A Double Garland: Poetry and Art Song in Early Nineteenth-century Russia

Thomas P. Hodge has produced the first literary-historical study of the art-song enterprise in Russia’s Golden Age. A Double Garland investigates the interrelationship of poetry and music in Russia, specifically the relations between poets and composers, from 1800 to 1850. Hodge focuses on three major composers of art songs: Alyab'ev, Verstovskii, and Glinka. He surveys their choices of text and, after some preliminary metrical and structural analysis, proceeds to a detailed consideration of the dynamics of poet/composer interaction from various points of view. Hodge presents both the major and minor poets of this period in the context of Russian musical life. Based on extensive archival research, this study will appeal to specialists in Russian poetry and musicologists.