High opera diplomacy: on the book “The adventures of Russian opera in Italy” by E.M. Petrushanskaya

The article analyses a new monograph by Elena M. Petrushanskaya, a prominent Russian art historian. The study published in 2018 focuses on the history of staging operas of Russian composers in Italy. The article points out a versatile and unique character of the research undertaken into the previously unstudied domain of Russian-Italian cultural ties. First of all, attention is paid to the remarkable source base of the monograph including a large amount of Italian variants of Russian libretto texts and critical essays about opera performances. The translation of librettos and reviews was done by the author of the monograph as she has a perfect command of Italian. E.M. Petrushanskaya has a good knowledge, understanding of and deep insight into Italian culture. Her research is done in the interdisciplinary key, with the skillful employment of various methodological strategies: cultural, historical, literary, linguistic and musical ones. The monograph is written in an exceptional style combining lofty academism and witty irony. Finally, it is noted that this masterfully edited book is filled with subtle and vivid perception of history: E.M. Petrushanskaya is capable of seeing the reflection of history in the destiny of each protagonist, even not too famous, displayed in the monograph, finding historically precise words for revealing the personality of each character and describing his destiny. The author of the article concludes that E.M. Petrushanskaya has created and presented to the reader a spectacular scientific novel which is not only a profound research into the opera agenda, but also an essential observation of the nature of art and man.