Alexander Pushkin occupies a very special place in Russian culture.
He is more than a world-acclaimed classic, he is this country’s best-loved
poet, the first Russian author to come to par with the world literary giants
Goethe, Heine and Byron. Pushkin managed to so fully express the Russian
soul and character that the magic music of his verse inspired a string
of equally or almost equally great musical  compositions.
To be exact, more than 3,000 in all…
Mikhail Glinka was only five years Pushkin’s junior. Both came from Russian
gentry of modest means, just like the very best writers, painters and musicians
Russia has ever had, members of that second-tier Russian nobility were
always extremely partial to the arts and gave excellent education to their
offspring.
Just like Glinka, Pushkin spent his younger days in one of the capital’s
most exclusive colleges. However, while Pushkin’s larger than life talent
cropped out early on, Glinka’s gift took more friendly insight to appreciate.
Even though Glinka’s talent showed up much later, it made such a big splash
that it was immediately appreciated by the city’s intellectual elite, Alexander
Pushkin included…
Mikhail Glinka eventually gained nationwide recognition that was similar
to Pushkin’s, both of them  hailed
as trailblazers, each in his own right.
In 1836 Glinka decided to write an opera to Pushin’s romantic poem “Ruslan
and Lyudmila” about a young hero who kills an evil dwarf who abducts his
beloved, and is eventually reunited with his beautiful fiancee.
Glinka told Pushkin about his idea and the poet said he was going to put
some finishing touches to his old poem. Moreover, he said he would write
the libretto. Unfortunately, Pushkin’s tragic death in a duel put the project
on ice for a whole six years. After a long pause caused by Pushkin’s death,
Glinka resumed work on “Ruslan and Lyudmila" and the opera premiered
in 1842…
The Overture over, all the main characters come out on stage, led by the
beautiful Lyudmila who chooses the courageous knight Ruslan as her
future husband.
The festivities that follow are suddenly interrupted by the malicious dwarf
Tchernomor who abducts Lyudmila…
During his long search for Lyudmila Ruslan comes across many strange things.
One day he finds a gigantic talking head rising up amid a misty field.
The head explains that in fact he is a heroic warrior, the victim of his
wicked brother, the dwarf.
There are oriental motifs to be heard here too which Pushkin liked so much
and amply portrayed in his poems.
There is always a place for reality in this fairy-tale action though. During
the final festivity, Boyan, a bard, sings about a young poet, the pride
and glory of Russia, who dies in his prime – a clear allusion to Alexander
Pushkin himself…
Besides “Ruslan and Lyudmila” Mikhail Glinka wrote a wealth of songs to
Pushkin’s poems, all so beautiful, charming and amazingly germane to Pushkin’s
fragrant, warm and passionate verse…
The hauntingly beautiful love song “A Wondrous Moment I Remember…” is probably
the best thing Glinka wrote to Pushkin’s verse, a short narrative about
a budding love that lights up one’s whole life…
Pushkin dedicated this poem to his onetime passion, Anna Kern. The two
first met in a faraway province where the poet was exiled for his dissenting
views. The passion eventually died away but the poem is still as
much alive and inspiring as it ever was…
The wondrous moment of our meeting…
I will remember – you appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty’s angel pure and clear…
Years after, Mikhail Glinka met Anna’s daughter, Catherine, and fell head
over heels in love with her. And dedicated to her the romance he wrote
to Pushkin’s lyrics once inspired by the young woman’s mother…
Catherine Kern also inspired Glinka’s absolutely divine “Fantasy Waltz”.
Written long after Pushkin’s death, this orchestral piece may have nothing
to do with the great poet’s work, but it so perfectly gets across Pushkin’s
elegiac verse and the atmosphere of the so-called Pushkin period of Russian
history...
07/05/05
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