Russian Opera - 18th Century

18th Century

Patrons
Anna of Russia (1693–1740)
Elizabeth of Russia (1709–1762)
Catherine II of Russia (1729–1796)
Nikolai Sheremetev (1751–1809)

Opera came to Russia in the 18th century. At first there were Italian language operas presented by Italian opera troupes. Later some foreign composers serving to the Russian Imperial Court began to write Russian-language operas, while some Russian composers were involved into writing of the operas in Italian and French. And only at the beginning of 1770s the first modest attempts of the composers of Russian origin to compose operas to the Russian librettos were made. This was not a real creation of Russian national opera per se, but rather a weak imitation of Italian, French or German examples. But nevertheless, these experiments were important, and paved the way for the great achievements of 19th and 20th centuries.