Richard Stites
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300108897
- eISBN:
- 9780300128185
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300108897.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter examines the history of theater in the provinces in imperial Russia. It explains that during the imperial period, theater ruled provincial cultural life and reached out to many more ...
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This chapter examines the history of theater in the provinces in imperial Russia. It explains that during the imperial period, theater ruled provincial cultural life and reached out to many more consumers than did literature, classical music, or fine art. The chapter also discusses the transformation of the theater from an elite engine of amusement and enlightenment in the capitals and on rural estates to a network of public entertainment centers open to all in scores of provincial and district towns. It suggests that the network of provincial theaters represented an expansion of public cultural space at the expense of the private sphere.Less
This chapter examines the history of theater in the provinces in imperial Russia. It explains that during the imperial period, theater ruled provincial cultural life and reached out to many more consumers than did literature, classical music, or fine art. The chapter also discusses the transformation of the theater from an elite engine of amusement and enlightenment in the capitals and on rural estates to a network of public entertainment centers open to all in scores of provincial and district towns. It suggests that the network of provincial theaters represented an expansion of public cultural space at the expense of the private sphere.
Richard Stites
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300108897
- eISBN:
- 9780300128185
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300108897.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
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, this book explores this ...
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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, this book explores this shift in a 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. The book offers new perspectives on the origins of Russia's nineteenth-century artistic prowess.Less
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, this book explores this shift in a 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. The book offers new perspectives on the origins of Russia's nineteenth-century artistic prowess.
GILLIAN RUSSELL
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122630
- eISBN:
- 9780191671500
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122630.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama
Although Tate Wilkinson was found to be one of the most respected and successful people in provincial theatre, his thoughts regarding the performance of The Fair Penitent demonstrate that he had to ...
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Although Tate Wilkinson was found to be one of the most respected and successful people in provincial theatre, his thoughts regarding the performance of The Fair Penitent demonstrate that he had to experience struggles so that his personal and professional respectability became recognized. The façade of the dominant theatrical culture in Britain, exhibited through the various patent houses in the provinces and in London, hides a different kind of rural theatre which involves staging performances in fairground booths, in barns, and in the open-air. In 1788, a change in the law classified all actors, regardless of their status, as craftsmen, yet acting was still associated with criminality and immorality. In this chapter, the author considers looking into the American War of Independence, the British administration of the Cape of Good Hope, and the War of 1812 to analyse the significance of amateur theatricals.Less
Although Tate Wilkinson was found to be one of the most respected and successful people in provincial theatre, his thoughts regarding the performance of The Fair Penitent demonstrate that he had to experience struggles so that his personal and professional respectability became recognized. The façade of the dominant theatrical culture in Britain, exhibited through the various patent houses in the provinces and in London, hides a different kind of rural theatre which involves staging performances in fairground booths, in barns, and in the open-air. In 1788, a change in the law classified all actors, regardless of their status, as craftsmen, yet acting was still associated with criminality and immorality. In this chapter, the author considers looking into the American War of Independence, the British administration of the Cape of Good Hope, and the War of 1812 to analyse the significance of amateur theatricals.
Erik Ryding and Rebecca Pechefsky
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300087130
- eISBN:
- 9780300129274
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300087130.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Bruno Walter, one of the greatest conductors in the twentieth century, lived a fascinating life in difficult times. This book starts by describing Walter's early years in Germany, where his successes ...
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Bruno Walter, one of the greatest conductors in the twentieth century, lived a fascinating life in difficult times. This book starts by describing Walter's early years in Germany, where his successes in provincial theaters led to positions at the Berlin State Opera and the Vienna State Opera. It then tells of his decade-long term as Bavarian music director and his romantic involvement with the soprano Delia Reinhardt; his other positions in the musical community until he was ousted from Germany when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933; and his return to Vienna, where he was artistic director of the Opera House until he was again forced out by the Nazis. Finally it examines his career in the United States, where he led the New York Philharmonic and other orchestras and in his last years made numerous recordings with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble created especially for him. The book makes use of the thousands of unpublished letters in the Bruno Walter Papers, now in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.Less
Bruno Walter, one of the greatest conductors in the twentieth century, lived a fascinating life in difficult times. This book starts by describing Walter's early years in Germany, where his successes in provincial theaters led to positions at the Berlin State Opera and the Vienna State Opera. It then tells of his decade-long term as Bavarian music director and his romantic involvement with the soprano Delia Reinhardt; his other positions in the musical community until he was ousted from Germany when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933; and his return to Vienna, where he was artistic director of the Opera House until he was again forced out by the Nazis. Finally it examines his career in the United States, where he led the New York Philharmonic and other orchestras and in his last years made numerous recordings with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble created especially for him. The book makes use of the thousands of unpublished letters in the Bruno Walter Papers, now in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
