The Composer Glinka

The Composer Glinka (Kompozitor Glinka)
Directed by	Grigori Aleksandrov
Starring	Boris Smirnov Lev Durasov Lyubov Orlova Yuri Lyubimov Georgy Vitsin
Cinematography	Eduard Tisse
Music by	Vladimir Shcherbachov Vissarion Shebalin
Production company	Mosfilm
Release date	1952 (1952)
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Kompozitor Glinka (Russian: Композитор Глинка; English literal translation, Composer Glinka; American release title Man of Music) is a 1952 Soviet biographical film directed by Grigori Aleksandrov.

Plot

The young composer Mikhail Glinka performs his new work at a soiree at earl Vielgorsky's house. However, the public is accustomed to Western music, and reacts coldly to the creation of the composer. This makes him very sad, but soon he decides to go learn the art of music in Italy.

After returning from Italy, he is full of desire to write national Russian opera. Vasily Zhukovsky proposes a subject: a feat of Ivan Susanin. Tsar Nicholas I changes the name of the opera to A Life for the Tsar and assigns a librettist - Baron Rosen. Acquaintance with the future co-author shocked Glinka: Rosen speaks Russian with a noticeable German accent. The premiere was successful, but Glinka was still not entirely happy with the libretto: "False words were written by Rosen".

When Nicholas I learned that Ruslan and Lyudmila was written on Pushkin's subject, he sees it as sedition. The bitter experience of the composer brighten his supporters.

Cast

• Boris Smirnov as Mikhail Glinka
• Lev Durasov as Alexander Pushkin
• Lyubov Orlova as Lyudmila Glinka
• Yury Lyubimov as Alexander Dargomyzhsky
• Georgy Vitsin as Nikolai Gogol
• Konstantin Nassonov as Vasily Zhukovsky
• Igor Litovkin as Alexander Griboyedov
• Andrei Popov as Vladimir Stasov
• Yury Yurovsky as prince Mikhail Vielgorsky
• Sergei Vecheslov as Vladimir Odoevsky
• Svyatoslav Richter as Franz Liszt
• Bella Vinogradova as Giuditta Pasta
• Alexander Sashin-Nikolsky as Dmitry Petrov
• Mikhail Nazvanov as Nicholas I of Russia
• Irina Likso as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
• Pavel Pavlenko as Faddey Bulgarin
• Vladimir Saveliev as Karl Ivanovich
• Faina Shevchenko as wife of Karl Ivanovich
• Rina Zelyonaya as general's wife
• Radner Muratov as the hallway in the theater
• Gennady Yudin as Hector Berlioz
• Anatoly Papanov - adjutant of the Grand Duke
• Sergei Kurilov - Karl Bryullov
• Elena Izmailova - Olga Lanskaya, Odoevsky's wife (no credits)

Awards

1953 Locarno International Film Festival

• Won: Golden Leopard

External links

• Kompozitor Glinka at IMDb