Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country and is often regarded as the fountainhead of Russian classical music. His compositions were an important influence on other Russian composers, notably the members of The Five, who produced a distinctive Russian style of music.
Portrait of Mikhail Glinka by Karl Bryullov, 1840
Glinka in 1856
Ilya Repin's portrait of Glinka was painted thirty years after the composer's death
Grave of Mikhail Glinka in Tikhvin Cemetery in Saint Petersburg
The Five, also known as the Mighty Handful or The Mighty Five, were five prominent 19th-century Russian composers who worked together to create a distinct national style of classical music: Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin. They lived in Saint Petersburg and collaborated from 1856 to 1870.
Vladimir Stasov (1824–1906)