Glinka was "the first Russian composer to combine distinction in speaking the musical idiom of the day with a personal and strongly original voice."1 He was exposed to music from an early age and as he grew up he became somewhat disenchanted with the lack of any real "Russian" music.
After spending three years in Italy experiencing the Italian opera tradition and studying the classics, Glinka returned to Russia and shortly after began work on an opera that would be different from everything that had been done in Russia. This one would be distinctly Russian, based on folk themes and the classic Russian story of Ivan Susanin, which had previously been set as an opera by Catterino Cavos in 1815. It worked out well. The name was changed to A Life for the Tsar shortly before the 1836 premiere. Glinka masterfully incorporated the doctrine of Official Nationality that had recently been promulgated throughout the country, and the work was a great success.
His next major project was a fantasy opera after a story by Pushkin, Ruslan and Lyudmila. Due to a disjunct collaborative process with various librettists, the opera didn't earn the same good reception that his earlier work did, and Glinka never again attempted an operatic project. In Ruslan, Glinka incorporates oriental (middle-eastern) music with diatonic material to represent the various characters, while holding on to a Rossinian Italian form for some scenes and wrapping it all up in a large circular form.
The other significant contribution of Glinka is his orchestral piece Kamarinskaya, a fantasy on two popular folk songs. This provided the model for Mily Balakirev's later attempts to establishing Russian nationalistic music as a legitimate genre.
Overall, Glinka is best known for pioneering the use of Russian folk music in major works for the orchestra and theatre. He was the first native Russian composer to be well-known throughout Europe, and nearly all Russian composers after considered Glinka their main example and influence.
1 JAMES STUART CAMPBELL: 'Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich', Grove Music Online (Accessed 20 February 2008), <http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/article.html?section=music.11279>
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1 comment:
Nice blog Dan! I've always wanted to know more about Russian opera, and Glinka in particular!
You should check out our blog thebergmanfam.blogspot.com It's a bit different without so much musicology, but otherwise informative about recent events in our lives.
Hope you're well! - Jason
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