Mikhail Glinka

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (Russian: Михаил Иванович Глинка, scientific Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka transliteration; * 20 Maijul / June 1 1804greg in Nowospasskoje near Smolensk, Russia, .. .. † 3.jul / February 15 1857greg in Berlin) was a Russian composer. He is the creator of an independent classical music of Russia.

Life

Mikhail Glinka was born in the village Nowospasskoje at Smolensk, the son of a nobleman. He spent his first six years in his paternal grandmother overheated room that tried to shield him from all external impressions. Thus, his first musical impressions were limited to the birds singing in the garden of his family, the songs of his nanny and the penetrating loud church bells, for which the Smolensk region was famous. After the death of his grandmother in 1810, he came into the custody of his parents and finally now had the opportunity to listen to other music. When he heard a clarinet quartet of the Finnish clarinettist Bernhard Henrik Crusell after about four years, this experience sparked his interest in music. In addition, influenced him, the Russian folk music of a brass band which he heard at mid-day feasts. A violinist from the music group of his uncle gave him his first instruction in violin playing.

To 1817 he began to study at the Institute nobility of Petersburg. He took piano lessons at three Irish composer John Field, and at a meeting with Johann Nepomuk Hummel on his trip to Russia he left behind in this a positive impression. In 1823 he undertook a journey to the Caucasus, where he was fascinated by the natural beauty and local customs, returned for half a year back to his birthplace and took over after his return to St. Petersburg in 1824 an undemanding job as Under Secretary in the civil service. In his spare time, he expanded his friends and acquaintances. The famous poet and writer William Kuchelbecker, who was exiled after the uprising of the Decembrists on December 14, 1825 Siberia, Glinka made ​​known to the Russian national poet Alexander Pushkin. Glinka's connections to the well-known poet and the political turmoil of the time influenced the thinking and actions of the later composers. From 1830 he went on a trip to Italy, where he was able to extend for three years his knowledge of the opera. During this time he met in Milan Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy know. In 1833, he led in Berlin by further music studies with Siegfried Dehn.

1836 his opera was premiered A Life for the Tsar ( libretto by Baron Georg Rosen ) in St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theatre. She was the first sung in Russian classical opera Russia. The story tells of the exploits of the peasant Ivan Susanin, said to have lived in the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century. According to legend, Susanin had Polish occupiers out in trackless forests, from which they no longer back found. Shortly thereafter, he was slain.

In Glinka's National Opera simple people like farmers play the main role, which the members of the aristocracy did not like. Just so as not to arouse the displeasure of the Tsar, he chose the title Ivan Susanin not, but A Life for the Tsar for his work. The opera was a great success, and was summoned Glinka became the conductor of the St. Petersburg chapel.

1842 was followed by his second opera Ruslan and Lyudmila ( libretto by Valerian Shirkov, Nestor and Kukolnik ), which was based on a poem by Pushkin and Alexander is kept very popular. As of 1844, he went on tour again, this time to Paris, where he frequently met with Hector Berlioz, and the next year to Spain (Valladolid, Madrid and Seville). Here he was enthusiastic about the traditional music of Spain and wrote his First Spanish Overture, aragonesa with Jota.

After further travels in Poland, where he recorded influences of Chopin, and France, he broke in May 1856, on his recent trip to Berlin, where he recorded his counterpoint studies with Siegfried Dehn in works of Johann Sebastian Bach again. After a concert in January 1857 at the Meyerbeer conducted an excerpt from " A Life for the Tsar " says Glinka caught a cold and died three weeks later on 15 February 1857 in the Prussian capital.

Plaque

The inscription on the plaque in the French Strasse 8 in Berlin -Mitte:

Importance

To understand the magnitude of benefits Glinka, you must first musical situation in Russia, in which he was born, to be considered. During the 18th century stylistic influences from Western Europe had become dominant in the Russian culture. Even the Russian folk song was not immune from foreign influences, as in the cities, the urban song, where Western influence is felt to the regular rhythms and the increased use of sequences developed.

Glinka's most important legacy, however, lies not so much in its stylized folk songs, but above all in his very own, very Russian influenced musical language in which he waived in contrast to the German music on dissecting and combining implementation of small-scale issues and instead variations of longer melodic phrases composed.

Works (selection)

Choral works

• Drinking Song by Delwig, 1829
• Not the regular autumn chill, 1829
• Farewell Song of the students of Jekatarinsky Institute, 1840
• The toast - song, 1847
• Farewell Song of the students of the society for young ladies, 1850
• The plait, 1854
• Prayer in a difficult life situation, 1855

Piano Works

• Cotillion, 1828
• Finnish Song, 1829
• Cavalrymen Trot, 1829/30
• Cavalrymen Trot, 1829/30
• Scene from a folk song
• Fantasy on two Russian songs: Kamarinskaya
• Variations on "The Nightingale " by A. Alabief, 1833
• Canter, 1838/39
• Bolero, 1840
• Tarantella on a Russian folk song, 1843
• Greetings to my home country, 1847
• Las mollares (after an Andalusian dance)
• Leggieramente
• Nocturne " La Separation",

Operas

• A Life for the Tsar, 1834-36
• Scene at the convent gate, 1837
• Ruslan and Lyudmila, 1837-42

Chamber Music

• String Quartet No. 2 in F major ( 1830)
• Trio Pathetique for Clarinet ( Violin), Bassoon ( Cello ) and Piano ( 1832)
• Sonata for Viola and Piano in D minor ( incomplete) (1835 )
• Sextet in E flat major (1842 )

Others

Glinka piano composition Motif de chant was nationally under the title Patriotic Song 1990-2001 National Anthem of the Russian Federation.

Glinka's work Slawsja ( Be honored ) since 1995, serves as a template for one of the two melodies of Kremlkuranten. It is worth noting that the bells of readily realizable not enough to play the entire melody. Three additional required tones are created automatically at the moment, the missing bells are still in production.

A great-granddaughter Mikhail Glinka is the Berlin actress and performance artist Miriam Glinka.

In Berlin -Mitte there are a Glinkastraße. There is a large wall relief with the head of Glinka and the saying "It's the people that create the music. We can arrange musicians only. " The relief comes from the sculptor Olga ( " Olly " ) Waldschmidt.