Description:

In 1921, Sergei Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges—one of the earliest, most famous examples of modernist opera—premiered in Chicago. Prokofiev's source was a 1913 theatrical divertissement by Vsevolod Meyerhold, who, in turn, took inspiration from Carlo Gozzi's 1761 commedia dell'arte–infused theatrical fairy tale. Only by examining these whimsical, provocative works together can we understand the full significance of their intertwined lineage.

With contributions from 17 distinguished scholars in theater, art history, Italian, Slavic studies, and musicology, Three Loves for Three Oranges: Gozzi, Meyerhold, Prokofiev illuminates the historical development of Modernism in the arts, the ways in which commedia dell'arte's self-referential and improvisatory elements have inspired theater and music innovations, and how polemical playfulness informs creation.

A resource for scholars and theater lovers alike, this collection of essays, paired with new translations of Love for Three Oranges, charts the transformations and transpositions that this fantastical tale underwent to provoke theatrical revolutions that still reverberate today.

A roundtable discussion with the authors will be moderated by co-editors Dassia Posner, Associate Professor of Theatre and Slavic Languages and Literatures at Northwestern University, Kevin Bartig, Professor of Musicology at Michigan State University, and Maria De Simone, Visiting Scholar at Brown University.

This event is co-sponsored by Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies Research Program (REEES), the Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama program, and the Critical Studies in Theatre and Performance Interdisciplinary Graduate Cluster.

Please register for this event.