Aleksandr Borodin
(born Oct. 31 [Nov. 12, New Style], 1833,
St. Petersburg
, Russia?died Feb. 15 [Feb. 27], 1887, St. Petersburg) was a major Russian nationalist composer of the 19th century. He was also a notable scientist for his research on aldehydes.
Borodin’s father was a Georgian prince and his mother an army doctor’s wife, and he was reared in comfortable circumstances. His gift for languages and
music
was evident early on, and as a schoolboy he learned to play the piano, flute, and cello and to compose music. From 1850 to 1856 he studied at the Medico-Surgical Academy, specializing in chemistry, and received a doctorate in 1858. From 1859 to 1862 he studied in western Europe. On his return to
Russia
he became
adjunct
professor of chemistry at the Medico-Surgical Academy and full professor in 1864. From this period dates his first major work, the
Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major
(1862?67), written as a result of his acquaintance with
Mily Balakirev
, of whose circle (
The Five
) he was a member, along with
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
,
Modest Mussorgsky
, and
Cesar Cui
. Borodin began his
Symphony No. 2 in B Minor
in 1869, when he also began work on his operatic masterpiece,
Prince Igor
(completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov and
Aleksandr Glazunov
). Act II of
Prince Igor
contains the often-played
“Polovtsian Dances.”
He also found time to write two string quartets, a dozen remarkable songs, the unfinished
Symphony No. 3 in A Minor,
and his
tone poem
In the Steppes of Central Asia
.
Britannica Quiz
Faces of Science
Borodin’s
musical
work was never more than relaxation from his scientific work. In addition to his research and teaching, he helped found medical courses for women in 1872. In the 1880s pressures of work and ill health left him little time for
composition
. He died suddenly while at a ball.
Borodin’s
compositions
place him in the front rank of Russian composers. He had a strong lyric vein but also was noted for his handling of heroic subjects. He had an unusually fine rhythmic sense and excelled in the use of orchestral colour and in the evocation of distant places. In his symphonies and string quartets?among the finest of the
Romantic
era?he developed a formal structure in which the musical material of a movement was derived from a single initial motif. His melodies reflect the character of Russian folk melodies, and like other composers of the Russian national school he used striking harmonies unconventional in western European music.