The Soviet Valkyrie
Historian Philip Bullock explores the unlikely reconciliation of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany through Sergey Eisenstein's 1940 production of Die Walk眉re at the Bolshoi.
In 1940, the famed Soviet film director Sergey Eisenstein was suddenly invited to stage a production of Wagner's Die Walk眉re at the Bolshoi. Wagner was unlikely fare at this time - the Soviet Union was largely hostile to foreign art, especially that of its great political rival in Europe, Germany. Yet the signing of the Soviet-Nazi non-aggression pact in 1939 opened up a brief window for the oddest of reconciliations. The historian Philip Bullock considers Eisenstein's involvement in the production, and explores Russian interest in Wagner more generally, asking what happens when works of art get caught up in politics, propaganda and international diplomacy?
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- Tue 23 Jul 2013 20:05成人快手 Radio 3