To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again

To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again PDF Author: Tatiana Korneeva
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110751062
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
In the 18th century Italian theatre and its artists became vital to Russian rulers, who employed Italian musico-dramatic works to advance their political agendas and emphasize Russia’s cultural uniqueness and its cosmopolitan character. Innumerable playwrights and composers, actors and singers were active at the Russian court. Usually considered at best peripheral to Europe, the faraway Russian Empire represents a particularly powerful example of the mobility of theatre agents and the circulation of artistic practices. This book sets a new regional accent on imperial Russia, thus mitigating the traditional historiographical emphasis on Western Europe, and adopts a transnational approach to theatre and music history. Its aim is twofold. First, to explore Italian music-theatrical repertoires that occupied a crucial position within the spectacle of absolutism in Russia. Second, to investigate careers and travel routes of the Italian theatre professionals. The examination of their activities at the Russian court aims not only to provide a fuller understanding of their vital role in the transmission of socio-political and artistic ideas, but also to more firmly situate Russia in the broader arena of European cultural production.

To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again

To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again PDF Author: Tatiana Korneeva
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110751062
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
In the 18th century Italian theatre and its artists became vital to Russian rulers, who employed Italian musico-dramatic works to advance their political agendas and emphasize Russia’s cultural uniqueness and its cosmopolitan character. Innumerable playwrights and composers, actors and singers were active at the Russian court. Usually considered at best peripheral to Europe, the faraway Russian Empire represents a particularly powerful example of the mobility of theatre agents and the circulation of artistic practices. This book sets a new regional accent on imperial Russia, thus mitigating the traditional historiographical emphasis on Western Europe, and adopts a transnational approach to theatre and music history. Its aim is twofold. First, to explore Italian music-theatrical repertoires that occupied a crucial position within the spectacle of absolutism in Russia. Second, to investigate careers and travel routes of the Italian theatre professionals. The examination of their activities at the Russian court aims not only to provide a fuller understanding of their vital role in the transmission of socio-political and artistic ideas, but also to more firmly situate Russia in the broader arena of European cultural production.

To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again

To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again PDF Author: Tatiana Korneeva
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783110751048
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again

To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again PDF Author: Tatiana Korneeva
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110751089
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In the 18th century Italian theatre and its artists became vital to Russian rulers, who employed Italian musico-dramatic works to advance their political agendas and emphasize Russia’s cultural uniqueness and its cosmopolitan character. Innumerable playwrights and composers, actors and singers were active at the Russian court. Usually considered at best peripheral to Europe, the faraway Russian Empire represents a particularly powerful example of the mobility of theatre agents and the circulation of artistic practices. This book sets a new regional accent on imperial Russia, thus mitigating the traditional historiographical emphasis on Western Europe, and adopts a transnational approach to theatre and music history. Its aim is twofold. First, to explore Italian music-theatrical repertoires that occupied a crucial position within the spectacle of absolutism in Russia. Second, to investigate careers and travel routes of the Italian theatre professionals. The examination of their activities at the Russian court aims not only to provide a fuller understanding of their vital role in the transmission of socio-political and artistic ideas, but also to more firmly situate Russia in the broader arena of European cultural production.

The Romanov Empress

The Romanov Empress PDF Author: C. W. Gortner
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0425286177
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
For readers of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir comes a dramatic novel of the beloved Empress Maria, the Danish princess who became the mother of the last Russian tsar. “This epic tale is captivating and beautifully told.”—Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours Barely nineteen, Minnie knows that her station in life as a Danish princess is to leave her family and enter into a royal marriage—as her older sister Alix has done, moving to England to wed Queen Victoria’s eldest son. The winds of fortune bring Minnie to Russia, where she marries the Romanov heir, Alexander, and once he ascends the throne, becomes empress. When resistance to his reign strikes at the heart of her family and the tsar sets out to crush all who oppose him, Minnie—now called Maria—must tread a perilous path of compromise in a country she has come to love. Her husband’s death leaves their son Nicholas as the inexperienced ruler of a deeply divided and crumbling empire. Determined to guide him to reforms that will bring Russia into the modern age, Maria faces implacable opposition from Nicholas’s strong-willed wife, Alexandra, whose fervor has led her into a disturbing relationship with a mystic named Rasputin. As the unstoppable wave of revolution rises anew to engulf Russia, Maria will face her most dangerous challenge and her greatest heartache. From the opulent palaces of St. Petersburg and the intrigue-laced salons of the aristocracy to the World War I battlefields and the bloodied countryside occupied by the Bolsheviks, C. W. Gortner sweeps us into the anarchic fall of an empire and the complex, bold heart of the woman who tried to save it. Praise for The Romanov Empress “Timely . . . [Gortner’s] ability to weave what reads as a simple tale from such complex historical and familial storylines is impressive. . . . Maria’s life as a royal reads like a historical soap opera.”—USA Today “Gortner, an experienced hand at recreating the unique aura of a particular time and place, will deftly sweep historical-fictions fans into this glamorous, turbulent, and ultimately tragic chapter in history.”—Booklist (starred review) “Mesmerizing . . . This insightful first-person account of the downfall of the Romanov rule . . . is the powerful story of a mother trying to save her family and an aristocrat fighting to maintain rule in a country of rebellion.”—Publishers Weekly “A twist on the tragic story you’ve heard many times before.”—Bustle

Opera, Tragedy, and Neighbouring Forms from Corneille to Calzabigi

Opera, Tragedy, and Neighbouring Forms from Corneille to Calzabigi PDF Author: Blair Hoxby
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487518099
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
Since the nineteenth century, some of the most influential historians have portrayed opera and tragedy as wholly distinct cultural phenomena. These historians have denied a meaningful connection between the tragedy of the ancients and the efforts of early modern composers to arrive at styles that were intensely dramatic. Drawing on a series of case studies, Opera, Tragedy, and Neighbouring Forms from Corneille to Calzabigi traces the productive, if at times rivalrous, relationship between opera and tragedy from the institution of French regular tragedy under Richelieu in the 1630s to the reform of opera championed by Calzabigi and Gluck in the late eighteenth century. Blair Hoxby and his fellow contributors shed light on “neighbouring forms” of theatre, including pastoral drama, tragédie en machines, tragédie en musique, and Goldoni’s dramma giocoso. Their analysis includes famous masterpieces by Corneille, Voltaire, Metastasio, Goldoni, Calzabigi, Handel, and Gluck, as well as lesser-known artists such as Luisa Bergalli, the first female librettist to write for the public theatre in Italy. Opera, Tragedy, and Neighbouring Forms from Corneille to Calzabigi delves into a series of quarrels and debates in order to illuminate the history of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century theatre.

The Tsarina's Daughter

The Tsarina's Daughter PDF Author: Ellen Alpsten
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1250214424
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
Ellen Alpsten's stunning new novel, The Tsarina's Daughter, is the dramatic story of Elizabeth, daughter of Catherine I and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia during an extraordinary life marked by love, danger, passion and scandal. Born into the House of Romanov to the all-powerful Peter the Great and his wife, Catherine, a former serf, beautiful Tsarevna Elizabeth is the envy of the Russian empire. She is insulated by luxury and spoiled by her father, who dreams for her to marry King Louis XV of France and rule in Versailles. But when a woodland creature gives her a Delphic prophecy, her life is turned upside down. Her volatile father suddenly dies, her only brother has been executed and her mother takes the throne of Russia. As friends turn to foes in the dangerous atmosphere of the Court, the princess must fear for her freedom and her life. Fate deals her blow after blow, and even loving her becomes a crime that warrants cruel torture and capital punishment: Elizabeth matures from suffering victim to strong and savvy survivor. But only her true love and their burning passion finally help her become who she is. When the Imperial Crown is left to an infant Tsarevich, Elizabeth finds herself in mortal danger and must confront a terrible dilemma--seize the reins of power and harm an innocent child, or find herself following in the footsteps of her murdered brother. Hidden behind a gorgeous, wildly decadent façade, the Russian Imperial Court is a viper’s den of intrigue and ambition. Only a woman possessed of boundless courage and cunning can prove herself worthy to sit on the throne of Peter the Great.

Tsarina

Tsarina PDF Author: Ellen Alpsten
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250214459
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
"Makes Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme." —Daisy Goodwin, New York Times bestselling author of The Fortune Hunter “[Alpsten] recounts this remarkable woman’s colourful life and times." —Count Nikolai Tolstoy, historian and author Before there was Catherine the Great, there was Catherine Alexeyevna: the first woman to rule Russia in her own right. Ellen Alpsten's rich, sweeping debut novel is the story of her rise to power. St. Petersburg, 1725. Peter the Great lies dying in his magnificent Winter Palace. The weakness and treachery of his only son has driven his father to an appalling act of cruelty and left the empire without an heir. Russia risks falling into chaos. Into the void steps the woman who has been by his side for decades: his second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna, as ambitious, ruthless and passionate as Peter himself. Born into devastating poverty, Catherine used her extraordinary beauty and shrewd intelligence to ingratiate herself with Peter’s powerful generals, finally seducing the Tsar himself. But even amongst the splendor and opulence of her new life—the lavish feasts, glittering jewels, and candle-lit hours in Peter’s bedchamber—she knows the peril of her position. Peter’s attentions are fickle and his rages powerful; his first wife is condemned to a prison cell, her lover impaled alive in Red Square. And now Catherine faces the ultimate test: can she keep the Tsar’s death a secret as she plays a lethal game to destroy her enemies and take the Crown for herself? From the sensuous pleasures of a decadent aristocracy, to the incense-filled rites of the Orthodox Church and the terror of Peter’s torture chambers, the intoxicating and dangerous world of Imperial Russia is brought to vivid life. Tsarina is the story of one remarkable woman whose bid for power would transform the Russian Empire.

The Last Tsar

The Last Tsar PDF Author: Virginia Cowles
Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
ISBN:
Category : Emperors
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
"In 1917, the Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, was forced to abdicate. The event marked the end of centuries of immensely powerful imperial rule and the final collapse of a whole way of life. A year later, the fate of the Russian monarchy was sealed forever when Nicholas and all his family were killed in mysterious circumstances by the Bolsheviks... Cowles...explores the complex and contradictory character of this timid and vacillating man who yet remained deeply convinced of his God-given right to rule as the autocratic head of all Russia. Within the circle of his family and friends, he was gentle and affectionate. He adored his beautiful, strong-minded wife, Alexandra, and was at his most relaxed and charming with his five children. But to his people, he was 'Bloody Nicholas,' whose inept leadership and reactionary attitues were to bring about his downfall and plunge the country into revolution and civil war"--from front jacket flap.

The Tsarina's Daughter

The Tsarina's Daughter PDF Author: Carolly Erickson
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1429960876
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
From the bestselling author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette comes a dramatic novel and powerful love story about the last Russian imperial family. It is 1989 and Daria Gradov is an elderly grandmother living in the rural West. What neighbors and even her children don't know, however, is that she is not who she claims to be—the widow of a Russian immigrant of modest means. In actuality she began her life as the Grand Duchess Tatiana, known as Tania to her parents, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. And so begins the latest entrancing historical entertainment by Carolly Erickson. At its center is young Tania, who lives a life of incomparable luxury in pre-Revolutionary Russia, from the magnificence of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to the family's private enclave outside the capital. Tania is one of four daughters, and the birth of her younger brother Alexei is both a blessing and a curse. When he is diagnosed with hemophilia and the key to his survival lies in the mysterious power of the illiterate monk Rasputin, it is merely an omen of much worse things to come. Soon war breaks out and revolution sweeps the family from power and into claustrophobic imprisonment in Siberia. Into Tania's world comes a young soldier whose life she helps to save and who becomes her partner in daring plans to rescue the imperial family from certain death.

The Tsarina's Daughter

The Tsarina's Daughter PDF Author: Ellen Alpsten
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 152660860X
Category : Historical fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
Discover the highly acclaimed historical fiction series set within the glittering and ruthless House of Romanov. 'Gripping ... Who would not want to spend more time in the mad, bad world of the Romanovs?' The Times 'A delicious hotbed of greed, lust and envy' HeatWhen they took everything from her, they didn't count on her fighting to get it back...Born into the House of Romanov to the all-powerful Peter the Great and Catherine I, beautiful Tsarevna Elizabeth is the world's loveliest Princess and the envy of the Russian empire. Insulated by luxury and as a woman free from the burden of statecraft, Elizabeth is seemingly born to pursue her passions.However, a dark prophecy predicts her fate as being inexorably twined with that of Russia. When her mother dies, Russia is torn, masks fall, and friends become foes. Elizabeth's idyllic world is upended. By her twenties she is penniless and powerless, living under constant threat. As times change like quicksand, an all-consuming passion emboldens Elizabeth: she must decide whether to take up her role as Russia's ruler, and what she's willing to do for her country - and for love.Praise for Tsarina 'It makes Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme' Daisy Goodwin 'A vivid page-turner of a debut' The Times 'Tsarina should come with a health warning - once you start reading, it's impossible to stop' Hannah Rothschild