Glinka, Mikhail

Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) is recognized as the father of the Russian national school and was a great influence on several generations of composers including Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin, and Tchaikovsky.

His first opera, A Life for the Tsar (1836), established him as the leading composer of the day, and its national character and folk influences helped to create a new Russian musical language.