Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka
Birth Date: June 1, 1804
Death Date: December, 2, 1857
Place of Birth: Novospasskoye, Russia
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka was born on June 1st, 1804 in the village of Novospasskoye, near Smolensk city in Russia. At the early age Mikhail Glinka studied to play the violin and the piano. He moved to Saint-Petersburg in 1817 and took part in several amateur concerts.
In 1822 Mikhail Glinka created his first music compositions - the variations on popular romances and arias. Soon he composed his own instrumental pieces, romances and works for orchestras. His music gained the popularity rather fast.
The 1830-1834 years Michail Glinka spent in Germany, Austria, Italy, where he polished up his technique and created a lot of music compositions by order of the Italian singers. Michail Glinka was pondering upon the national character and background of the music. He considered creating the Russian opera.
When he came back to Russia (cause of his father's death), Michail Glinka composed his monumental operas "A Life for the Tsar" (1836) (also called Ivan Susanin) and "Ruslan and Ludmila", based on the tale of Alexander Pushkin. The first opera had the great triumph, but the opera "Ruslan and Ludmila" was not so well-accepted and turned Glinka in depression.
In 1844 Michail Glinka went to Spain which inspired him on the creation of Jota Aragonesa (1845), A Night in Madrid (1851). He studied the Spanish national music character in depth. Mikhail Glinka had the nostalgia for Russia and created the Slavic thematic symphonic poem Kamarinskaya (1848).
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka died in 1857 year in Berlin. He was buried in the Saint-Petersburg cemetery of Alexander Nevsky lavra.
Some of Mikhail Glinka's greatest works and links to their Audio CDs:
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Glinka: Orchestral Works
 by Mikhail Glinka, Vassily Sinaisky, and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (Audio CD - 2001)
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Glinka: Symphony; Spanish Overture; Music from Prince Kholmsky
by Mikhail Glinka, Evgeny Svetlanov, and USSR Symphony Orchestra (Audio CD - 2005)
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Glinka - Ruslan and Lyudmila
by Vladimir Ognovenko, Anna Netrebko, Mikhail Kit, Larissa Diadkova, and Gennady Bezzubenkov (DVD - 2003)
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Glinka: The Complete Symphonies
by Pyotr Il'yich Glinka, Leonard Bernstein, and New York Philharmonic (Audio CD - 2003)
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Glinka: Life for the Tsar
by Mikhail Glinka, Loris Tjeknavorian, and Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra (Audio CD - 2000)
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Anton Arensky and Mikhail Glinka: Piano Trios
by Yuli Turovsky, Anton Arensky, Mikhail Glinka, Luba Edlina, and Rostislav Dubinsky (Audio CD - 1992)
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Glinka: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 1
by Mikhail Glinka and Victor Ryabchikov (Audio CD - 1998)
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Glinka - Overtures & Dances
by Mikhail Glinka and USSR Symphony Orchestra (Audio CD - 2003)
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Music of Mikhail Glinka
by Mikhail Glinka, Vladimir Morkov, A. Palevich, Czar's Guitars, and Oleg Timofeyev (Audio CD - 2007)
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Glinka: Kamarinskaya; Orchestral Dances
by Fedor Luzhanov, Mikhail Glinka, Boris Demchenko, Constantin Ivanov, and Ilmar Lapins (Audio CD - 2007)
Some books by Mikhail Glinka, books about this famous Russian composer and his music
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