Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) is considered to be the father of modern Russian music, and was the first Russian to have his work performed in the West. His influence is clearly seen in the work of
MilyBalakirev (1837-1910), who played a leading role in the Russian Nationalistic movement of the late 1800's, and notably inspired Borodin, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and to a lesser extent, Tchaikovsky.
A brilliantlylyrical work,
The Lark was first written by
Glinka in 1840, as one of the 12 songs that comprised
. Balakirev later transcribed the song for solo Piano, and thegenius of bothcomposers can be seen in the arrangement.
