Dargomyzhsky, Alexander Sergeyevich

(1813-1869) Russian Nationalist composer of operas and songs. He had a profound effect on the course opera was to take because of his belief that "The music's task...had to consist in the emphasis laid on all shades of spoken intonation, make them more tangible and definite, disclose the words' implication and increase the effect of the actor's ordinary words, pronounced on the stage."