A Ukrainian Tune in Medieval France: Perceptions of Nationalism and Local Color in Russian Opera.

The article looks at the 19th-century concept of local color as a tool for analyzing 19th-century Russian opera. According to the author, this concept helps scholars to avoid essentializing distinctions between nationalist and non-nationalist operas. Particular focus is given to operas by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. It is suggested that these composers used local color to depict not only Russian nationalism, locality, and identity, but also other places and points in time. Details related to several songs from such operas as "The Maid of Orleans" and "The Enchantress" by Tchaikovsky and "Khovanshchina" by Modest Petrovich Musorgsky are presented. Topics discussed include folk music, exoticism, and the relationship between the local and the universal in opera.