Biography

Mikhail Glinka's was the first person whom Russian musical culture ranked as the composer of world significance. Relying on the centuries-old traditions of Russian folk and professional music, achievements and experience of European art, Glinka completed the process of forming the national school of composition, which captured one of the leading places in the European culture of the 19th century.
In his work, Glinka expressed the progressive ideological aspirations of the time. His works are imbued with the ideas of patriotism, faith in the people. Like A. Pushkin, Glinka anthems the beauty of life, the triumph of reason, goodness and justice. He created art, so harmonious and beautiful, that it deserved the global admiration.
What formed the composer’s personality? Glinka wrote about it in his “Notes” - a wonderful example of memoir literature. The main impressions of his childhood he called the Russian songs (they were "the first reason that later I began to develop mainly the folk Russian music"), as well as the uncle's serf orchestra, which he "loved most." As a boy, Glinka played flute and violin in this orchestra, becoming older, he conducted it. His soul was filled with "The liveliest poetic delight" when he heard the bells and church singing. Young Glinka painted well, passionately dreamed of traveling, and was distinguished by vividness of mind and rich imagination.
Two great historical events influenced the future composer - the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Decembrist uprising in 1825. They defined the basic idea of his creative work and political convictions.
Staying in the Petersburg Privileged educational institution (1817-22), famous for its progressive-minded teachers was beneficial for Glinka. Küchelbecker, the future Decembrist, was his teacher. The composer youth proceeded in the atmosphere of ardent political and literary disputes with friends. Some of those who was close to Glinka after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising turned out to be among those exiled to Siberia. It was not for nothing that Glinka was subject to interrogation regarding relations with “the rebels”.
Russian literature played a significant role in the ideological and artistic formation of the future composer. Direct communication with A. Pushkin, V. Zhukovsky, A. Delvig, A. Griboyedov, V. Odoyevsky, A. Mickiewicz. He received various musical impressions. Glinka took piano lessons from John Field, and then from Charles Mayer; he studied singing and playing the violin. He often visited theaters, attended musical evenings, played music four-hands with the Vielgorsky brothers and A. Varlamov; began to compose romances, instrumental pieces. In 1825, one of the masterpieces of Russian vocal lyricism appeared - the romance “Do not tempt” to the verses by Yevgeny Baratynsky.
Glinka gained many bright artistic impulses from the trips. He travelled to the Caucasus (1823), stayed in Italy, Austria, Germany (1830-34). Sociable, passionate, enthusiastic young man, in whose character kindness and straightforwardness were combined with poetic sensitivity, he easily made friends. In Italy, Glinka became close to V. Bellini, G. Donizetti, met with F. Mendelson, later with Hector Berlioz, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Stanisław Moniuszko. Eagerly absorbing various impressions, Glinka studied seriously and inquisitively, completing his musical education in Berlin under the famous theorist Siegfried Dehn.
It was there, far from homeland, that Glinka fully realized his true destiny. The idea was realized after returning to Petersburg: in 1836, the opera “Ivan Susanin” was completed. Its plot, prompted by Vasily Zhukovsky, made it possible to embody the idea of the feat in the name of saving the motherland, which was extremely fascinating to Glinka. It was an innovation – Susanin was the first hero-patriot in the European and Russian music. His image summarized the best typical features of the national character.
Glinka embodies the heroic idea in the forms characteristic of the national art, based on the richest traditions of the Russian song and professional choral art that were organically combined with the trends of European opera music and with the principles of symphonic music development.
The premiere of the opera on November 27, 1836 was perceived by the persons of the Russian culture as an event of great significance. The opera was highly appreciated by the Russian and foreign public, by writers and critics as well.

Success inspired the composer. Immediately after the premiere of “Susanin”, he began working on the opera “Ruslan and Ludmila” (to the plot of Pushkin’s poem). However, various circumstances: a failed marriage that ended by divorce; the highest favor – the service in the Court Chapel, which took a lot of energy; the tragic death of Pushkin after a duel, which destroyed plans to joint work, all this did not favor the creative process. Household disorder hindered it as well. For some time, Glinka lived with playwright Nestor Kukolnik in a noisy and cheerful environment of the Kukolnik “brotherhood” – artists and poets, who were fairly distracting him from creative work. Despite this, the work was going forward; other works appeared in parallel - songs to the poems by Pushkin, the vocal cycle “Farewell to Petersburg” (to Kukolnik poem), the first version of “Waltz-fantasy”, music for the Kukolnik drama “Prince Kholmsky”.
The activity of Glinka as a singer and vocal teacher referred to the same period. He wrote “Etudes for voice”, “Exercises for the improvement of voice”, “School of singing”. Semen Hulak-artemovsky, D. Leonova and others were among his students.

The premiere of "Ruslan and Lyudmila" on November 27, 1842 brought Glinka many rueful feelings. The aristocratic audience led by the Imperial family met the opera with enmity. The opinions of his supporters were split as well.
Glinka spent the next few years abroad in Paris (1844-45) and in Spain (1845-47), having specially studied Spanish before the trip.
Concert in Paris comprised of Glinka works came off with success. Spanish impressions inspired Glinka to create two symphonic pieces: “Aragon Jota” (1845) and “Remembering a Summer Night in Madrid” (1848-51). The famous "Kamarinskaya" appeared - a fantasy on the themes of two Russian songs appeared simultaneously with them in 1848. The Russian symphonic music originates from these works.
The premiere of "Ruslan and Lyudmila" on November 27, 1842 brought Glinka many rueful feelings. The aristocratic audience led by the Imperial family met the opera with enmity. The opinions of his supporters were split as well.

Glinka spent the next few years abroad in Paris (1844-45) and in Spain (1845-47), having specially studied Spanish before the trip.
Concert in Paris comprised of Glinka works came off with success. Spanish impressions inspired Glinka to create two symphonic pieces: “Aragon Jota” (1845) and “Remembering a Summer Night in Madrid” (1848-51). The famous "Kamarinskaya" appeared - a fantasy on the themes of two Russian songs appeared simultaneously with them in 1848. The Russian symphonic music originates from these works.

The last decade of his life Glinka spent alternately in Russia (Novospasskoye, St. Petersburg and Smolensk) and abroad (Warsaw, Paris and Berlin). The atmosphere of the thickening malevolence had a depressing effect on him. Only a small circle of true and hot admirers supported him in these years. Among them was Alexander Dargomyzhsky – their friendship began as early as during the production of the opera “Ivan Susanin”; V. Stasov, A. Serov, young M. Balakirev. Glinka's creative activity was noticeably decreasing, hence new trends in Russian art, associated with the flourishing of the “natural school”, did not pass unnoticed for him and determined the direction of his further artistic explorations. He begins working at the symphony "Taras Bulba" and opera-drama “Woman bigamist” (after A. Shakhovsky, unfinished). At the same time, his interest to the polyphonic art of the Renaissance aroused.

This again led Glinka to Berlin to Z. Dehn in 1856. A new stage of the creative biography began, which was not destined to end ... Glinka did not have time to accomplish much of what was intended. However, his ideas were developed in the works of Russian composers of subsequent generations that inscribed the name of the Russian music founder on their artistic banners.

O. Averyanova
Source: belcanto.ru