To the Court of the Tsarinas and Back Again: Italian Performers’ Itineraries, Careers, and Networks across Europe

The aim of this book is twofold. First, it explores Italian music-theatrical repertoires performed at the court of two Russian Empresses –– Anna Ioannovna (r. 1730–40) and Elizabeth Petrovna (r. 1741–61) –– who occupied a crucial position within the spectacle of absolutism in Russia. Second, it investigates the international careers and travel routes of the Italian theatre professionals willing to cross borders in order to add St Petersburg and Moscow to their larger theatrical circuit. The examination of their activities at the Russian court aims not only to provide a fuller understanding of their vital role in the circulation and transmission of socio-political ideas and artistic practices, but also to more firmly situate Russia in the broader arena of European cultural production.