Page:The Russian Review Volume 1.djvu/46

32 years after his death that his great work was staged for the first time.

And the immortal Glinka? He died fifty-eight years ago, and as yet his marvelous opera, "Rouslan and Ludmila," is practically unknown outside of Russia. And some think that any act of this magnificent opera has more of the true spirit of music than most of the fashionable operas that flash like rockets across the sky of music and disappear into oblivion. "Boris Godounov" has, at last, gained recognition, but "Rouslan and Ludmila", although superior to it, is still awaiting a hearing in the West.

Koltzov, who of all Russian poets has given perhaps the best expression of the national soul of Russia, wrote a charming poem, which Rimsky-Korsakov set to music.

Charmed by a rose's radiance bright, The nightingale sings day and night, Yet silent hears his lay the rose. A singer, thus, upon his lyre, Before a maid pours out his fire; And yet the maiden never knows To whom he sings, and why his lay Is ever sad, and sad alway.

Like the nightingale, like the poet, the Russian composers sing long, long before they are understood and welcomed. A commercial age encounters even more difficulty than the "Maiden" in understanding the subject of Russian music, because the music of Russia is almost, if not entirely, free from the sensual element. It is truly spiritual.

Russian vocal music is not suited to mechanical reproduction. It must be heard as a living thing, from a living artist. It is the offspring of the song of the long-suffering Russian people. And whoever knows the Russian songs will understand why Russian music is so truthful, so sincere, so heart-felt, so humanly appealing. It is possible that, in the future, this music is destined not only to bathe in the sunlight of glory and success, but also to exert a tremendous influence upon the spiritual and moral tenor of our social life.

Russian music does not strive to please, to cater to the popular taste; its aim is to educate. Like the truthful historian, it tells the story of the Russian people, of its life, its beliefs, its sufferings, its love, and its spiritual might.