Mikhail Glinka
A well-educated child of privilege, Glinka became a fervent Russian nationalist and is considered the father of Russian music. In his opera A Life for the Tsar he successfully employed Russian folk elements, thereby taking an initial step toward the establishment of a Russian nationalist style. His further development in this vein, which involved considerably more than mere melodic kinship with folk music, culminated in his most influential opera, Ruslan and Lyudmila, wherein his use of rhythm and harmony strike out an individual path, making them clearly distinctive from conventional Western music. His music exerted a significant influence on such great later composers as Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Stravinsky.
Glinka took piano, violin, and voice lessons, but he did not study music or composition seriously as a youth. His first job was as a government official, but realizing how strongly he was drawn to music, he left Russia to pursue both a general and a musical education, as well as try treatments for various illnesses both real and imagined. He studied for a time in Italy and spent several months between 1833 and 1834 studying composition in Berlin with Siegfried Dehn, his most prolonged and significant period of concentrated musical instruction. He had composed some works during and prior to this time, but these were still derivative of prevailing western European styles, and the year in Berlin only reinforced the non-Russian influences he felt. Returning to Russia, he discovered the works of writers such as Pushkin and Gogol, who uncovered for him the wealth and depth of his Russian cultural heritage. Moved, he wrote his seminal, truly Russian work, A Life for the Tsar. It premiered in 1836 and was an immediate success. It intermingled Russian and Polish folk tunes with Italian-style operatic passages and even anticipated Wagner's use of the leitmotif by employing recurring themes identified with specific characters. It also marked a new approach to orchestration in which the orchestra was essentially a member of the cast, not merely background accompaniment for the singers. His song cycle A Farewell to Saint Petersburg was published in 1840. The year 1842 saw the premiere of Glinka's second great Russian opera, Ruslan and Lyudmila. It was not as immediately successful as A Life for the Tsar, but was ultimately more influential. It contained Persian influences and made use of a seven-step, whole-tone scale for the first time in European music. Glinka spent the next several years traveling again through western Europe with the occasional return to Russia. On these trips he would perform occasionally, compose -- often songs, but also orchestral and piano works -- and meet other musical greats of the time such as Meyerbeer, while still seeking treatments for health issues. During several months in Warsaw in 1848, he wrote Kamarinskaya, a highly inventive work employing two Russian folk tunes that became his most popular composition for orchestra. He did return to Berlin in 1856 to spend more time studying with Dehn, but shortly after attending a January 1857 concert that included an excerpt from A Life for the Tsar conducted by Meyerbeer, Glinka became ill, declined quickly, and died in February. His influence upon the Russian composers who followed him was immense; specifically, he inspired Mily Balakirev, who gathered other young Russian composers around him to form the so-called "Mighty Handful," and extended Glinka's effort to foster Russian nationalism in music and the arts in general.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
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Glinka: Chamber music, Vol. 1
Classical - Released by Suoni e Colori on Feb 24, 2008
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Brahms, Schubert & De Falla: Lieder, Songs & Canciones
Classical - Released by KSG Exaudio on Nov 3, 2017
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Glinka : Chamber Music, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Suoni e Colori on Feb 23, 2008
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Glinka, Farrenc, Stutschewsky, Rota & Piazzolla
Chamber Music - Released by VDE-GALLO on Aug 11, 2012
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Glinka & Glazunov: Chamber Music
Classical - Released by Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica on Oct 10, 1992
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Russian Choir School. Victor Popov
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Sep 19, 1997
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The Ossipov Balalaika Orchestra, Vol. I, Russian Classical Music
Classical - Released by Claves Records on Jan 1, 1996
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Glinka: Orchestral Works
Classical - Released by Bomba-Piter on May 19, 2017
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Majestic Domes City of Moscow
The Male Choir of the Valaam Singing Culture Institute
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Russian Compact Disc on May 15, 2020
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Glinka: Trio Pathetique – Rachmaninoff: Trio Elegiaque No. 1 – Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 67
Chamber ensemble "Romantic Trio"
Chamber Music - Released by RCD music on Aug 6, 2012
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Glinka: String Quartets
Classical - Released by Suoni e Colori on Feb 24, 2008
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Glinka: A Life for the Tzar Opera - Priest Kholminsky Highlights - Waltz Phantasy - Ruslan & Lumilla Dance Act III
Mark Ermler, Mikhail Glinka, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Symphony Orchestra of Bolshoi Theatre, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2010
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Русский романс. Михаил Глинка
Наталья Герасимова, Игорь Жуков
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Jun 8, 1996
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A Russian Mosaic
Classical - Released by Claves Records on Jan 1, 2001
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Classical Assembly. Irina Krapukhina - Divine Image Of The Harp
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Aug 20, 2002
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Russian Symphonic Miniatures
Classical - Released by Bomba-Piter (Manchester) on Jan 1, 1997
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Russian Vocal School. Feodor Chaliapin - vol.3
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Jan 15, 1999
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Russian Christian’s Songs, Vol. 4
The Male Choir of the Valaam Singing Culture Institute
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Jun 5, 2020
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Waltzes in Russian Symphonic Music
Classical - Released by Russian Music Society on May 17, 2010
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Classics In The Pop Of Treatments. Glinka - The Best
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Apr 10, 1999
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The Best Of The Classics Volume 7
Philharmonic Wind Orchestra, Marc Reift
Classical - Released by Marcophon on Jul 11, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo