This composer rarely wrote for the piano, but his 
This composer rarely wrote for the piano, but his compositions for that instrument include a pair of nocturnes titled Separation and Regret. This composer of the Valse Fantasie also created a pair of pieces inspired by Spain, the Jota Aragonesa and Summer Night in Madrid. This man also collected some folk songs from his native land and created the symphonic poem Karmarinskaya. Italian influence can be seen in the arias "O, thou black night" and "O gentle autumn night", which appear in an opera in which Vanya and Antonida mourn the death of Ivan Susanin. For ten points, identify this Russian composer, who preceded The Five and wrote operas like Ruslan and Ludmila and A Life for the Tsar.
This composer rarely wrote for the piano, but his compositions for that instrument include a pair of nocturnes titled Separation and Regret.
Mikhail Ivanovich {Glinka}