The Kreutzer Sonata

A work unprecedented in world literature, this unique volume contains a new translation of Lev Tolstoy’s controversial novella The Kreutzer Sonata, which was initially banned by Russian censors. In addition, available to English readers for the first time is a fascinating and previously neglected constellation of counterstories written by the author’s wife and son in direct response to Tolstoy’s provocative tale, each a passionate attempt to undo the message of the original work. These radically conflicting tales, accompanied by excerpts from family letters, diaries, notes, and memoirs, provide readers with a vivid and highly revealing case study of the powerful disputes concerning sexuality and gender roles that erupted within the cultural context of late-nineteenth-century Russian, as well as European, society.

In a book-length lyric narrative inspired by history and imagination, a much celebrated poet re-creates the life of a 19th-century virtuoso violinist.

*Winner of the Sophie Brody Medal* A moving and uplifting history set to music that reveals the rich life of one of the first internationally renowned female violinists. Spanning generations, from the shores of the Black Sea to the glittering concert halls of New York, The Nightingale's Sonata is a richly woven tapestry centered around violin virtuoso Lea Luboshutz. Like many poor Jews, music offered an escape from the predjudices that dominated society in the last years of the Russian Empire. But Lea’s dramatic rise as an artist was further accentuated by her scandalous relationship with the revolutionary Onissim Goldovsky. As the world around them descends in to chaos, between revolution and war, we follow Lea and her family from Russia to Europe and eventually, America. We cross paths with Pablo Casals, Isadora Duncan, Emile Zola and even Leo Tolstoy. The little girl from Odessa will eventually end up as one of the founding faculty of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, but along the way she will lose her true love, her father, and watch a son die young. The Iron Curtain would rise, but through it all, she plays on. Woven throughout this luminous odyssey is the story is Cesar Franck’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano.” As Lea was one of the first-ever internationally recognized female violinists, it is fitting that this pioneer was one of the strongest advocates for this young boundary-pushing composer and his masterwork.

"Lewis Lockwood and Mark Kroll's volume The Beethoven Violin Sonatas is the first scholarly book in English devoted exclusively to the Beethoven sonatas and deals with them in unprecedented depth. Serving readers, listeners, and performers as a companion to the sonatas, it presents seven critical and historical essays by some of the most important American and European Beethoven specialists of our time.

In his study of The Kreutzer Sonata, Peter Ulf Moeller examines the actual literary process in all its stages, from the genesis and structure of the tale to its publication, reception and effect. He describes how Tolstoj shaped his ascetic message in a provocative artistic form, how it was received by the censors, the critics, the clergy, by the general public, by other writers and - last but not least - by the author's wife. Moeller goes on to show how Tolstoj's tale immediately gave rise to a counter-literature and, in the long term, led to the eulogies to the body and the senses, characteristic of Russian decadence. By shedding light on the sexual debate, Moeller's book adds a new dimension to our understanding of the interaction between literature and society in a crucial decade of Russian history. His account of the censorship, publication and reception history of The Kreutzer Sonata corrects and supplements existing information by making use of hitherto unpublished materials in Soviet archives. These materials include Countess Sof'ja Andreevna Tolstaja's counter-story Who is To Blame?, which affords valuable new insights into the Tolstoj's dramatic marriage.

Under Harrison Grey Fiske's direction, Bertha Kalich appears in "The Kreutzer Sonata," a play in four acts adapted from the Yiddish of Jacob Gordin by Langdon Mitchell. Produced under the direction of Harrison Grey Fiske, scenery painted by Messrs. Gates & Morange and constructed by the George W. Ormstron Company. Costumes by Mme. Roth and Mme. Freisinger.

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