Simon Morrison (Music and Slavic Languages and Literatures), director of the Humanities Council’s Fund for Canadian Studies, has been awarded the Reginald Zelnik Book Prize in History for his latest book “Tchaikovsky’s Empire: A New Life of Russia’s Greatest Composer.”
Presented by the Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies, the annual award recognizes “an outstanding monograph published on Russia, Eastern Europe or Eurasia in the field of history,” according to the organization’s website.
“Tchaikovsky’s Empire,” a reexamination of the career of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was included in the Financial Times’ Best Books of 2024 – Classical and Pop Music list.
“I spent several years researching the book using Russian archives, and my perception of the composer’s achievement evolved,” said Morrison, for a Q&A on the Council’s Faculty Bookshelf. “[Tchaikovsky] had access to the highest rungs of power in Russia yet wasn’t particularly political. The research changed altogether my understanding – our understanding – of the conception of major operas and ballets.”
Morrison is an archival historian specializing in 20th-century Russian and Soviet music with expertise in opera, dance, film, sketch studies and historically informed performance. In 2022, he received the Behrman Award for Achievement in the Humanities.
