Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Supplemental Files

File List

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

"Singing the Myths of the Nation: Historical Themes in Russian Nineteenth-Century Opera"

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures.
Historical opera represents an important subgenre in the Russian repertoire, but many of the Russian operas on historical themes are unperformed and unknown in the West. However, they continue to play an important role in Russia’s self-exploration and historical identity. This dissertation seeks to address the matter of what it means to interpret history through the lens of opera. What assumptions about history are present in these works by virtue of the genre? To answer this question, this dissertation draws on the essays of W. H. Auden who asserts that in opera, virtuosic singing causes even real, historical persons to seem like the gods and heroes of myth. This principle serves as something of the reversal of the concept of displacement that Northrop Frye discusses in Anatomy of Criticism. According to Frye, all plots have a mythic core. Realistic works displace their mythic core by limiting the power of heroes and placing greater obstacles in their way. In opera, the process collapses. A realistic or historical plot may displace the mythic elements of the story of an opera, but the virtuosic singing reconnects the plot with its mythic core. Thus, Auden and Frye combine to form the core theoretical foundation of this dissertation, which seeks to illuminate the particular myths about history implicit in seven operas by prominent Russian nineteenth-century composers: Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Liudmila, Borodin’s Prince Igor, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Maid of Pskov and The Tsar’s Bride, and Musorgsky’s Khovanshchina and Boris Godunov. Running through these operas are variations on various myths, the most prominent of which is that of the Tsar as father. Composers rework these myths, combining them with other myths. They also present different solutions to the problems presented by the mythic nature of historical opera. Some composers, such as Glinka, fully embrace the mythic potential of opera as a means of dealing with religious themes, thus situating the history of the nation in the wider context of religious narratives about the origins, end, and purpose of human history. On the other end of the spectrum is the Musorgsky of Boris Godunov. I suggest that he saw the mythic nature of opera as an obstacle. By presenting self-consciously performed myths in Boris, Musorgsky draws a distinction between the mythic and “true” moments of the opera. Most of the operas discussed in this dissertation fall somewhere on the spectrum between these two treatments of myth. This dissertation will examine the different treatments of myth in each of the operas and how these myths relate to the historical and political circumstances in which the operas were written. Far from making the themes of the opera abstract and apolitical, the myths all have relevance to political matters facing the Russian nation in the nineteenth century. The operas discussed in this dissertation, therefore, serve as an important contribution to a nineteenth-century dialogue about Russia’s history and future.
Alexander Burry (Advisor)
Helena Goscilo (Committee Member)
Angela Brintlinger (Committee Member)
Jon Linford (Committee Member)
220 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Alston, R. S. (2018). "Singing the Myths of the Nation: Historical Themes in Russian Nineteenth-Century Opera" [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1524176697602489

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Alston, Ray. "Singing the Myths of the Nation: Historical Themes in Russian Nineteenth-Century Opera". 2018. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1524176697602489.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Alston, Ray. ""Singing the Myths of the Nation: Historical Themes in Russian Nineteenth-Century Opera"." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1524176697602489

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)