Helmers's book demonstrates
before our very eyes
how arbitrary a principle was the nationalistic desire to create, in the cultural realm, identification [with one's own nation] and differentiation [from other nations and peoples]...In [today's] times when nationalisms are flaring up, this book is something very like necessary reading.
Christoph Flamm
DIE MUSIKFORSCHUNG
Revealing and convincing. The book is most ... Read morevaluable for the individual insights Helmers brings to the four case studies. The main revelation of the book is that in terms of the concept of Russianness, flexibility in composition and ambiguity in interpretation were the norm during the period in question. Helmers has set an example and made an admirable contribution in his coverage of the reception of nineteenth-century Russian opera from a new perspective. Investigating often excluded connections with European traditions, this book serves as a valuable complement to existing accounts.
MUSIC & LETTERS
Helmers's lucid and lively style, as well as his sensitivity to musical and cultural identities, make [this] an obvious recommendation for any collection serving research in Western music.
MUSIC REFERENCE SERVICES QUARTERLY
Helmers provides many fascinating insights for anyone anxious to learn more about that works that make up this still-emerging repertoire. Written in a straightforward and accesible style, [it] will serve well not only the specialist scholar, but also the general reader who wishes to know more about nineteenth-century Russian opera.
FONTES ARTIS MUSICAE
Not Russian Enough? is certainly timely enough, and clever enough, and engaging enough. A fresh look at the origins and growth of Russian opera in the nineteenth century, it offers a sustained critique of entrenched misevaluations, as well as a de-ghettoized appreciation of the distinctive qualities of a repertory that has achieved unprecedented worldwide currency on the twenty-first-century operatic stage.

Richard Taruskin, author of Defining Russia Musically and The Oxford History of Western Music Show Less