pg 26 - Levitan
Isaac Ilyich Levitan (1860-1900) was a Russian landscape painter. Much like Vanya, he was orphaned at a young age, 17. Soon afterward, Levitan's artistic talent was recognized by the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, and he began to enter exhibits. During his time at the art school, he formed a strong attachment with one of his teachers, Alexei Savrasov: when Savrasov fell into disgrace, Levitan continued to go to him for advice, a move which ultimately led him to be dismissed from the Art School. Levitan spent a good portion of his later life in the small town of Plyos, which Nata mentions on page 25, and painted several works inspired by the town, such as the work pictured to the right. 

pg. 26 - Uglich
Uglich is a small, historic town in Western Russia, located by the Volga river. 

pg. 26 - Alexandrovsky Garden
The Alexandrovsky Garden is in the center of St. Petersburg. Before being laid out as a garden in 1874, the area was the location of a main avenue in St. Petersburg that aristocrats would frequent. Alexander Pushkin, a Russian poet, mentioned the avenue in his work Eugene Onegin. Notably, when the area was an avenue, it was said to be a place of gossip; Nata, Koka, Anna, and Boba are gossiping about Stroop during the scene in which the Garden is mentioned. 

The garden also houses several statues of Russian cultural figures, such as Nikolai Gogol. 

pg. 28 - Rameau 
Jean-Phillipe Rameau (1683-1764) was a French composer of the late baroque period. He wrote mainly for the harpsichord, as well as operas. He was not well known until he was about forty. He was also a leading musical theorist, and married one of his students, a singer named Marie-Louise Mangot. 

pg. 28 - Debussy
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer whose music often embodied Impressionism and Symbolism, (the latter a movement that Kuzmin himself took some part in, in the literary sense). Unlike Rameau, his fame began at a young age: he entered the Paris Conservatory in 1873 and won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1884. Some parallels could be drawn between the relationship with Vanya and Stroop and the relationship with Debussy and the Russian patroness he had in his youth, Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (1831-1894), who was also the patroness of Tchaikovsky. She brought Debussy to many of her different residences in Europe. Their relationship was not romantic, but she took a large part in introducing him to European culture in his early years. 

Debussy was influenced by Russian composers Aleksandr Borodin and Modest Mussorgsky, as well as German composer Richard Wagner. 

pg. 28 - Marlowe 
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was an Elizabethan poet, translator, and playwright. He is said to have been an atheist, or at least more unorthodox in his religion than most during the period. His works include Tamburlaine the Great and The Tragicall History of Dr. Faustus. 

p. 28 - Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) was an English poet and critic. Swinburne was said to have been gay, and his writings included topics like anti-theism; both his identity and his subject matter should be considered in relation to Wings, which addresses similar themes. 

pg. 29 - Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser is a three-act Opera, written by Richard Wagner in 1845. It follows a minnesinger, Tannhäuser, who has spent a year in the realm of Venus and wants to go back to the normal world. His desire angers Venus and so he turns to the Virgin Mary. Tannhäuser is transported, then, to Germany, and follows a procession of old friends who are on a pilgrimage to Rome. 

He reunites with an old lover, Elisabeth, and enters a contest of song, with the subject of love, to win her hand. During the competition, he sings to Venus, which angers the guests; Elisabeth's uncle says he will spare Tannhäuser's life if he joins the pilgrimage. 

Later, Elizabeth is praying and a pilgrimage coming back from Rome passes by. Tannhäuser is nowhere to be seen, and Elizabeth grieves. That night, Tannhäuser finally returns, but tells his friend Wolfram that the Pope said he could not be forgiven: it would be as likely for the papal staff to grow green leaves. In despair, Tannhäuser summons Venus, but right at that moment, Elisabeth's funeral procession passes by. Tannhäuser, overcome with grief, dies. The opera closes with another pilgrimage returning from Rome. They come bearing the news that the papal staff had grown green leaves. 

The themes the opera addresses of love, of different modes of worship, and of sin are salient to Wings, as well as the sort of patron-figure of Venus, who may be comparable to Stroop.


pg. 30 - Klinger
Max Klinger (1857-1920) was a German symbolist painter and printmaker. He rose to fame with his 1881 series Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove. At the time of his death, he was working on a series inspired by the work of Richard Wagner. Kuzmin also had connections to the symbolist movement. 

pg. 30 - Thoma
Hans Thoma (1839-1924) was a German painter. His training was funded by the Grand Duke of Baden. As his life progressed, he became interested in mythology and symbolism, the latter being a movement that Kuzmin was also involved in. His early work showed promise that later didn't come to the fruition critics expected it to. His work entitled Archers is pictured to the right. 

pg. 30 - Argonauts
The Argonauts were the group of heroes that accompanied Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece, according to Greek mythology. The specific members of the Argonauts are not agreed upon. The story  is set before the Trojan war. The Fleece was kept in a sacred grove, which may relate to the references Kuzmin makes to Eden, as well as the land "flooded with sunlight and freedom" that he says the Argonauts are going to (30). 

pg. 30 - Dante's Purgatorio
The passage that Ida Goldberg and Vanya read is from Dante's Purgatorio, the second part of the 14th century writer's epic poem, the Divine Comedy. The specific canto which Ida Goldberg finishes quoting is canto XXVIII, one of the last in Purgatorio, and is set in the garden of Eden. The "beautiful lady" mentioned is Matelda, whom Dante compares to Persephone before she went to the Underworld and is considered to be a sort of unfallen Eve. Canto 28 depicts beauty and desire as something without fault, which certainly connects to themes in Wings, particularly in reference to the previous page, on which Stroop, or one of his friends, describes the laws of nature and love. 

pg. 31 - Smolensky
Stepan Vasilyevich Smolensky (1848-1909) was a professor of music history at the Moscow Conservatory and director of the Synodal Choir. The choir was only allowed to perform Russian Orthodox music in public, but Smolensky often hosting private performances of non-religious music for special guests, including Tchaikovsky. 

pg. 31 - Razumovsky
Dmitry Vasilyevich Razumovksy (1818-1889) was a professor of music history at the Moscow Conservatory. He officiated Tchaikovsky's marriage to Antonina Milyukova. 

pg 31 - Metallov
Vasily Metallov (1862-1926) was a Russian composer and musicologist, and professor of church music. He composed some sacred music, as well.