Explore More - 2017

Russian Classical Music

Russian Classical Music Classical Russian vocal music didn’t truly find its voice until the start of the 19th century when Mikhail Glinka wrote the first opera based on a Russian historic event. Like most Russian composers of the time, Glinka had been sent abroad to study the more respected European style of writing music. So although his A Life for the Tsar was groundbreaking in terms of subject matter, its composition and songs owe much to the structures of Bellini and Schubert. Following in the footsteps of Glinka—and declaring him the father of Russian classical music—came a lively group of Russian musicians called, collectively, the “Mighty Handful.” Formed in 1860, the group comprised Mily Balakirev, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Modest Mussorgsky, Aleksandr Borodin and César Cui. None of the Mighty Handful had formal training and most supported their passion for composing with a career in the military. However, this didn’t stop them from becoming a major influential force in creating a distinctive national musical identity. Proud of their Russian folk heritage, they broke all the rules of classical European composition and created music based on authentic Russian themes. The second half of the 19th century saw a change in Russian music when Anton Rubinstein, a respected pianist, composer and educator, opened the St. Petersburg Conservatory, a music school devoted to classical training. It is here that Tchaikovsky was tutored and went on to become recognized as the country’s first real professional composer, having both a full-time career in music and a wealthy patron. The last of the great Russian Romantic composers of the pre-Soviet era was Rachmaninov, who was classically trained under Tchaikovsky. He left Russia in 1917 during the Russian Revolution that saw the imperial autocracy deposed by the Bolsheviks. It was effectively the end of any further Western influences. The government censored all performances and folk music was institutionalized, with balalaika being taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory—a step that took traditional Russian folk music yet further away from its origins. The classical vocal romantic pieces you will hear during the performance of the Mariinsky musicians span the whole spectrum of composers, from Glinka to Rachmaninov. It’s a brief, but enlightening glimpse into the heart and soul of a country and its people.

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