What Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Mussorgsky later carried forward all started with Glinka: the quest for an autonomous Russian musical language. In his orchestral works, operas and songs, as well as in his chamber music, he frequently used Russian dances and songs as the thematic foundation, reworking them, however, completely in the style of the Italian and German musical taste of his time. This way the form, sound and harmony of his works are oriented toward Bellini, Donizetti and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, whom he met during his four-year stay in Italy. Often unjustly listed in the category of "light classics”, or even "coachmen’s music”, his compositions make their mark with their stirring vitality, abundant melody and memorable rhythmic structures. Music historians like to describe his opera A Life for the Tsar as "Russian music’s moment of birth”.
born on June 1, 1804 in Novospasskoye near Smolensk (today: Glinka)
died on February 2, 1857 in Berlin