Serfdom, Society, and the Arts in Imperial Russia: The Pleasure and the Power

Description

Serf-era and provincial Russia heralded the spectacular turn in cultural history that began in the 1860s. Examining the role of arts and artists in society’s value system, Richard Stites explores this shift in a groundbreaking history of visual and performing arts in the last decades of serfdom. Provincial town and manor house engaged the culture of Moscow and St. Petersburg while thousands of serfs and ex-serfs created or performed. Mikhail Glinka raised Russian music to new levels and Anton Rubinstein struggled to found a conservatory. Long before the itinerants, painters explored town and country in genre scenes of everyday life. Serf actors on loan from their masters brought naturalistic acting from provincial theaters to the imperial stages. Stites’s richly detailed book offers new perspectives on the origins of Russia’s nineteenth-century artistic prowess. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: What’s in a Title? Part I. Cultural and Social Terrains 1. Town and Country Part II. Music of the Spheres 2. The Domestic Muse 3. In Search of a Concert Hall Part III. Empire of Performance 4. Inside the Capital Stages 5. An Unfolding Drama 6. Playing the Provinces Part IV. Pictures at an Exhibition 7. Academic Vistas 8. Exploring the Interior Part V. Finale and Overture 9. When Did the Real Day Dawn? List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index