Nietzsche's Orphans: Music, Metaphysics, and the Twilight of the Russian Empire (Eurasia Past and Present)

A prevailing belief among Russia's cultural elite in the early twentieth century was that the music of composers such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Aleksandr Scriabin, and Nikolai Medtner could forge a shared identity for the Russian people across social and economic divides. In this illuminating study of competing artistic and ideological visions at the close of Russia's "Silver Age, " author Rebecca Mitchell interweaves cultural history, music, and philosophy to explore how "Nietzsche's orphans" strove to find in music a means to overcome the disunity of modern life in the final tumultuous years before World War I and the Communist Revolution.-- Provided by Publisher Cover Contents Preface Note on Transliteration and Usage Introduction: In Search of Unity ONE: Musical Metaphysics in Late Imperial Russia TWO: Aleksandr Scriabin: Music and Salvation THREE: The Medtner Brothers: Orpheus in an Age of Nationalism FOUR: Sergei Rachmaninoff: The Unwilling Orpheus FIVE: Musical Metaphysics in War and Revolution Epilogue: Reverberations Glossary of Names A B D E F G H I K L M N O P R S T U Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Z