Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
USSR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yevgeny Svetlanov.
I - Andante cantabile (0:00) - Rondo (10:23)
Glinka's Andante cantabile and Rondo was composed circa 1823-4, written while he had an undemanding job in the civil service in St. Petersburg. The piece was never published during Glinka's lifetime, and remained in manuscript among his posthumous papers. It was not until 1955, almost a century after the composer's death, that it was edited and published in Moscow as part of the first volume of the Glinka Complete Edition.
At the time, Glinka became a musical dilettante and came under the influence of Charles Mayer, a former pupil of John Field who had attracted a large following of music students in the Russian capital. Mayer soon befriended the talented young man and encouraged him to compose works and submit them to his critique. It was at this time that Glinka wrote the andante cantabile and rondo, the most substantial piece of the period. These works show the composer's musical development in large forms as well as early preoccupations, such as ornamental counterpoint. The language employed here is a mixture of classical and romantic, with no use of Russian elements yet.
Despite being considered the father of Russian classical music, Glinka was almost completely self-taught, having only taken some piano lessons from his governess and Irish virtuoso John Field. His most important musical experiences came from two quite contradictory quarters: his work with his uncle's serf orchestra, near the family's country estate in Novospasskoye, and his 1823 tour of the Caucasus, ostensibly to cure his many imaginary illnesses, but more importantly to experience the indigenous music and dances of the local Circassian population. From the latter he obtained a lifelong fondness for folk subjects and characters, and from the former he gained a natural expertise in handling the orchestra, an ability which even his detractors have had to concede.
But the importance of his uncle's serf orchestra went beyond that, for they played a rather impressive repertoire that came to serve as the bedrock of Glinka's compositional technique. Overtures by Cherubini and Méhul loomed large in their repertoire, but so did the overtures to Mozart's great operas (less Abduction and Così fan tutte) and Beethoven's Fidelio. Glinka's task, while still a teenager, was to train the peasants to play their parts note-perfectly over a period of weeks. In this way he gained not only a full overview of the music's orchestration, but also a detailed grasp of its form and workmanship. It was an invaluable experience and one comparable, in its way, to Wagner's writing out of the score of Beethoven's Ninth at roughly the same age.
The piece is divided in two main sections. The andante cantabile begins with a deliberate and romantic main theme in D minor, presented by strings with great expression. It is soon taken by clarinet and rest of woodwinds, and then gradually unfolded. After it is reexposed from the beginning, the material is developed in the form of several continuous variations composed of modulations and dramatic alterations of the material. The andante then seamlessly leads to the second section.
The rondo (A-B-A'-C-A''-B''-A'''-Coda) opens with a rhythmic and agitated main theme in D minor, clearly derived from the main theme of the andante and reminiscent of Beethoven. In contrast, the second theme is elegant and graceful, introduced by the clarinet over strings accompaniment. The main material is then forcefully restated, building towards a climax. Then a deeply lyrical third theme is then presented by woodwinds over gentle string arpeggios. The main theme is recapitulated in a varied way, followed by the second in a minor key. A rushing coda then ends the work with a dramatic and passionate gesture.
Picture: "A Turkish Girl" (1837-8) by Russian painter Karl Bryullov.
Musical analysis written by myself. Source: tinyurl.com/26fh9f9g
Unfortunately, the score is not available.
USSR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yevgeny Svetlanov.
I - Andante cantabile (0:00) - Rondo (10:23)
Glinka's Andante cantabile and Rondo was composed circa 1823-4, written while he had an undemanding job in the civil service in St. Petersburg. The piece was never published during Glinka's lifetime, and remained in manuscript among his posthumous papers. It was not until 1955, almost a century after the composer's death, that it was edited and published in Moscow as part of the first volume of the Glinka Complete Edition.
At the time, Glinka became a musical dilettante and came under the influence of Charles Mayer, a former pupil of John Field who had attracted a large following of music students in the Russian capital. Mayer soon befriended the talented young man and encouraged him to compose works and submit them to his critique. It was at this time that Glinka wrote the andante cantabile and rondo, the most substantial piece of the period. These works show the composer's musical development in large forms as well as early preoccupations, such as ornamental counterpoint. The language employed here is a mixture of classical and romantic, with no use of Russian elements yet.
Despite being considered the father of Russian classical music, Glinka was almost completely self-taught, having only taken some piano lessons from his governess and Irish virtuoso John Field. His most important musical experiences came from two quite contradictory quarters: his work with his uncle's serf orchestra, near the family's country estate in Novospasskoye, and his 1823 tour of the Caucasus, ostensibly to cure his many imaginary illnesses, but more importantly to experience the indigenous music and dances of the local Circassian population. From the latter he obtained a lifelong fondness for folk subjects and characters, and from the former he gained a natural expertise in handling the orchestra, an ability which even his detractors have had to concede.
But the importance of his uncle's serf orchestra went beyond that, for they played a rather impressive repertoire that came to serve as the bedrock of Glinka's compositional technique. Overtures by Cherubini and Méhul loomed large in their repertoire, but so did the overtures to Mozart's great operas (less Abduction and Così fan tutte) and Beethoven's Fidelio. Glinka's task, while still a teenager, was to train the peasants to play their parts note-perfectly over a period of weeks. In this way he gained not only a full overview of the music's orchestration, but also a detailed grasp of its form and workmanship. It was an invaluable experience and one comparable, in its way, to Wagner's writing out of the score of Beethoven's Ninth at roughly the same age.
The piece is divided in two main sections. The andante cantabile begins with a deliberate and romantic main theme in D minor, presented by strings with great expression. It is soon taken by clarinet and rest of woodwinds, and then gradually unfolded. After it is reexposed from the beginning, the material is developed in the form of several continuous variations composed of modulations and dramatic alterations of the material. The andante then seamlessly leads to the second section.
The rondo (A-B-A'-C-A''-B''-A'''-Coda) opens with a rhythmic and agitated main theme in D minor, clearly derived from the main theme of the andante and reminiscent of Beethoven. In contrast, the second theme is elegant and graceful, introduced by the clarinet over strings accompaniment. The main material is then forcefully restated, building towards a climax. Then a deeply lyrical third theme is then presented by woodwinds over gentle string arpeggios. The main theme is recapitulated in a varied way, followed by the second in a minor key. A rushing coda then ends the work with a dramatic and passionate gesture.
Picture: "A Turkish Girl" (1837-8) by Russian painter Karl Bryullov.
Musical analysis written by myself. Source: tinyurl.com/26fh9f9g
Unfortunately, the score is not available.
