“Miraculous Metamorphoses” and “Simple-Minded Tricks”. Performances of the “Ring” by Richard Wagner in Entertainment Culture of Russian Capitals of the Early XX Century

Abstract

The article focuses on the phenomenon of Wagnerism in Russia at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries and its impact on the culture of the epoch, whose impact is widely recognized. As opposed to the established tradition which considers this impact at the level of the creative elite of the Russian Silver Age, including major intellectual and artistic jgures, this paper raises a question about the role played by the reception of mass audiences in the spread of Wagnerism. Performances of Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen by the troupes of the Imperial Theatres in 1900–1914, which caused a great public response, were chosen as material for the inquiry. The article reconstructs the reception of these productions by mass audiences based on reviews in the press, as well as memories of participants and witnesses of the performances. The undertaken analysis led to the conclusion that at that time the performances of Wagner’s tetralogy were, in many respects, regarded by the audience as part of mass entertainment and attraction culture that experienced heydays in early 20th-century.