Reinhold Glière
Reinhold Glière was born in Kiev, Russia, on January 11, 1875. He was graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1900. After two years in Berlin, he returned to his native land to become professor of composition at the Kiev Conservatory; from 1914 to 1920 he was its director. After 1920 he was a member of the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory. Glière’s most famous works are his third symphony (named Ilia Mourometz) introduced in Moscow in 1912, and the ballet, The Red Poppy. But he wrote many other works—orchestral, chamber, and vocal, as well as ballets. On two occasions he received the Stalin Prize: in 1948 for his fourth string quartet, and two years later for his ballet, The Bronze Horseman. He died in Moscow on June 23, 1956.
Two excerpts from the Soviet ballet, The Red Poppy, are perhaps the composer’s best known compositions. The ballet was first presented in Moscow on June 14, 1927 with extraordinary success. Its setting is a port in China where coolies are exploited. When a Soviet ship comes to port, its captain falls in love with a Chinese girl, Tai-Hao. She is ultimately killed by the port commander while she is trying to escape from China on the Soviet ship. Her last words urge the Chinese to fight for their liberty, and she points to a red poppy as a symbol of their freedom.
The most celebrated single excerpt from this ballet is the Russian Sailors Dance, for orchestra, with which the third act comes to a whirlwind conclusion. The main melody is a simple Russian tune that appears first in lower strings. It is then subjected to a series of variations, and is permitted to gain momentum through acceleration of tempo and expanding sonorities until an orgiastic climax is reached. Less popular, but still often performed, is the “Dance of the Chinese Girls” from the same ballet. A repeated descending interval leads to an Oriental dance in the pentatonic scale; in this dance percussion instruments and the xylophone are used prominently and with telling effect.