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Mikhail Glinka

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Composer

The Resume

    (June 1, 1804-February 15, 1857)
    Born in Novospaskoye, Russia
    Wrote the operas 'A Life for the Tsar' (1836) and 'Ruslan and Lyudmila' (1842)
    Other works include 'Jota Argonesa' (1845) 'Kamarinskaya' (1848) and 'A Night in Madrid' (1851)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was a hypochondriac with a tendency to be taken in by quacks.
    His rich father pulled strings to get him a job in the foreign office, which he quit to study music in Italy.
    After his marriage broke up, he moved back in with his mother (and later, his sister).
    Although considered 'the father of Russian classical music,' he wrote most of his music while traveling in Western Europe.
    The premier of 'Ruslan and Lyudmila' was a disaster (the critics blasted it, audiences stayed away, and the Tsar walked out before the final curtain) and it was not restaged until 1870, more than a dozen years after Glinka's death.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He spoke six languages: Russian, Polish, German, French, Spanish and Italian.
    He incorporated Russian folksongs into his compositions.
    He anticipated Wagner's use of leitmotif by using recurring themes for specific characters.
    After the premier of his first opera, the Tsar gave him a ring worth 4,000 rubles.
    He influenced later Russian composers, including Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.
    His 'The Patriotic Song' was adopted as the national anthem of Russia (1990-2000).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 119 Votes: 56.30% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 102 Votes: 51.96% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 88.89% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 18 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 98 Votes: 58.16% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 140 Votes: 65.71% Annoying