New Data in Old Documents

Published in 2023, the collection Russian Music Archives Abroad is dedicated mainly to the documentary heritage of musical culture. Twenty articles based on a scientific conference held for over 25 years by the Moscow Conservatory are arranged according to the chronology of the events under consideration. The novelty of the articles is ensured by turning to materials that have not yet attracted the attention of researchers. The authors touched upon a number of important topics, such as the Russian destinies of operas by Western European composers of the 18th century; the foreign trace in the musical history of St. Petersburg and Moscow in the 19th century; foreign pages of the legacy of composers S. V. Rachmaninoff and S. S. Prokofiev; Soviet contacts of Russian emigrants; communication of Soviet performers with foreign correspondents; reviews of archive repositories, etc. Most articles represent scientific research, often with abundant citations of the material under consideration. For example, the article by S. A. Petukhova provides previously unpublished letters from the famous singer M. N. Klimentyeva-Muromtseva to S. I. Taneyev from Paris (1901–1903), which consistently trace not only the preparation for the Parisian performance of the only opera by S. I. Taneyev, but also the events of the musical life of this city in the first years of the 20th century. The publication of the correspondence between G. Puccini and the Russian opera director V. S. Alekseyev can be considered a major event for Russian historiography. The book presents many research findings reflecting the peculiarities of the development of the musical genre in Russia and abroad. It is important to note the researcher’s remark that operas by foreign composers lost their typical genre features when adapted to the Russian stage (vocalized recitatives were replaced by spoken dialogues), which in turn constituted the phenomenon of the original development of secular music in Russia. Considerable additional information is provided, making the narrative both engaging and comprehensive, which is further enhanced by the sequence of articles in the collection. For example, S. A. Petukhova’s article based on letters about the preparation of the opera is followed by V. B. Valkovoe’s article, which reconstructs the conditions and circumstances of S. V. Rachmaninoff’s tour in the spring of 1899 as a pianist and conductor. This is a beautifully published collection, containing a wealth of new valuable information about important figures and processes in the musical culture of several centuries. It will not only serve as a significant aid to modern researchers in their work, but will also attract the attention of an enlightened audience of all those interested in musical art.