Books by Marina Frolova-Walker
Papers by Marina Frolova-Walker
Cambridge Opera Journal, 1997
And so yet again we are to consider the Russianness of Russian music. Is there some peculiar shor... more And so yet again we are to consider the Russianness of Russian music. Is there some peculiar shortcoming afflicting Russian music that prevents us from discussing it except in terms of nationality? Although Richard Taruskin has asked why we cannot simply take Russian music out of the surrounding nationalist discourse in order to examine it per se, such an approach may require, even as a precondition, a radically revisionary account of the…
Nineteenth-Century Music Review, 2005
remarkable – as for example in bars 41–50 and 87–100 of the slow movement, where the cello part r... more remarkable – as for example in bars 41–50 and 87–100 of the slow movement, where the cello part remains in its upper register, above the sustained countermelody in the middle and lower register of the violin. Perhaps most intriguing are the differences between the version of the G minor Scherzo familiar from the Octet and that given in the orchestral, piano-duet, and chamber versions of the C minor Symphony. The movement as a whole comprises 209 bars rather than the 242 given in op. 20,11 and certain critical passages are recomposed entirely. Particularly noteworthy in the latter regard are the end of the development (bars 93–106) and the beginning of the recapitulation (bars 125–39), corresponding to bars 93–128 and 152–74 of the Octet version: one might well argue that the op. 11 versions of these passages are more musically successful than their counterparts in the Octet. To dismiss these arrangements as works possessed of only secondary artistic integrity would thus be awkward at best. Their inclusion in this new critical Gesamtausgabe is all the more commendable because of their musical rewards. Initiated between 1960 and 1977 and then revived in 1992 under the sponsorship of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, the Leipziger Ausgabe der Werke von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy has made emphatically clear that the editions of Mendelssohn’s works most frequently used even today – that is, the scores produced as part of the collected-works series issued by Breitkopf & Härtel under the editorship of Julius Rietz in the 1870s – provide at best an incomplete and woefully uncritical glimpse into Mendelssohn’s musical output. Current plans call for the publication of another nine volumes of the Leipziger Ausgabe by Autumn 2006.12 The methodological rigour and conscientious dedication to the source-critical transmission of Mendelssohn’s music demonstrated in the present volumes offer good reason to hope that those volumes, and the series as a whole, will contribute significantly to the ongoing latter-day reassessment of Mendelssohn’s music.
19th-Century Music, 2011
Abstract This article is based on the key-note lecture given at the conference “Non-Nationalist” ... more Abstract This article is based on the key-note lecture given at the conference “Non-Nationalist” Russian Operas, Leeds, U.K., on 17 November 2010. It engages with the conference9s distinction between the “nationalist” and “non-nationalist” and proposes six potential situations for when an opera might be described as “Russian”: by composer9s intention, by reception, by interpretation, by association, by blood or culture, and by emanating from the nationalist school. Given that these six categories of Russianness (some of them mystificatory) form a network of conflicting claims upon any opera, there is no straightforward method for assigning operas to Russian or non-Russian categories. Therefore an alternative approach is proposed: to revive the older concept of “local color,” which figured prominently in nineteenth-century Russian discourse on opera, and to use this as a lens through which almost any nineteenth-century Russian opera can instructively be viewed. After examining how the concept was understood by leading Russian critics, Serov and Cui, the author offers a selection of her own examples to elucidate the use of “Russian” local color. It is emphasized that there are certain limits beyond which this color cannot be applied: characters of noble birth, even when Russian, are rarely portrayed in Russian colors; scenes that take place outside Russia usually have their own, appropriate color, e.g., “Polish” or “Oriental”; most importantly, themes that are considered universal, such as love or death, are usually exempt from Russian coloring. Examples from the late operas of Rimsky-Korsakov demonstrate his conscious and sometimes obsessive efforts in creating appropriate colors, Russian and otherwise. This approach allows us to set aside preconceived notions of which composers were truly national, especially when we generalize that local color denotes any distinguishing device designed to evoke a specific time and place, as well as the social identity of a character. Thus Tchaikovsky9s operas, often criticized for their lack of “Russianness,” display a subtle understanding of appropriate coloring: Eugene Onegin , for example, uses an idiom based on the parlor song of the Russian gentry, while The Queen of Spades takes up eighteenth-century idioms—in both cases lending the drama an appropriate color. The article concludes that local color, a much-used device in nineteenth-century opera across Europe, was an almost obligatory requirement for Russian opera composers who adopted an aesthetic of the characteristic, along the lines proposed by Victor Hugo in his Preface to Cromwell . The concept proves to be a valuable critical tool that allows us to deal with nineteenth-century Russian opera without becoming ensnared in essentializing distinctions between “nationalist” and “non-nationalist.” At the same time, it allows us to put Russian color in perspective, as one color among many cultivated by opera composers.
Rimsky-Korsakov and His World, 2018
This chapter examines The Golden Cockerel as a pointed political satire, prompted and shaped by t... more This chapter examines The Golden Cockerel as a pointed political satire, prompted and shaped by the concrete events of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Indeed, Rimsky-Korsakov and his librettist saturated the libretto with direct and recognizable references to the recent war, turning the opera into a kind of topical political theater. Here, Rimsky-Korsakov appears as politically radical, and returns to the idioms of the Russian Style—not in a spirit of nostalgia, but with the aim of inventing and mocking his previous values, and also mocking the Russian state, whose hubris had led to a humiliating defeat. Ultimately, the Cockerel became a distorting mirror in which the previous seventy years of Russian opera and its nationalist preoccupations found an unflattering reflection.
Sergey Prokofiev and His World, 2008
The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera, 2003
Rethinking Prokofiev
Composers’ national identities, as we perceive them, tend to act as a constraint on the type of q... more Composers’ national identities, as we perceive them, tend to act as a constraint on the type of questions we ask about them. Prokofiev research is a clear example of this, since it has been focused either on his early years or on his return to Soviet Russia. His two decades abroad have usually been treated as transitional, unsettled, and of limited significance. This chapter reimagines Prokofiev in Paris, not as a fleeting Russian émigré but as a fixture in Parisian musical life. It assesses both how important Prokofiev was for Paris and how important Paris was for Prokofiev. The materials for this task are now abundant: Prokofiev’s own diaries and much of his personal and professional correspondence have been published; and a multitude of French press reviews are available online. The impact of the Paris years well into Prokofiev’s Soviet period is also examined—an influence not generally recognized by either Soviet or Western commentators.
Nineteenth-Century Music Review, 2020
Musicological Annual, 2018
Ten years ago, tasked with reviewing Marina Frolova-Walker’s first book Russian Music and Nationa... more Ten years ago, tasked with reviewing Marina Frolova-Walker’s first book Russian Music and Nationalism: From Glinka to Stalin (Yale University Press, 2007), I praised the author for dismantling long-standing myths and questioning the activities of some of the sacred cows of Russian music history, and for writing about the topics that “annoyed” her in a most enlightening and gripping way. After reading Frolova-Walker’s latest book, Stalin’s Music Prize: Soviet Culture and Politics, I was thrilled to see that the author is still busting myths, charting the hitherto unexplored areas of Soviet music history, and narrating a fascinating and often hilarious story of the rise-and-fall of Stalin’s prize for artistic achievements. Frolova-Walker provides brilliant insight into the inner workings of the Soviet institutional and cultural system, and the power play that affected the process of rewarding artists whose work was meant to stand for the best that Soviet culture had to offer.
The Opera Quarterly, 2009
... Director: Richard Jones. Set Design: John Macfarlane. Costume Design: Nicky Gillibrand. Light... more ... Director: Richard Jones. Set Design: John Macfarlane. Costume Design: Nicky Gillibrand. Lighting: Mimi Jordan Sherin. Choreography: Linda Dobell. Katerina Lvovna Ismailova: Eva-Maria Westbroek. Sergey: Christopher Ventris. Boris Timofeyevich Ismailov: John Tomlinson. ...
The Opera Quarterly, 2009
Vladimir Sorokin's scandalous novel Blue Fat (1999) presents several unforgettable e... more Vladimir Sorokin's scandalous novel Blue Fat (1999) presents several unforgettable episodes, including one about a performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoi, attended by the novel's hero and his girlfriend. An abundance of detail inches its ...
Muzikologija, 2003
Two outstanding personalities of the Soviet musical life in the 1920's, the composer Nikolay ... more Two outstanding personalities of the Soviet musical life in the 1920's, the composer Nikolay Myaskovsky and the musicologist Boris Asafyev, both exponents of modernism, made volte-faces towards traditionalism at the beginning of the next decade. Myaskovsky's Symphony no. 12 (1931) and Asafyev's ballet The Flames of Paris (1932) became models for Socialist Realism in music. The letters exchanged between the two men testify to the formers uneasiness at the great success of those of his works he considered not valuable enough, whereas the latter was quite satisfied with his new career as composer. The examples of Myaskovsky and Asafyev show that early Soviet modernists made their move away from avant-garde creativity well before they faced any real danger from the bureaucracy.
Revolutionary Russia, 2014
exhibit). The Lavra was closed in 1919, but around it the agricultural collectives maintained the... more exhibit). The Lavra was closed in 1919, but around it the agricultural collectives maintained the sense of community and key figures continued to attract the faithful and provide spiritual guidance. The Heart of Russia closes with the fate of those most dedicated to the monastery in the 1920s and 1930s, when the communists increasingly came to see the community as a hotbed of counter-revolution. The epilogue offers a brief overview of the Lavra’s fortunes after 1938, from its revival during the Stalin era, renewed suppression under Khrushchev, the policy of relative tolerance under Brezhnev, and key role in the religious resurgence of the Gorbachev years. The Lavra regenerated after each attempt at suppression. Its extraordinary popularity for pilgrims and its continued fame as Russia’s pre-eminent monastery points to its status as a symbol of Russian religious revival and survival. Readers frustrated that Kenworthy ends his analysis in the 1930s (at 528 pages, he presumably had to stop somewhere) may refer to his chapter on monastic life at Trinity-Sergius after the Second World War in State Secularism and Lived Religion in Soviet Russia and Ukraine (Washington and Oxford, 2012), edited by Catherine Wanner. Far from being a glorified case study, The Heart of Russia engages with important questions about secularisation and modernity in Europe and relations between ordinary believers and institutional religion in Russia, as well as challenging some of the established narratives about the period, such as the onset of Stalin’s terror, which struck the Lavra’s community in 1929, earlier than the wider campaign. The Lavra is exceptional in many ways, but it is illustrative of the broader story of the repression and revival of Russian Orthodoxy. For these reasons, The Heart of Russia should reach a readership beyond that concerned solely with Russian monasticism. In terms of classroom use, postgraduates will find much of interest methodologically in The Heart of Russia; it is a master class in meticulous archival research and case study history. The level of detail in the book, coupled with the fact that individuals are traced throughout, means the chapters do not readily lend themselves to stand-alone reading, which limits its suitability for undergraduate teaching. It is an essential read for scholars in a number of areas, however, chief among them Orthodoxy in the modern world, religion and spirituality in nineteenthand twentieth-century Russia, and monasticism in any historical or geographical context. Indeed, one wonders how any scholar will write about these topics again without reference to this book.
Journal of the American Musicological Society, 2012
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Books by Marina Frolova-Walker
Papers by Marina Frolova-Walker