory tower of humanities research, particularly Joris and his wife Anna, and Menno, whose humour and wonderful company have reminded me throughout the years that there is much more to life than scholarship and classical music alone. Finally, I am blessed with my family, who have not only oUered their x PRELIMINARYNOTES unconditional sympathy and mental support, as families ideally do, but who also happen to be unusually well-equipped to actually advise and assist me in the process of writing my thesis. Helmer and Inge, my brother and sister- in-law, have led the way by obtaining doctoral degrees in their own cultural- historical disciplines, and together we have established the family tradition of editing each other’s manuscripts in the Vnal stages. All of us have relied extensively on my mother’s impeccable feeling for the English language, and on my father’s willingness to put up with all the feverish scholarly activity under his roof. I cannot adequately express how grateful I am to all of them for being so incredibly supportive of my musicological activities.