Brandeis Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (BOLLI)

Music, Art, and Literature of the Russian Silver Age

Course Number

H&G8-5b-Wed2

Study Group Leader (SGL)

Olivia Kennison

Location

This course will take place virtually on Zoom. Participation requires a device (ideally a computer or tablet, rather than a cell phone) with a camera and microphone in good working order and basic familiarity with using Zoom and accessing email.

5-Week Course

April 23 - May 21

Description

The decades before the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 were full of turmoil in Russian society – not only in politics, but in the arts. This period (1890-1917) would later be named the Silver Age. A fascinating salon culture emerged in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where members of the arts such as Sergei Prokofiev and Anna Akhmatova crossed paths, collaborated, and influenced each other. In this class, we will explore the historical and cultural context, meet the major figures of the time, and then delve into the arts: ballet, opera, painting, poetry, and philosophy. We will study the poems of Blok, Tsvetaeva and Akhmatova, the paintings of Chagall, Vrubel, Kandinsky and Goncharova, and the music of Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Rimsky-Korsakov. Finally, we will discover how these cultural figures and movements responded to the revolution.

Group Leadership Style

Roughly the same amount of lecture and discussion.

Course Materials

All materials will be made available on the course website.

Preparation Time

1 hour to 1.5 hours per week. Approximately 30-40 pages of reading.

Biography

Olivia is PhD Candidate in Slavic Literatures at Brown University and has an MA in Classics from Brown University. Her love affair with Russian literature began 11 years ago as an undergraduate visiting St. Petersburg for the first time, and only intensified during her two years living in Russia and teaching English. She is now writing a dissertation on Russian reception of Greek tragedy during the early 20th century and is an assistant editor at the literary journal NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction.