{"id":1192,"date":"2016-01-06T13:35:13","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T13:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2024-11-05T12:21:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T12:21:22","slug":"2016-a-great-year-for-russophiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/2016\/01\/06\/2016-a-great-year-for-russophiles\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 A Great Year for Russophiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the TV, BBC2\u2019s showing of \u2018Leningrad and the Orchestra that Defied Hitler\u2019<\/strong> examines Dmitry Shostakovich\u2019s 7th<\/sup> (Leningrad) Symphony, performed in 1942 when the city was under siege and credited with helping to break the blockade. Amanda Vickery (not sure why she\u2019s been chosen to present on Russia when there are plentiful specialist Russian \/ Soviet historians around who could have done the job) outlines the historical context (see if you can pick up the historiographical controversies she happily skips over) and Tom Service provides insight to the breath-taking music. If you didn\u2019t see it on Saturday 2 January, try to get it on catch-up before it disappears, or see it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"russophiles\"<\/p>\n

BBC1\u2019s much-promoted adaptation by Andrew Davies of Tolstoy\u2019s epic War and Peace<\/em><\/strong> runs over six weeks from Sunday 3 January. Reports suggest that this is a rather \u2018sexed-up\u2019 version of the original story and it\u2019s difficult to see how so much (an unbroken reading of the novel is reported to have taken 60 hours) can be crammed into 6 broadcast hours, but let\u2019s give it a go. Here\u2019s a trailer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Russophiles<\/p>\n

BBC 4 begins its three-part series \u2018Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia\u2019 <\/strong>on Wednesday 6 January. This is presented by another TV history stalwart, Lucy Worsley (again, why her? I\u2019ll try not to get annoyed by her presenting style). It\u2019s yet to be seen who will be called upon to offer expert testimony and which historiographical questions will be swept under the carpet, but, again, let\u2019s give it a go. Here\u2019s the trailer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Russophiles<\/p>\n

At the cinema, showings of the documentary film Red Army<\/em><\/strong> (director: Gabe Polsky, 2014) are in evidence in January \u2013 you\u2019ll probably need to look to the independent cinemas rather than the big multiplex screens. Focusing on the men\u2019s Red Army ice hockey team, the film moves from the Soviet past to the Russian present and documents how sport mirrors social and cultural realities. For a taster, there are several clips available on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\"russophiles<\/p>\n

Coming soon is Bolshoi Babylon<\/em><\/strong> (directors: Nick Read,Mark Franchetti, 2015), which documents the inner workings, the highs and lows of the world-famous and prestigious ballet theatre. The Bolshoi ballet company was rocked in 2013 by a much-reported acid attack on its director, which left him blind in one eye and one of the principal dancers on trial. The film is a real treat for fans of Russian classical dance and the Bol\u2019shoi Ballet in particular. As with sport, the understanding of Russian ballet today cannot be separated from post-Soviet politics and society. For the official trailer, see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"russophiles<\/p>\n

Before it disappears (on 13 March 2016) don\u2019t forget the Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age<\/em><\/strong> exhibition currently showing at the Science Museum in London which displays artefacts from the glory days of Soviet space travel. It\u2019s rather expensive to get in, but concessions are available (\u00a312 for students). For more details, see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"russophiles<\/p>\n

Finally, don\u2019t forget:<\/p>\n

There is a History field trip to London<\/strong> on Wednesday 13 January.<\/p>\n

History Dissertation Day<\/strong> takes place at the Wilson from 12.30 on Thursday 14 January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the TV, BBC2\u2019s showing of \u2018Leningrad and the Orchestra that Defied Hitler\u2019 examines Dmitry Shostakovich\u2019s 7th (Leningrad) Symphony, performed in 1942 when the city was under siege and credited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[140,391,767,72,99,774,334,253,339,766],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-bbc","tag-cinema","tag-events","tag-melanie-ilic-2","tag-russia","tag-russian","tag-russian-revolution","tag-soviet-history","tag-soviet-union","tag-uog"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3412,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions\/3412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}