Our Notes & References

An imperial copy of a rare work on one of Russia’s most famous operas. The gilt monogramm on the cover is the mark of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov (1858–1915), grandson of Nicholas I and uncle of Nicholas II – at whose coronation in 1896 Glinka’s opera was played.

Grand Duke Konstantin had a particular artistic sensibility and an extensive culture. President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, he was also ‘K. R.’, a pseudonym he used for its acclaimed literary productions: poetry, translations and plays. He had his own extensive library, and with his education and taste, he also assisted other institutions with building their book collections. It should be noted that the K. R. provenance is very rarely found, in libraries as well as on the market; we are aware of just one other such binding, in Russia, with black morocco and without moire endpapers, but with the exact same marbled paper, lettering to spine and monogram to the cover.

Premiered in Saint Petersburg in 1842, Glinka’s ‘Ruslan and Ludmila’, based on the eponymous poem by Aleksander Pushkin, became one of the most influential pieces of Russian music, and this work appears to be love confession to a famous masterpiece, written by a noted violinist and music critic with profound knowledge and high patriotism.

Valter (1865–1935) performed at the Marinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, which is possibly what he meant when he stylised himself “first violin of the Imperial opera” on the title page – as we couldn’t find much on the existence of an ‘imperial opera’. He also performed for Diaghilev’s ‘Ballets russes’ and was the author of popularisation books on Russian classical music.

After a personal, rather emotional introduction, Valter gradually characterises the opera from an artistic point of view. He explains the meaning of different musical parts and highlights important achievements of the piece. The author describes the opera’s historical background along with the composer’s personal circumstances which influenced his work. Valter demonstrates a wide knowledge of European music and gives ‘Ruslan and Liudmila’ an important place in its history.

Very rare: we could trace only one copy outside Russia (in Geneva), apparently none in America, apparently no copy in Moscow, but one in the St. Petersburg NLR; we couldn’t trace any copy on the market, including Russia.

Provenance

Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov (gilt monogram ‘KK’ with crown to upper cover); Avenir Alexandrovich Nizoff (émigré, pianist, who lived in Edmonton, Canada, in the second half of the 20^th century, and gathered a large, wide-ranging library of Russian works, especially covering art, history and literature).