Mirrors of Memory: Liudmila Shestakova and Mikhail Glinka. First Article

Abstract

The article is devoted to the memorial heritage of Liudmila Ivanovna Shestakova (1816–1906), one of Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka’s younger sisters. The correlation of its remembrances of her brother’s character and activities in the late period of his life with his self-evaluation and those forms of self-presentation which he determined for himself as the most effective. The peculiarities of Glinka’s psychological type and their connection with the phenomenon of “the Oblomov syndrome” are analyzed. The attempt is made of finding and substantiating the impelling reasons for the formation  of that ethical position the sister took in regards to her brother. It is assumed that its sources were grounded in the tragic circumstances of Shestakova’s personal fate the force of the impact of which she was able to overcome even many years afterwards. It is proved that Shestakova’s memoirs presented in the article are the result of the sister’s subjective view of the particular features of Glinka’s life and creativity during his final years, frequently presenting him in a “false mirror,” but, nonetheless, in light of the composer’s status which have seriously impacted Glinka studies in Russia during the 19th and the 20th centuries.

Keywords: Liudmila Shestakova, Mikhail Glinka, history of Russian music, Glinka’s biography, Glinka studies in Russia