Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Glinka was a Russian composer and one of the founders of the Russian classical music tradition. His work shaped the music of later generations of Russian composers.
He was born on June 1, 1804, in Novospasskoye, Smolensk Governorate. He began studying piano and violin at the age of ten. After moving to St. Petersburg in 1817, he attended the Noble Boarding School and took private lessons with music teachers including Karl Zeuner and John Field. He completed his studies in 1822.
After leaving school, Glinka studied European classical music, took part in music-making in aristocratic salons, and began composing across several genres. His early works included songs and romances such as “Do Not Tempt Me Needlessly” and “Do Not Sing, Beauty, in My Presence.” A 1823 journey to the Caucasus introduced him to regional music that later informed his compositions.
From 1830 to 1834, Glinka lived mainly in Italy and studied bel canto, meeting composers Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti. He later studied counterpoint and orchestration in Berlin with Siegfried Dehn. Returning to Russia, he began work on the opera A Life for the Tsar, which premiered in St. Petersburg in 1836 to great success. He then served for two years as director of the Court Singing Chapel.
Glinka began composing Ruslan and Lyudmila in 1837, drawing on Alexander Pushkin’s poem. Its premiere took place in 1842 and received a more critical response than his first opera. During this period, he also wrote the “Waltz-Fantasy” and the romance “I Remember a Wonderful Moment,” setting Pushkin’s poem to music.
From 1844, Glinka travelled in France and Spain. Hector Berlioz presented his music in Paris, and Glinka gave a concert of his works there in 1845. His study of Spanish folk melodies led to two orchestral works: the “Aragonese Jota” overture and “Memories of a Summer Night in Madrid.” In 1848, while in Warsaw, he composed Kamarinskaya, a symphonic fantasy based on two Russian songs that helped establish a new approach to Russian symphonic music.
Glinka returned to St. Petersburg in 1851, where he taught singing and prepared opera roles and chamber repertoire with singers. He later spent more than two years in Paris, where he began an unfinished symphony based on the story of Taras Bulba. In Berlin, he studied the music of Palestrina and Bach and composed sacred works for three voices.
Glinka died in Berlin on February 15, 1857, aged 52. He was first buried there; his remains were later transferred to St. Petersburg and reburied at Tikhvin Cemetery. His operas, songs, chamber works, and orchestral compositions secured his place as a formative figure in Russian music.