Russia 1815-1855
Intellectual Life
Russia 1881-1905
Intellectual Life






Russia, 1855-1881 : Intellectual Life



Note : Many of the various national minorities developed a culture (mostly literature) of their own; here, the intellectual life of ethnic Russia is dealt with, not that of the Russian Empire as a whole.

The political background - AUTOCRACY, CENSORSHIP and a SECRET POLICE suspicious of liberal-minded intellectuals continued, although Czar Alexander II. was perceived by many as a liberal reformer.
Russia's writers - FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY, LEO TOLSTOY, IVAN TURGENEV, IVAN GONCHAROV, ANTON CHEKHOV turned out novels respectively short stories which gained fame at home and abroad. By describing the socio-political conditions as they were they did so much to have the reader critically judge them, as censorship permitted.

MODEST MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881) began the tradition of great Russian composers; similar to those of contemporary composers (Verdi, Wagner) his operas focussed on topics from the nation's history - Boris Godunov (1869/70, in Russian language). Other composers of the time include NIKOLAY RIMSKY KORSAKOV (1855-1908) and PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893); through their effort, Russia caught up with the traditional centres of classical music, in an art which enjoyed support from official side. In 1862 the ST. PETERSBURG STATE CONSERVATORY was founded as the first institution of its kind in Russia.
Russia's painters IVAN AIVAZOVSKY (1817-1900) and ALEXEY BOGOLIUBOV (1824-1896) chose topics from Russia's military history and sceneries in and around Greece. ILYA REPIN (1844-1930) painted portraits and scenes depicting the life of Russia's peasants.







EXTERNAL
FILES 		Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881), from Books and Writers
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910), from Books and Writers
Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), from Books and Writers
Ivan Goncharov (1812-1891) : Books and Writers
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov (1831-1895), from Books and Writers
The Bolshoy Theatre : History
Modest Mussorgsky, from hsh.com
Biography of Peter Tchaikovsky, by Daniel Gregory Mason
Index of Russian Painters, from Olga's Gallery
History of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory
DOCUMENTS Ilya Repin (1844-1930) from Olga's Gallery
REFERENCE


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on August 24th 2006

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