2004 Russia...The 200th birth anniversary of M.I.Glinka, a composer.

M.I.Glinka (1804-1857) was a composer and the originator of Russian classical music. He worked in almost all musical genres, in opera mostly. The stamps feature two Glinka's operas, "Life for the Tsar" and "Ruslan and Ludmila". These were the first ones in the classical period of the Russian opera. Two major branches of opera - national musical drama and fairy-tale opera - originate form these two operas. The coupon features facsimile of M.I.Glinka: a hymn "Slav'sya!" from the opera "Life for the Tsar".