Download or read book Bewitching Russian Opera written by Inna Naroditskaya and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-02-16 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Overture : Russia's imperial prima donnas -- Russian Minervas staging empire -- The play of possibilities : serfs enacting aristocrats, countesses playing peasants -- Catherine the Empress(ario) : making tales into princely operas -- Oleg at the roots of Russian historical opera -- Interlude : to patria and nation -- Ruslan and Liudmila : the princess, the witch, and the dwarf -- Rusalka : water, power, and women -- Mlada and the spellbinding female circle -- Sadko : he is the hero! -- The inescapable Queen.