Harlow Robinson | |
---|---|
Born | Harlow Loomis Robinson September 20, 1950 |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | University professor |
Known for | Russian cultural history |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of California at Berkeley |
Thesis | The Operas of Sergei Prokofiev and Their Russian Literary Sources (1980) |
Academic work | |
Era | 1980–present |
Discipline | Slavic language and literature |
Notable works | Sergei Prokofiev:A Biography (1987) |
Website | http://members.authorsguild.net/harlow/index.htm |
Harlow Loomis Robinson (born 20 September 1950) is a Matthews Distinguished University Professor of History at Northeastern University who specializes in Soviet and Russian cultural history,with writings on Soviet film and performing arts. [1] [2] [3]
Robinson was born in Bristol,Connecticut. During high school,inspired by the film adaption of Dr. Zhivago ,he started studying Russian on a program to Cornell University. He also studied Russian music and literature. In 1972,he received a BA in Russian from Yale University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa,Magna cum laude. He took a "world tour" that included crossing Asia by the Trans-Siberian Railway. In 1975,he received an MA in Slavic languages and literature,followed in 1980 a doctorate also in Slavic languages and literatures,both at the University of California at Berkeley. His doctoral thesis was on "The Operas of Sergei Prokofiev and Their Russian Literary Sources," for which he spent an academic year in the Soviet Union. [2] [3]
Before studying for his doctorate,Robinson worked as a journalist for his hometown Bristol newspaper as well as the Hartford Courant . During his "world tour," he also taught English in Japan (1972–1973). [2]
Robinson began his academic career as assistant professor in the Slavic department of the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY Albany) (1980-1994),where he chaired the departments of Slavic languages and literature (1992-1994) and Germanic and Slavic languages and literature (1994-1995). [2] [3]
In 1996,Robinson moved to Northeastern University in Boston,where he has taught courses on Russian cultural history,history of Soviet cinema,the image of Russia in American culture,and Prague,Vienna,Budapest 1867–1918. [1] At Northeastern,he has also served as chair of Modern Languages (1996–99),Cinema Studies (acting director,1998–99),International Affairs Program (2000-2001 advisor),and Department of History (2013–14). [3] He served as vice president of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages. [1]
Robinson has delivered public lectures at the Boston Symphony,New York Philharmonic,Metropolitan Museum of Art,Metropolitan Opera,Lincoln Center,Philadelphia Orchestra,Los Angeles Music Center Opera,Guggenheim Museum,San Francisco Symphony,Rotterdam Philharmonic,Aspen Music Festival and Bard Festival. [1]
He has worked as a consultant for performing arts organizations and has served as writer and commentator for PBS,NPR and the Canadian Broadcasting System. [1]
Major publications include:
He has also contributed essays,articles,and reviews to the:New York Times,Los Angeles Times,The Nation,Opera News,Opera Quarterly,Dance,Playbill,Symphony and other publications. [1]
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer,pianist,and conductor who later worked in the Soviet Union. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous music genres,he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His works include such widely heard pieces as the March from The Love for Three Oranges, the suite Lieutenant Kijé,the ballet Romeo and Juliet—from which "Dance of the Knights" is taken—and Peter and the Wolf. Of the established forms and genres in which he worked,he created—excluding juvenilia—seven completed operas,seven symphonies,eight ballets,five piano concertos,two violin concertos,a cello concerto,a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra,and nine completed piano sonatas.
Serge Koussevitzky,born Sergey Aleksandrovich Kusevitsky was a Russian-born conductor,composer and double-bassist,known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949.
Alexander Nevsky is a 1938 Soviet historical drama film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. It depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by Prince Alexander,known popularly as Alexander Nevsky (1220–1263).
Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 4 is actually two works,both using material created for The Prodigal Son ballet. The first,Op. 47,was completed in 1930 and premiered that November;it lasts about 22 minutes. The second,Op. 112,is too different to be termed a "revision";made in 1947,it is about 37 minutes long,differs stylistically from the earlier work,reflecting a new context,and differs formally as well in its grander instrumentation. Accordingly there are two discussions.
Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky,was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Soviet Symphony". Myaskovsky was awarded the Stalin Prize five times.
Sol Hurok was a 20th-century American impresario.
Sergei Prokofiev began his Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major,Op. 19,as a concertino in 1915 but soon abandoned it to work on his opera The Gambler. He returned to the concerto in the summer of 1917. It premiered on October 18,1923 at the Paris Opera with Marcel Darrieux playing the violin part and the Paris Opera Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. Igor Stravinsky made his debut as conductor at the same concert,conducting the first performance of his own Octet for Wind Instruments.
The Fiery Angel,Op. 37,is an opera by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. The opera was composed between 1919 - 1927. It was premiered posthumously in 1955 in Venice,in Italian language. The work was not presented to Russian audiences until the 1990s,most notably by the Mariinsky Theatre,after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya is an opera in four acts by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky,and is based on a combination of two Russian legends:those of Saint Fevroniya of Murom and of the city of Kitezh,which became invisible when attacked by the Tatars. The opera was completed in 1905,and the premiere performance took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg,on February 7,1907,the last in Rimsky-Korsakov‘s lifetime.
The Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor,Op. 111,by Sergei Prokofiev was completed and premiered in 1947. Sketches for the symphony exist as early as from June 1945;Prokofiev had reportedly begun work on it prior to composing his Fifth Symphony. He later remarked that the Sixth memorialized the victims of the Great Patriotic War.
Zdravitsa,Op. 85,is a cantata written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1939 to celebrate Stalin's 60th birthday. Its title is sometimes translated as Hail to Stalin in English. A performance lasts around thirteen minutes.
Sergei Prokofiev wrote the symphonic suite The Year 1941 in 1941.
Galina Vladimirovna Gorchakova is a distinguished Russian lyric soprano.
The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom is a 16th-century Russian tale by Hermolaus-Erasmus,often referred to as a hagiography.
Sergei Prokofiev wrote the Overture on Hebrew Themes,Op. 34,in 1919 while he was in the United States. It is scored for the rare combination of clarinet,string quartet and piano. Fifteen years later the composer prepared a version for chamber orchestra,his “Op. 34 bis”or Op. 34a,retaining a separate part for piano but featuring solo cello as much as solo clarinet.
Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé music was originally written to accompany the film of the same name,produced by the Belgoskino film studios in Leningrad in 1933–34 and released in March 1934. It was Prokofiev's first attempt at film music,and his first commission.
Konstantin Saradzhev was an Armenian conductor and violinist. He was an advocate of new Russian music,and conducted a number of premieres of works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,Modest Mussorgsky,Igor Stravinsky,Sergei Prokofiev,Nikolai Myaskovsky,Dmitri Shostakovich,and Aram Khachaturian. His son Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev was a noted bell ringer and musical theorist.
Dmitri Tcherniakov is a Russian theatre director,and winner of numerous national Golden Mask theatre awards,who works with many European opera houses.
Tales of an Old Grandmother,Op. 31 is a set of four piano pieces by Sergei Prokofiev. It was composed in 1918 and premiered by the composer himself on January 7 the following year in New York City,probably at Aeolian Hall. It has an approximate duration of ten minutes and it was first published by Gutheil in Moscow in 1922. It was composed during Prokofiev's exile in the United States after the outbreak of the Russian Revolution. An arrangement for orchestra also exists.
Mariya-Cecilia Abramovna Mendelson-Prokofieva,typically referred to as Mira Mendelson,was a Russian poet,writer,and translator who was the second wife of the composer Sergei Prokofiev. She was the co-librettist of her husband's operas Betrothal in a Monastery,The Story of a Real Man,and War and Peace,as well as the ballet The Tale of the Stone Flower.