The Russian composer Glinka left a significant mark in world music, and stood at the origins of a peculiar Russian school of composition. His life contained a lot: creativity, travel, joys and difficulties, but his main asset is music.
Family and childhood
The future prominent composer Glinka was born on May 20, 1804 in the Smolensk province, in the village of Novospassky. His father, a retired captain, was in sufficient condition to live comfortably. Glinka's great-grandfather was a Pole by birth, in 1654, when the Smolensk lands passed to Russia, he received Russian citizenship, converted to Orthodoxy, and began to live the life of a Russian landowner. The child was immediately given to the care of a grandmother, who raised her grandson in the traditions of that time: she kept him in stuffy rooms, did not physically develop, and fed with sweets. All this badly affected Mikhail's health. He grew up painful, capricious and effeminate, later calling himself “mimosa”.
Glinka almost spontaneously learned to read after the priest showed him the letters. From an early age he showed musicality, he himself learned to imitate bell ringing and sing along to the songs of a nanny on copper basins. Only at six years old he returns to his parents, and they begin to engage in his upbringing and education. A governess is invited to him, who, in addition to general subjects, taught him to play the piano, later he still masters the violin. At this time, the boy reads a lot, is fond of travel books, this passion will then turn into a love of a change of place that will hold Glinka all his life. He also draws a little, but music occupies a central place in his heart. The boy in the serf orchestra learns many works of the time, gets acquainted with musical instruments.
Years of study
Mikhail Glinka did not live long in the village. When he was 13 years old, his parents took him to the Noble Pension at the Pedagogical Institute, which had recently appeared in St. Petersburg. It was not very interesting for the boy to study, since he had already mastered most of the program at home. His tutor was the former Decembrist V.K. Kyukhelbeker, and his classmate was the brother of A.S. Pushkin, whom Mikhail first met at this time, and later became friendly.
In boarding years, he converges with the princes Golitsyn, S. Sobolevsky, A. Rimsky-Korsakov, N. Melgunov. During this period, he significantly broadens his musical horizons, gets acquainted with opera, attends numerous concerts, and also deals with famous musicians of that time - Boehm and Field. He improves his pianistic technique and receives the first lessons of the composing profession.
The famous pianist S. Mayer worked with Mikhail in the 1920s, teaching him the work of the composer, correcting his first opuses, giving the basics of working with the orchestra. At the graduation party of the Glinka boarding house, together with Mayer, he played a Hummel concert, publicly demonstrating his skills. Composer Mikhail Glinka graduated from the boarding school second in performance in 1822, but did not feel the desire to study further.
First writing experiences
Having finished the boarding house, the composer Glinka was in no hurry to seek service, since the financial situation allowed him. The father did not rush his son with the choice of a place of work, but did not think that he would play music all his life. Glinka’s composer, whose music is becoming the main thing in life, got the opportunity to go to the waters in the Caucasus to improve health and abroad. He leaves music lessons, studies the West European heritage and composes new motives, this becomes for him a constant internal need.
In the 1920s, Glinka wrote the famous romances “Do not tempt me without need” to verses by Baratynsky, “Do not sing, beauty, with me” to the text of A. Pushkin. His instrumental works also appear: adagio and rondo for orchestra, string septet.
Life in the light
In 1824, the composer M.I. Glinka entered the service, becoming an assistant secretary in the Office of Railways. But the service did not work out, and in 1828 he resigned. At this time, Glinka is overgrown with a large number of acquaintances, communicates with A. Griboedov, A. Mitskevich, A. Delvig, V. Odoevsky, V. Zhukovsky. He continues to make music, participates in musical evenings in the house of Demidov, writes many songs and romances, and publishes, together with Pavlishchev's “Lyric Album,” which collected works by various authors, including himself.
Foreign experience
Traveling was a very important part of the life of Mikhail Glinka. He makes his first big foreign voyage after graduation from a boarding house.
In 1830, Glinka embarked on a long trip to Italy, which lasted 4 years. The purpose of the trip was treatment, but it did not bring the proper result, and the musician did not do it seriously, constantly interrupting the courses of therapy, changing doctors and cities. In Italy, he met with K. Bryullov, with the outstanding composers of the time: Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Bellini, Donizetti. Impressed by these meetings, Glinka writes chamber works on the themes of foreign composers. He studies a lot abroad with the best teachers, improves the performing technique, studies the theory of music. He is looking for his strong theme in art, and for him becomes homesickness, it encourages him to write serious works. Glinka creates the “Russian Symphony” and writes variations on Russian songs, which will later be included in other major works.
Great Composition Work: M. Glinka's Opera
In 1834, Michael's father dies, he receives financial independence and begins writing the opera. Even abroad, Glinka realized that his task was to write in Russian, this was the impetus for the creation of an opera on national material. At this time, he enters the literary circles of St. Petersburg, where Aksakov, Zhukovsky, Shevyrev, Pogodin visited. Everyone is discussing the Russian opera written by Verstovsky, this example inspires Glinka, and he takes up the drafts for the opera based on Zhukovsky’s short story “Maryina Roscha”. The idea was not destined to be realized, but this was the beginning of work on the opera Life for the Tsar, based on the plot suggested by Zhukovsky, based on the legend of Ivan Susanin. The great composer Glinka entered the history of music precisely as the author of this composition. In it, he laid the foundations of the Russian opera school.
The premiere of the opera took place on November 27, 1836, the success was tremendous. Both the public and critics accepted the composition extremely favorably. After this, Glinka receives the assignment as bandmaster of the Court Singing Chapel and becomes a professional musician. Success inspired the composer, and he proceeds to work on a new opera based on Pushkin's poem Ruslan and Lyudmila. He wanted the poet to write the libretto, but his untimely death prevented the implementation of these plans. In the essay, Glinka demonstrates mature composing talent and the highest technology. But Ruslan and Lyudmila was received more coolly than the first opera. This greatly upset Glinka, and again he was about to go abroad. The composer's opera heritage is small, but it had a decisive influence on the development of the national school of composers, and still these works are a vivid example of Russian music.
Glinka's symphonic music
The development of the national theme was reflected in the symphonic music of the author. Glinka’s composer creates a large number of experimental compositions; he is obsessed with finding a new form. In his works, our hero shows himself as a romantic and melodist. The works of the composer Glinka develop such genres in Russian music as folk genre, lyric-epic, and dramatic. His most significant works are the overtures “Night in Madrid” and “Aragonese Hota”, the symphonic fantasy “Kamarinskaya”.
Songs and romances
The portrait of Glinka (composer) will be incomplete, if not to mention his songwriting. All his life he writes romances and songs that are gaining incredible popularity during the life of the author. In total, he wrote about 60 vocal works, the most notable of which are: “I remember a wonderful moment”, “Recognition”, “A fair song” and many others, which today are part of the classical repertoire of vocalists.
Private life
In his personal life, the composer Glinka was not lucky. He married the lovely girl Ivanova Marya Petrovna in 1835, hoping to find a like-minded and loving heart in her. But very quickly there were many disagreements between the husband and wife. She led a stormy social life, spent a lot of money, so that even the income from the estate and payment for Glinka's musical works was not enough for her. He was forced to take students. The final break occurs when in the 1840s Glinka is carried away by Katya Kern, daughter of Pushkin's muse. He filed for divorce, at this time it turns out that his wife secretly married the cornet Vasilchikov. But the separation is delayed for 5 years. During this time, Glinka had to endure a real drama: Kern became pregnant, demanded decisive measures from him, he subsidized her disposal of the child. Gradually, the heat of the relationship died away, and when the divorce was received in 1846, Glinka no longer had the desire to marry. He spent the rest of his life alone, was fond of friendly feasts and orgies, which adversely affected his already poor health. Glinka passed away on February 15, 1857 in Berlin. Later, at the request of his sister, the ashes of the deceased were transported to Russia and buried in the Tikhvin cemetery of St. Petersburg.