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Mikhail Glinka

The composer who built Russian opera from the Russian language and folk song

RomanticOperaOverture

Who he was

Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857) was born on a family estate in Smolensk province, wealthy enough to grow up hearing a household band of serf musicians. He began serious composition only as an adult, studying in Italy and Germany. His opera A Life for the Tsar opened in St Petersburg in 1836, followed by Ruslan and Lyudmila in 1842; he spent his last years in Paris and Berlin, and died in Berlin.

His place

Glinka is often called the father of Russian music. Before him the Russian stage belonged to Italian opera; after him Russian composers wrote large works from their own language, folk song and history. He set Italian vocal line, German counterpoint and Russian folk modes inside one sentence, a path later taken up by the Mighty Handful and by Tchaikovsky.

What to hear

Listen first for folk song transformed: he rarely quotes directly, but takes a tune apart and rebuilds it from rhythm and mode. Then oriental colour: Ruslan and Lyudmila contains Caucasian and Persian episodes with eastern scales. Next, the turning waltz: the Valse-Fantaisie turns a ballroom into an independent orchestral piece. Finally, the declamatory tone: in opera his characters speak with the stress of the Russian language rather than in Italian coloratura.

Key works

Influence

Glinka proved that Russia could have its own opera and its own orchestral speech. He left later Russian composers a floor to stand on, and both the Mighty Handful and Tchaikovsky began from it.

Listen in the library

Ruslan and LyudmilaC15:45歌剧《鲁斯兰与柳德米拉》——听序曲的飞快与歌剧里的东方段落，俄国舞台第一次有了自己的童话（C1）DetailsValse-FantasieC18:39《幻想圆舞曲》——舞会的旋转被写成一首独立的钢琴/管弦小品，听圆舞曲的低音怎样一圈圈转（C1）DetailsCapriccio on Russian ThemesC17:59《俄罗斯主题随想曲》——民歌主题被拆开重组，不是引用，而是把旋律的骨架拿来用（C1）DetailsVariations on Alyabyev's Romance 'The Nightingale'C15:18《夜莺》主题变奏——少年成名的钢琴曲，听一支浪漫曲怎样被拆成越来越华丽的变奏（C1）Details

All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).

Sources

  • 格林卡生平、两部歌剧的首演与作品，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Glinka, Mikhail"；本文为原创表述
  • 俄罗斯民族乐派的形成与五人团，参通行格林卡研究；实例 why 为本站听辨提示

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.