July Variations – “Group of Five”

“Five Russian composers who marked the history of Russian music in the 19th century”

In last month's "Variations," I introduced the Group of Six, a group of six French composers who championed French Futurist composition in the 20th century.

Today I'm here to talk to you about the "Group of Five." A group of five Russian composers who shaped the history of Russian music in the 19th century.

19th-century Europe is seen as the era of industrialization, revolutions and the culture of transversality that we call multiculturalism.

Peter "the Great," seeking to modernize Russia in the 17th century, implemented Western European thought as a model of progress and imported into Russia the archetypes of industry, science, and culture practiced in Western Europe. This 18th-century paradigm, under the reign of Catherine "the Great," consolidated Western Baroque thought in Eastern Europe, where life was presented as a stage. However, in the early 19th century, this culturality was questioned by some Russian artists who rejected the cultural dominance originating from Italy and Germany. In both literature and music, these defenders of indigenous culture initiated a new wave of Russian artistic expression and became heralds of the return of what was seen as authentic Russian culture.

In the realm of music, two composers were instrumental in this shift. I'm talking about Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) and Aleksandr Dargomyzhsky (1813-1869), who, particularly with the composition of two musical works—"A Life for the Tsar" and "The Stone Guest," respectively—captivated the audience with the fierce Russian nationalist movement against the regime that, for centuries, submerged Russian culture. This patriotic renewal asserts itself as the necessary preservation of Russian cultural memory.

In his compositions, Glinka possesses enormous power of communication through the use of Russian folk melodies and rhythms.

Dargomyzhsky, a faithful transmitter of Glinka's thought, a great admirer of Alexander Pushkin's literary work, and a nationalist in the field of literature, promoted, disseminated, and welcomed into his home the new generation of Russian composers who would usher in this renewal of musical thought. Mily Balakirev (1837-1910) was the first to embrace this revolutionary nationalist mission. Balakirev created the first free nationalist school, within a context of musical training and study centers completely dominated by Western composers. Later, Cesar Cui (1835-1918) joined the movement. While not a great composer, he nevertheless possessed a talent and erudition that enabled him to promote this nationalist movement through the media. Next come Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881), Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) and, in 1862, Alexandr Borodin (1833-1887). The distinguished Group of Five is assembled: Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimssys-Korsakov and Borodin, who, with their examples, infect/influence a set of other names of European composers who defended, also adherents of, their own nationalism, such as Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) in Norway, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) in Finland, Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) in the present-day Czech Republic, Manuel de Falla (1876-1946 in Spain), among many others...

Today , the great thinker and philosopher José Gil defends the urgent need to reformulate the way we preserve cultural memory, in an era in which the globalization of communication encourages the mixing or confusion of cultures.

It is pertinent to question ourselves about the permanence of traditions and their preservation, the root of a people's identity, when, with the exclusion of the Ministry of Culture, political power minimizes the need to defend national culture.

Ludovina Fernandes