Tatiana Korneeva Livres

Focusing on the evolution of spectatorship, this book examines how Italian theatre adapted to the rise of a new spectator type in the mid-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It argues that understanding the interplay between power structures and the public sphere requires a detailed analysis of how spectatorship was intertwined with the social and cultural politics of the era. By exploring dramatic innovations and communicative strategies, the author reshapes the perception of the audience as both a theoretical concept and a historical phenomenon.

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.