| Russian composer, born in Novospasskoye,
and educated in Saint Petersburg. Glinka studied with various teachers in
Russia, Italy, and Germany. Until 1835 his compositions consisted mainly
of songs. His opera A Life for the Tsar (1836), which drew its story and
music from Russian folktales and folk songs, was the first Russian opera
of a national character. The music of his second opera, Russlan and Ludmilla
(1842), based on a poem by the Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin, was also
drawn largely from Russian folk music. Glinka established himself as the
founder of the Russian national school of music, which was subsequently
carried on by such composers as Aleksandr Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky, and
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. Glinka was also interested in the popular music
and dance of Spain, where he lived from 1845 to 1847, which inspired the
overtures Jota Aragonesa and Night in Madrid (1851). His other works include
the orchestral fantasia Kamarinskaya (1848), chamber music, piano pieces,
and songs. |