To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again : : Italian Performers’ Itineraries, Careers, and Networks across Europe / / Tatiana Korneeva.

• VerfasserIn: Korneeva, Tatiana,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Series: WeltLiteraturen / World Literatures : Schriftenreihe der Friedrich Schlegel Graduiertenschule für literaturwissenschaftliche Studien , 23
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (XV, 183 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- List of Abbreviations -- A Note on Transcription, Transliteration, and Translation -- Introduction -- Chapter 2 The First Italian Operisti in St Petersburg: intermezzi comici, Production Practice, and Audience Reception -- Chapter 3 Crossing Cultures: the commedia dell’arte for the Russian Court -- Chapter 4 Woman Matters: Adriana Sacco and Carlo Goldoni -- Chapter 5 Cultural Transfers between St Petersburg, Dresden, and Venice -- Chapter 6 ‘Comedy of Errors’: Overlapping Identities and Travel Routes of the Two Antonio Sacco -- Afterword -- Appendix 1 Composition of the Three Italian Companies Active at the Russian Imperial Court in 1731–1738 -- Appendix 2 Repertoire of the Three Italian Companies Active at the Russian Imperial Court in 1731–1738 -- Appendix 3 Repertoire of the comici italiani in Dresden and Warsaw, Season 1748/1749 -- Appendix 4 Antonio Sacco’s Family Tree -- Appendix 5 Giuseppe Sacco’s Family Tree -- Appendix 6 Composition of Giovanni Battista Locatelli’s opera buffa troupes in St Petersburg and Moscow, 1757–c. 1762 -- Appendix 7 Chronological List of Giovanni Antonio Sacco’s Ballets in St Petersburg in 1757–1761 -- Appendix 8 Transcription and Translation of Giuseppe Sarti’s Letter to Theatre Management in Copenhagen and the Draft of Giovanni Antonio Sacco’s Contract -- Appendix 9 Chronological List of Giovanni Antonio Sacco’s Ballets at the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in Copenhagen, 1763–1767 and 1785–1786 -- Appendix 10 Chronological List of Giovanni Antonio Sacco’s Ballets and their Revivals in Warsaw, 1774–1776 and 1779–1780 -- Bibliography -- Index