Glinka

Ivan Susanin is apprehended by the Polish detachment.

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804-1857)

Cracovienne
From Ivan Susanin (1836)
Opera in Four Acts and Epilogue

USSR Symphony Orchestra

Evgeny Svetlanov
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Fri, 16 October 2020
Siesta Time, AIR FM Goa, 2.30 p.m. - 3 p.m.
https://onlineradiofm.in/goa/panaji/fm-rainbow

In 1834, in the year his father died, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, Russia’s foremost composer, returned from Berlin to the village of Novospasskoye, in Smolensk in Eastern Russia where he was born. He threw himself into writing opera. The idea for Ivan Susanin was suggested by the poet Vasily Zhukovsky. Set in 1612 the opera tells of Ivan Susanin - a Russian peasant- who sacrificed his life for the young Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov by leading astray a group of Polish soldiers, who were out to harm the Tsar. For this Ivan Susanin was tortured by the soldiers and his body was cut into pieces. The opera was well received. But Glinka had to change the name of the opera to A Life for the Tsar. 

The operatic theme gives Glinka the scope to introduce Russian folk music and music from Poland across the border, by way of dances and local tunes. After sipping on the musical influences in Italy and Germany prior to his return, it was the nationalist music of Russia which appealed to him and which he championed. The ‘Cracovienne’ is a fast Polish folk dance from the region of Cracow in Poland. The featured composition is about 5:31 minutes.

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Notes by RJ Dr. Brian Mendonca; pic courtesy ief-usfeu(dot)ru, painting by Maxim Fayustov.