Name: Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov By Caryl Emerson (Princeton University, New Jersey)
SKU: 9780521369763
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Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov Summary

Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov: Myths, Realities, Reconsiderations by Caryl Emerson (Princeton University, New Jersey)

Caryl Emerson (a literary specialist) and Robert William Oldani (a music historian) take a comprehensive look at the most famous Russian opera, Modest Musorgsky's Boris Godunov. The result is both a historical study of a famous work and an interpretative piece of scholarship. The topics discussed include: the 'Boris Tale' in history; Karamzin's history and Pushkin's drama as literary sources; Musorgsky's innovations as a librettist and as a theorist of the sung Russian word; the strange story of the opera's composition and revision; its first productions at home and abroad; and an in-depth musical analysis. In the process, several often-met errors in Musorgsky scholarship are clarified and corrected. A final chapter speculates on the opera's themes of political murder, guilt and legitimacy - so important to Russian literary and national identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - and the new role the 'Boris plot' and its composer might come to play in more recent phases of Russian cultural life.

Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov Reviews

Emerson and Oldani's portrait of Musorgsky as composer is broad, intelligent and convincing. The Russian Review
...a glowing example of practical scholarship...It makes history and personalities live. B.W. High Performance Review
The latest addition to a growing body of work on Modest Musorgsky makes a major contribution. The authors, veterans in the field, have approached Musorgsky's masterpiece from multiple directions, attempting to correct long-standing errors, to challenge widely held misinterpretations, and to draw together much current thinking on the opera. The resulting volume contains outstanding scholarship and provocative new insights delivered in an effective style....As a whole the book serves two functions. First, its fine scholarship contributes substantial new material to the Musorgsky literature. Second, it serves as a handbook to the opera for any involved with it: listeners, performers, producers, or critics. Indeed, it should be required background reading for all who face the perplexing choices among versions and editions or who wish to place this complex masterpiece in perspective. Gordon D. McQuere, Notes
Complex yet rewarding in structure and intent, the book provides an admirable range of cultural-historical, musical and textological analysis and context, as well as performance and reception history....The volume features an excellent select biography and an interesting...discography. David Shengold, Slavic and East European Journal

List of illustrations; List of tables; Preface and acknowledgments; Part I. Background: 1. Tsar Boris in history; 2. Musorgsky's literary sources, Karamzin and Pushkin; 3. Narrative and musical synopsis of the opera; 4. History of the composition, rejection, revision, and acceptance of Boris Godunov; 5. A tale of two productions - St. Petersburg (1874-1882), Paris (1908); Part II. Entr'acte: 6. Boris and the censor: documents; 7. The opera through the years: selected texts in criticism; Part III. Interpretation: 8. The Boris libretto as a formal, literary, and historical problem; 9. The music; 10. Boris Godunov during the jubilee decade: the 1980s and beyond; Discography; Bibliography; Index.

Additional information

Sku

NLS9780521369763

ISBN 13

9780521369763

ISBN 10

0521369762

Title

Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov: Myths, Realities, Reconsiderations by Caryl Emerson (Princeton University, New Jersey)

Author

Caryl Emerson (Princeton University, New Jersey)

Series

Cambridge Opera Handbooks

Condition

New

Binding type

Paperback

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Year published

2006-11-02

Number of pages

356

Prizes

N/A

Cover note

Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.

Note

This is a new book - be the first to read this copy. With untouched pages and a perfect binding, your brand new copy is ready to be opened for the first time

Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov Caryl Emerson (Princeton University, New Jersey)

Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov by Caryl Emerson (Princeton University, New Jersey)

Summary

Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov Summary

Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov: Myths, Realities, Reconsiderations by Caryl Emerson (Princeton University, New Jersey)

Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov Reviews

Table of Contents

Additional information

Customer Reviews - Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov