Editorial
This thematic issue of Opera musicologica is dedicated to Kyra Iosifovna Yuzhak and Anatoly Pavlovich Milka, distinguished professors of the Department of Music Theory at the Saint Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservato ry, whose anniversaries will be celebrated in 2024. Among the joint projects of these two remarkable researchers and teachers, the International Bach Read ings in Saint Petersburg occupy an honourable place. This year, the XXI Read ings were held on 21–22 March with the participation of the jubilarians them selves, their colleagues — eminent scholars from Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan and abroad, as well as disciples of Kyra I. Yuzhak and Anatoly P. Milka. The authors of the papers presented at the Bach Readings prepared the articles included in this issue. T he content of the articles fully reflects the fruitful dialogue embodied in the oral presentations; the accompanying discussions were creative and allowed us to see the scientific subjects discussed in a new light. The most important of these were the problems of textual criticism, the biography of Johann Sebas tian Bach and its mythologisation / demythologisation, and the reception of the composer's legacy in subsequent epochs (in research, performance and peda gogical practice). We hope that this jubilee issue will make a significant contribution to the theory and history of polyphony and to contemporary Bach studies.
Аndrei Denisov, Tamara Tverdovskaya