Mikhail Glinka

Mikhail Glinka was one of the leading composers in the Russian nationalist movement. Although he received a cosmopolitan musical education, with with Irish composer John Field, in Italy under Bellini and Donizetti in Italy during the height of the bel canto movement in opera, and later in Berlin, Glinka sought to find a Russian identity in his music.

Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar was one of the first operas featuring centrally featured Russian musical themes and stories which gained any popularity in Russia, where the fashion was for Italian or French opera. Unusually for composers of his era, Glinka travelled widely and acheived significant successes throughout Europe. Back in Russia, Glinka's compositional style was of great influence to many following composers endeavoring to create a Russian identity, including members of 'The Five'.

As well as his operas, Glinka wrote many songs, one of which 'The Patriotic Song' was the Russian National Anthem after the fall of the Soviet Union until 2000.