Russian Nationalism

Overview

Russian concert music began with Mikhail Glinka, who was rightly revered by the composers of a group known as the Russian Five. These 19th-century composers were musical amateurs, yet they forged a characteristically national style of Russian music that employed Russian folk music and avoided the type of German-style thematic development that dominated western European music. Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Overture is a brilliant example of the best of Russian nationalist concert music in its seamless integration of old Russian hymn melodies, Western technique, and sonata form.