Overture to "Ruslan and Lyudmila"

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Mikhail Glinka

Mikhail Glinka


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General Info

Year: 1842
Duration: c. 5:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Unknown
Cost: Score and Parts - Unknown


Instrumentation

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Errata

The spelling of the transliteration of the title of Glinka's opera is uncertain. The Encyclopedia Britannica, International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) and Wikipedia prefer Ruslan and Lyudmila. However, some arrangers and publishers have used Russlan and Ludmila.


Program Notes

Ruslan and Lyudmila is an opera in five acts (eight tableaux) composed by Mikhail Glinka between 1837 and 1842. The opera is based on the 1820 poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin, the father of Russian literature. Pushkin's death in the famous duel prevented him from writing the libretto himself as planned.

Today, the best-known music from the opera is its overture, which Glinka is said to have composed in 24 hours. He became the first composer in the classical tradition to incorporate the whole-tone scale.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Unlike Glinka's very successful A Life for the Tsar, the opera Russian and Ludmilla (1837—42) was not a resounding success. The libretto, based on his friend Alexander Pushkin’s fairy tale, had been poorly adapted by various authors until its “wretched completion," as Glinka himself described it. Furthermore, the opera's premiere had been marred by a poor cast. Even with this inauspicious start, the quality of the musical score was undeniable. This became immediately evident to several prominent composers and conductors, including Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz, who conducted later performances. The overture from the opera has especially endured as one of his most popular and has become a staple of the classical concert repertoire.

- Program Note from U.S. Marine Band concert program, 14 December 2016


Media

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State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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  • University of North Texas (Denton) Symphonic Band (Dennis W. Fisher, conductor) – 20 September 2018


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources