Wagner in Moscow, Glinka in Berlin: An Exchange of Operas during the Molotov-Ribbentrop Years

Abstract

This article explores the nature of Nazi-Soviet cultural exchange during the Molotov-Ribbentrop détente (1939–1941) by comparing the reception histories of two artistic undertakings: the Berlin State Opera's performance of Mikhail Glinka's A Life for the Tsar and the Bolshoi Theater's performance of Richard Wagner's The Valkyrie. Though subject to political controls, such dialogue should not be regarded as a puppet show whose sole purpose was to provide ornament for the August 23 rapprochement. Instead, it ought to be approached as a complex effort to navigate a warming of relations by actors who did not have foreknowledge of Operation Barbarossa.