Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804 - 1857) was a Russian
Romantic composer. A nationalist, he is considered by many the ‘father of
Russian classical music’, and was to greatly influence Russian modernist composers,
notably 'The Five'[1].
Glinka was born in the village of Novospasskoye (district
of Smolensk) to an aristrocratic family. Living in his father’s estate, he spent his youth listening to the church bells
and the folk music sung by passing peasant choirs. The tolling of church bells –
tuned to a dissonant chord – made his ears accustumed to strident harmonies,
whilst the podgolosnaya technique
used by the peasant choirs (a technique
in which improvised dissonant harmonies were used to accompany the melodic lines) influenced him towards breaking free from the smooth progressions that
characterized Western harmonic patterns.
The bulk of the composer’s music comprises operatic
works and orchestral pieces – although he has also written many piano pieces,
art songs and some chamber music. Glinka’s operatic works are renowned for
being a synthesis of Western operatic form (mostly due to the influence of
Italian and French opera on him) with the innovations he introduced (for
instance the pioneering use of leitmotifs)
and Russian melody.His orchestral works are the product of skillful
instrumentation, hinting at both the
traditional and the exotic.
The Trio Pathétique in D minor dates from around
1827-8. Originally written for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano, Glinka also
composed a version for a standard piano trio, as required by his publisher. Here, one clearly notices a Russian folk tune
theme – though woven in the fashion of Viennese
Classical tradition. The opening movement – Allegro
Moderato – was written in the transitional style of early Romanticism,
still bearing a Classical structure.
A passionate performance by Trio Werfel, Valeria Lambiase on piano. Enjoy!
[1] ‘The
Five’ – also known as 'The Mighty Handful', 'The Mighty Five' or 'The Mighty Coterie'
– was a group of Modernist Russian composers who met in Saint Petersbourgh between
1856 and 1870. The musical branch of Russian Nationalist Movement, the circle
was comprised by Mily Balakirev (leader), Modest Mussorgsky, César Cui, Nicolai
Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin. Aiming
at drawing a concept of Russian music as distiguished from Western classical
models, they determined what Russian music should sound like, establishing its harmonic grounds and other
stylistic features. See also
No comments:
Post a Comment