In the first half of the eighteenth century, opera appeared on stages at the Russian court and in noble homes, gaining popularity amidst a tide of Westernization in Russia. In 1836, Glinka’s Ivan Susanin was the first Russian opera in the true sense. In the mid-nineteenth century, Dargomyzhsky extended the creative styles of Russian opera. In 1860s, Russian composers and traditional Western academies gradually rose in the Russian musical world. From the 1870s to the 1890s, the work of Tchaikovsky, Borodin, and Rimsky-Korsakov widely employed themes from Russian history, legend, and life, blending elements of Russian music and Western musical techniques. These composers created a splendid world of Russian opera. In the late nineteenth century, Prokofiev continued the Classical style, while Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich led the shift toward Modernism.

The book presents the history of Russian opera, from its birth and rise to the discovery of its own path, through the life stories of the great composers and their eternal works, as well as the times and social circumstances that shaped these great masters and their personal stories. This volume presents the brilliant history of Russian opera and culture.