Russian Music / Русская музыка

Photo collage: balalaika, gusli, domra, piano, orchestra, sheet music, accordion and Russian spoons, flyer for Russian opera in Paris

Explore Russian music through its traditional folk instruments, famous composers, operas, Eurovision participation, and more!

Traditional Instruments

Russia at Eurovision

Russia placed first in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 with Dima Bilan's performance of "Believe."

Russia completed in the song contest annually since the contest began in 1994. In 2022, Russia was excluded from the competition following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia has won second place in the competition four times and placed third four times.

Second Place: 

Alsou, "Solo," 2000. 

Dima Bilan, "Never Let You Go," 2006.

Burnovskiye Babushki, "Party for Everybody," 2012.

Polina Gagarina, "A Million Voices," 2015.

Third Place:

t.A.T.u, "Не верь, не бойся," 2003

Serebro, "Song #1," 2007.

Sergey Lazarev, "You Are the Only One," 2016.

Sergey Lazerev, "Scream," 2019.

Russian Classical Music

Some of the world's most famous works of classical music come from Russian composers. 

For the sake of space, there are only ten composers featured below. For each composer below you'll find a list of some of their most famous works including film scores, symphonic compositions, ballets, and operas. These lists are in no way exhaustive, and we encourage you to explore more of their music.

Check out the KU CREES Spotify playlists below:

Russian Opera

Alexander Borodin 1833–1887

Listen to Borodin's "Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances."
large grave marker with bust of Borodin with music notes in the background and a stringed instrument below. 1834-1887

Borodin's grave at Tikhvin Cemetery in St. Petersburg musical notation is themes from "Gliding Dance of the Maidens" from Polovtsian Dances; "Song of the Dark Forest"; and the "Scherzo" theme from Symphony No. 3. Photo by Dolly442 Wikimedia Commons.

portrait of Borodin standing against a white column wearing a dark suit

Portrait of Borodin by Ilya Repin, 1888. Wikimedia Commons.

black and white photograph of a stage with many people in medieval Russian attire, two horses.

A scene from Act II of Borodin's opera Prince Igor. Wikimedia Commons.

Alexander Borodin (1833–1887)

Borodin

In the Steppes of Central Asia (В Средней Азии), 1880. Symphonic poem dedicated to composer Franz Litsz. 

String Quartet No. 1 in A Major, 1874-79.

Symphony No. 1 in E Flat Major, 1875.

Symphony No. 2 in B Minor, 1869-76.

Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, 1887.

Prince Igor (Князь Игорь), 1890

Borodin adapted the libretto from the 12th century epic The Lay of Igor's Campaign (Слово о пълкѹ Игоревѣ). He wrote one other complete opera and two unfinished operas that were never performed.

Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857)

Listen to Glinka's "Symphony on Two Russian Themes in D Minor."

Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857)

painting of Glinka in a robe relaxed on a couch holding sheet music and thinking.

Portrait of Glinka by Ilya Repin. Wikimedia Commons

drawing of bearded man in a red and gold kaftan

1905 costume design for the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila by Ivan Bilibin. Wikimedia Commons

black and white photo of Mikhail Glinka in a dark suit

Photograph of Glinka from 1856. Wikimedia Commons.

Glinka

A Night in Madrid, 1848

Jota Aragonesa, 1845.

Kamarinskaya (камаринская), 1848.

Patriotic Song (Патриотическая песня), 1833. This piano composition served as the basis for Russia's national anthem from 1991 to 2000.

A Life for the Tsar (Жизнь за царя), 1836.

Ruslan and Lyudmila (Руслан и Людмила), 1837-42. Based on the tale by Aleksandr Pushkin.

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)

Listen to Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" and watch the animation for the music from the 1940 Disney classic, Fantasia.

Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)

portrait of Mussorgsky. Disheveled bearded man in a rumpled robe looking off to the left

Portrait of Mussorgsky by Ilya Repin. March of 1881, painted days before Mussorgsky's death. Wikimedia Commons

photo of Modest Mussorgsky in a suit.

Modest Mussorgsky, 1870. Wikimedia Commons.

program cover for Boris Godunov opera. black and white

Program design by Ivan Bilibin for the Sergey Dyagilev 1908 production of Boris Godunov in Paris. Wikimedia Commons.

Mussorgsky

Night on Bald Mountain (Ночь на лысой горе), 1867.

Pictures at an Exhibition (Картинки с выставки), 1874.

Songs and Dances of Death (Песни и пляски смерти), 1875. 

Boris Godunov (Борис Гондунов), 1873.

Khovanshchina (Хованщина), 1880.

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Listen to a selection of the best of Prokofiev.

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

 

Black and white photo of Prokofiev standing up, leading on a chair looking directly into the camera

Photo of Sergei Prokofiev circa 1918. Wikimedia Commons.

black and white pencil drawing of Prokofiev

1921 drawing of Prokofiev by French artist Henri Matisse. Wikimedia Commons.

Walt Disney's Peter and the Wolf. Cartoon of a boy smiling holding a cork gun riding on an angry gray wolf tied with rope on its mouth. bird in a Russian ushanka hat flying nearby.

Disney's 1946 film of Peter and the Wolf. Photo by The Walt Disney Company - IMDB: Peter and the Wolf (1946), Fair use, Wikimedia Commons.

Prokofiev's major works

Prokofiev wrote 9 ballets and 14 operas in his lifetime. Below are simply the most well-known. 

Ballet

Cinderella, 1944

Romeo and Juliet, 1935 

Opera

The Love for Three Oranges (L'amour des trois oranges), 1921

Prokofiev wrote the libretto for this opera in French. He based the work on the Italian opera of the same name. It debuted in Chicago in 1921 with Prokofiev himself conducting. The director of the Chicago Opera commissioned an opera from Prokofiev following his first visit to the United States in 1918.

War and Peace (Война и мир), 1941-52.

The opera is based on Leo Tolstoy's novel of the same name. Mira Mendelson wrote the libretto (Russian) for the opera. The opera is divided into thirteen scenes, the first seven devoted to peace and the last six to war.

Aleksandr Nevsky (Александр Невский), 1938. Film directed by Sergei Eisenstein.

Ivan the Terrible (Иван Грозный), 19. Two films, Ivan the Terrible Part 1 (1945) and Ivan the Terrible Part 2 (1958) both directed by Sergei Eisenstein. 

Lieutenant Kijé, (Поручик Киже),1934. Prokofiev's first commission and first attempt at composing music for film.

Queen of Spades (Пиковая Дама), 1936. The film was planned but never released.

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Listen to a selection of the best of Rachmaninoff.

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

statue of Rachmaninoff in a park at night

Monument to Rachmaninoff in Velikii Novgorod. Adobe Stock Education License.

piano keyboard showing hand reach of a regular person (8 notes), a professional pianist (10 notes), and rachmaninoff (13 notes)

According to History of Music, a regular person can usually reach 8 or 9 notes (black), a professional pianist 10 or 11 (blue). "Rachmaninoff could easily reach 13 (red), while also playing notes in-between with his 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers."

black and white photograph of Rachmaninoff playing a Steinway piano

Rachmaninoff playing the piano. Wikimedia Commons

Rachmaninoff

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)

Listen to Rimsky-Korsakov's famous work "Flight of the Bumblebee" from act 3 tableau 1 of his opera the Tale of Tsar Saltan.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)

painting of Rimsky-Korsakov at a desk looking over sheet music wearing glasses and a dark suit

Portrait of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov by Valentin Serov (1898). Wikimedia Commons

painting of a decadent room with lots of greens and golds. people in Arab costume in the room, some armed with swords, women fleeing in fright.

Leon Baskt's set design for the Balet Rus production of "Scheherazade" 1917. Wikimedia Commons.

black and white photograph of Rimsky-Korsakov

Photograph of Rimsky-Korsakov. Wikimedia Commons.

Rimsky-Korsakov

Capriccio Espagnol, 1887.

Russian Easter Festival Overture (Светлый праздник), 1888.

Scheherazade, 1888.

Symphony No. 2 Antar, 1868.

Trombone Concerto, 1877.

The Golden Cockrel (Золотой петушок), 1907.

Sadko(Садко), 1896.

The Tale of Tsar Saltan (Сказка о царе Салтане), 1900.

Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)

Watch a performance of Scriabin's "Promethius" performed with a color to recreate the light organ (clavier à lumières) that the composer invented for this piece of music.

Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)

black and white photograph of scriabin

Photograph of Scriabin. Wikimedia Commons.

piano keyboard. each key is a different color.

Corresponding colors for Scriabin's light organ created for "Promethius." Wikimedia Commons.

circle of fifths. each key is a different color.

Keys arranged in a circle of fifths in order to depict the relationship with the visible spectrum in Scriabin's synesthesia. Wikimedia Commons

Scriabin

m

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Listen to a selection of the best of Shostakovich.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Bronze statue of Dmitri Shostakovich in in front of a building and some trees.

Bronze statue of Dmitri Shostakovich in Samara, Russia. Adobe Stock Educational License.

black and white photograph of Dmitri Shostakovich in a suit and dark rimmed glasses

Dmitri Shostakovich. Wikimedia Commons.

Time Magazine. July 20, 1942. The Weekly Magazine. Volume XL Number 3. Fireman Shostakovich. Painting of Dmitri Shostakovich in profile wearing dark rimmed glasses and a Leningrad firefighter's helmet. flaming cityscape in the background.

Dmitri Shostakovich on the cover of Time Magazine in 1942. Wikimedia Commons.

Shostakovich

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Леди Макбет Мценского уезда), 1934. Based on the 1865 novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov.

The Nose (Нос), 1928. Based on the 1836 short story by Nikolai Gogol.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

Watch Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," a ballet from that incited a riot at its debut in 1913.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

Black and white photograph of Igor Stravinsky in a dark suit with sheet music in front of him

Igor Stravinsky. Wikimedia Commons

Tile: red star on black background. small image of a condensor microphone. name: Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky received a star on Hollywood Boulevard in 1960. He is the only classical composer to have a star on the iconic street. Photo through Adobe Education License.

Time the weekly magazine. Igor Stravinsky. Drawing of Stravinsky's head in the foreground and a piano keyboard behind him. some keys are cracked. drawing of a firebird, bear, and man in traditional Russian clothing in the background.

Igor Stravinsky on the cover of Time Magazine in 1948. Wikimedia Commons

Stravinsky

Agon (Агон), 1954-57 ballet.

Apollo (Аполлон), 1928 ballet

The Firebird (Жар-птица), 1910 ballet.

Oedipus Rex (Царь Эдип), 1927 opera.

Petrushka (Петрушка), 1911 ballet.

The Rake’s Progress (Похождение повесы), 1947-51 opera.

The Rite of Spring (Весна священная), 1913 ballet.

Petr Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Listen to Petr Ilych Tchaikovsky's famous music for the ballet Swan Lake of 1875-6.

Petr Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

 

monument of Tchaikovsky sitting on a bench reading a book in his left hand, holding his hat in his right hand

Monument to composer Tchaikovsky in the town of Klin, Russia. Adobe Stock Education License.

Black and white photograph of Petr Tchaikovsky

Photograph of Tchaikovsky. Wikimedia Commons

four stamps with scenes from the nutcracker ballet. 10 rubles, 25 rubles. 1992

A set of stamps from 1992 in honor of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker

Tchaikovsky's major works

Tchaikovsky composed 10 operas in his lifetime. Both of his two most famous operas are based on works by Russian author Aleksandr Pushkin:

Evgeny Onegin (Евгений Онегин), 1878

Queen of Spades (Пиковая дама), 1890

Russian Music Activities

Russian Musical Instruments Word Search Puzzle (printable version here)

Russian Musical Instruments Crossword Puzzle (printable version here)

Russian Musical Instruments Brain Teaser Game

All images on its page are licensed through Adobe Stock, Canva, and Wikimedia Commons