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The Most Musical Nation: Jews and Culture in the Late Russian Empire

The Most Musical Nation: Jews and Culture in the Late Russian Empire

No image of prerevolutionary Russian Jewish life is more iconic than fiddler on the roof. But in the half century before 1917, Jewish musicians were actually descending from their shtetl roofs and streaming in dazzling numbers to Russia’s new classical conservatories. At a time of both rising anti-Semitism and burgeoning Jewish nationalism, how and why did Russian music become the gateway to modern Jewish identity? Drawing on previously unavailable archives, this book offers an insightful new perspective on the emergence of Russian Jewish culture.