Mikhail Glinka

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka was born on 1 June 1804 into a world where Russian stages spoke Italian and French. He changed that. His compositions gave Russian classical music its first widely recognized native voice, a foundation that later composers — particularly The Five — would build into a distinct national style. By the time he died on 15 February 1857, he'd done something rarer than fame: he'd created a lineage.