“Kalinka,” also known as “Kalinka-Malinka,” is a Russian song written by Ivan Petrovich Laryonov in a folk style. It is often mistakenly considered a folk song. A folk-stage dance called “Kalinka” is also performed to the melody of this song.

Ivan Petrovich Laryonov was born on January 23 (February 4) 1830 in Perm and died on April 22 (May 4) 1889 in Saratov. He was a Russian composer, writer, folklorist, musicologist, and choral conductor. Laryonov studied music in Moscow and was raised in the first cadet corps from 1839 to 1848, where he sang in the student choir and later became its regent. After that, he served as an officer in an infantry regiment and during this time wrote several romances.

In 1858, Laryonov retired and settled in Saratov province, where he became a music reviewer for the “Saratov Reference Sheet.” He traveled extensively throughout the Russian Empire, collecting Russian folk songs, and ultimately gathered about four hundred works. “Kalinka” was written in 1860 and was first performed on an amateur stage in Saratov in a play for which Laryonov composed the music. Soon, at the request of the famous singer and creator of the folk song choir Agrenev-Slavyansky, Laryonov transferred the song to his repertoire. The popularity of “Kalinka” began with this choir. The work gained worldwide fame thanks to the arrangement by composer and conductor Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. The Alexandrov Ensemble, which performed this song, suffered a tragic loss in an airplane crash on December 26, 2016.