Mijail Glinka / Balakirev: "The Lark"

In 1836, Mikhail Glinka astonished the Russian public and critics with the premiere of his first opera, Life for the Tsar. He was 32 years old and was about to initiate the composition of a second work in the genre, Ruslan and Liudmila, after the homonymous poem by Pushkin. But it would take him five years to complete it, due, among other things, to his broken health after suffering the abandonment of his wife. One day, Maria Petrovna Ivanova, a girl from St. Petersburg, left him for another, without subtleties.

The despondency
The union had not been happy, and the breakup was to be expected, although never with the ease that Maria Petrovna had shown. The composer sought refuge in nature. He left St. Petersburg and spent long periods in the countryside. But he did not stop composing. Even in despondency, in 1840 he took inspiration from some verses of his friend and poet Nestor Kukolnik. On them, he wrote a cycle of twelve songs, which he gathered under the collective title of "Farewell to St. Petersburg".

Mijail Glinka, in 1840
(1804 - 1857)

"The Lark"
It is the most popular of those songs. But it is more so in its arrangement for solo piano. In 1855, two years before his death, Glinka met a young Mili Balakirev, whom he encouraged to abandon mathematics for good and devote himself to composing.

In gratitude to his mentor and friend, among his early compositions, Balakirev transcribed for piano a number of Glinka's songs.
The most applauded has been, of course, The Lark.

The piece owes to Glinka, undoubtedly, the exceptionally beautiful and sad melody. To Balakirev, the musical line and drawing.

The rendition is by the pianist Olga Scheps, born in Moscow and based in Germany.