Alexander Borodin

Alexander Borodin (1833–1887) was one of the most remarkable figures in nineteenth-century music, a man who was a distinguished research chemist by profession and a great composer only in his spare time. The illegitimate son of a Georgian nobleman, he trained in medicine and chemistry, became a respected professor at the Medico-Surgical Academy in St Petersburg, and made genuine scientific discoveries (he also pioneered medical education for women in Russia). Music he pursued in his spare time, which is why his output is small and several works were left unfinished. Yet he was a central member of ‘The Five’ (or ‘Mighty Handful’), the group of nationalist composers, with Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Cui, who sought to create a distinctively Russian art music. His masterpieces include the opera Prince Igor (with its famous Polovtsian Dances), the symphonic sketch In the Steppes of Central Asia, two superb string quartets and his Second Symphony. His music is marked by broad, heroic melody, rich orchestral colour and an epic, often ‘oriental’ Russian flavour. He died suddenly at fifty-three, with Prince Igor still unfinished; it was completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov.