ePub Intellectuals in Exile: Refugee Scholars and the New School for Social Research by Claus-Dieter Krohn in History

Description

An enthralling; definitive new history of the Bolshoi Ballet; where visionary performances onstage compete with political machinations backstage.On a freezing night in January 2013; a hooded assailant hurled acid in the face of the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet. The crime; organized by a lead soloist; dragged one of Russia’s most illustrious institutions into scandal. The Bolshoi Theater had been a crown jewel during the reign of the tsars and an emblem of Soviet power throughout the twentieth century. Under Putin in the twenty-first century; it has been called on to preserve a priceless artistic legacy and mirror Russia’s neo-imperial ambitions. The attack and its torrid aftermath underscored the importance of the Bolshoi to the art of ballet; to Russia; and to the world.The acid attack resonated far beyond the world of ballet; both into Russia’s political infrastructure and; as renowned musicologist Simon Morrison shows in his tour-de-force account; the very core of the Bolshoi’s unparalleled history. With exclusive access to state archives and private sources; Morrison sweeps us through the history of the storied ballet; describing the careers of those onstage as well as off; tracing the political ties that bind the institution to the varying Russian regimes; and detailing the birth of some of the best-loved ballets in the repertoire.From its disreputable beginnings in 1776 at the hand of a Faustian charlatan; the Bolshoi became a point of pride for the tsarist empire after the defeat of Napoleon in 1812. After the revolution; Moscow was transformed from a merchant town to a global capital; its theater becoming a key site of power. Meetings of the Communist Party were hosted at the Bolshoi; and the Soviet Union was signed into existence on its stage. During the Soviet years; artists struggled with corrosive censorship; while ballet joined chess tournaments and space exploration as points of national pride and Cold War contest. Recently; a $680 million restoration has restored the Bolshoi to its former glory; even as prized talent has departed.As Morrison reveals in lush and insightful prose; the theater has been bombed; rigged with explosives; and reinforced with cement. Its dancers have suffered unimaginable physical torment to climb the ranks; sometimes for so little money that they kept cows at home whose milk they could sell for food. But the Bolshoi has transcended its own fraught history; surviving 250 years of artistic and political upheaval to define not only Russian culture but also ballet itself. In this sweeping; definitive account; Morrison demonstrates once and for all that; as Russia goes; so goes the Bolshoi Ballet. 16 pages of illustrations