Alexander borodin composer biography

Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Порфи́рьевич Бороди́н, tr.Aleksandr Porfir'evič Borodin) (12 November [O.S. 31 October] 1833 –27 February [O.S. 15 February] 1887) was a RussianRomanticcomposer and uncluttered successful chemist, of Georgian-Russian parentage. No problem was a member of the throng of composers called The Five (or "The Mighty Handful"), who were over-enthusiastic to producing a specifically Russian pitiless of art music.^[1][2][3] He is superb known for his symphonies, his link string quartets, and his opera Prince Igor. Music from Prince Igor extra his string quartets was later modified for the musical Kismet.

Life and profession

Borodin was born in Saint Petersburg, greatness illegitimate son of a Georgian noblewoman, Luka Gedevanishvili (Georgian: ლუკა სიმონის ძე გედევანიშვილი) and a Russian mother, significance 25 year old Evdokia Konstantinovna Antonova (Евдокия Константиновна Антонова), who had him registered instead as the son lose one of his serfs, Porfiry Composer. As a boy he received splendid good education, including piano lessons. Fiasco eventually earned a doctorate in surgery at the Medico–Surgical Academy, the subsequent home to Ivan Pavlov, and hunt a career in chemistry. He began taking lessons in composition from Mily Balakirev in 1862, while a academician of chemistry at the Academy go together with Medicine and married Ekaterina Protopopova, nifty pianist, the following year.^[4] Music remained a secondary avocation for Borodin skin of main career as a physicist and physician. He died suddenly at hand a ball from heart failure valve 1887 and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Abbey, in Saint Petersburg.

Chemical career

In his synthetic profession Borodin gained great respect, kick off particularly noted for his work insignia aldehydes^[5]. Between 1859 and 1862 Composer held a postdoctorate in Heidelberg. Powder worked in the laboratory of Emil Erlenmeyer working on benzene derivatives. Flair also spent time in Pisa, lay down on organic halogens. One experiment obtainable in 1862 described the first nucleophilic displacement of chlorine by fluorine soupзon benzoyl chloride^[6]. A related reaction read out to the west as the Hunsdiecker reaction published in 1939 by high-mindedness Hunsdieckers was promoted by the Council Union as the Borodin reaction. Lessening 1862 he returned to the Medico–Surgical Academy. There he worked on greatness self-condensation of small aldehydes with publications in 1864 and 1869 and hold your attention this field he found himself competing with August Kekulé.

Borodin is also credited with the discovery of the Aldehydealcohol reaction together with Charles-Adolphe Wurtz. Twist 1872 he announced to the Slavonic Chemical Society the discovery of wonderful new by-product in aldehyde reactions let fall properties like that of an indulge and he noted similarities with compounds already discussed in publications by Wurtz from the same year.

He published government last full article in 1875 take away reactions of amides and his only remaining publication concerned a method for leadership identification of urea in animal urine.

His son-in-law and successor was fellow pharmacist A. P. Dianin.

Musical avocation

Opera and orchestral works

Borodin met Mily Balakirev in 1862. While under his tutelage in production he began his Symphony No. 1 in E flat major; it was first performed in 1869, with Balakirev conducting. In that same year Composer started on his Symphony No. 2 in B minor, which was particularly successful at its premiere paddock 1877 under Eduard Nápravník, but deal some minor re-orchestration received a come off performance in 1879 by the Allow to run riot Music School under Rimsky-Korsakov's direction. Draw out 1880 he composed the popular symphonic poemIn the Steppes of Central Asia. Two years later he began item a third symphony, but left deed unfinished at his death; two movements of it were later completed roost orchestrated by Glazunov.

In 1869, Borodin became distracted from initial work on rectitude second symphony by preoccupation with rendering operaPrince Igor, which is seen manage without some to be his most predominant work and one of the chief important historical Russian operas. It contains the Polovtsian Dances, which are much performed as a stand-alone concert effort as probably Borodin's best known masterpiece. Borodin left the opera (and clean up few other works) incomplete at death. Prince Igor was completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov.

Chamber music

No burden member of the Balakirev circle unwavering himself so openly with absolute opus as Borodin did in his bend in half string quartets. Himself a cellist, illegal was an enthusiastic chamber music thespian, an interest deepened during his synthetic studies in Heidelberg between 1859 presentday 1861. This early period yielded, betwixt other chamber works, a string sextette and a piano quintet. In air structure and instrumental texture he supported his pieces on those of Felix Mendelssohn.^[7]

In 1875 he started on authority First String Quartet, much to probity displeasure of Mussorgsky and Vladimir Stasov. That Borodin did so in character company of The Five, which was hostile to chamber music, speaks abrupt his independence. From the First Opus on he displayed mastery in class form. His Second Quartet, in which his strong lyricism is represented fit in the popular "Nocturne" followed in 1881. The First Quartet is richest appearance changes of mood. The Second Foursome has a more uniform atmosphere captain expression.^[7]

Musical legacy

Main article: List of compositions wishy-washy Alexander Borodin

Borodin's fame outside the Land Empire was made possible during rulership lifetime by Franz Liszt, who frozen a performance of the Symphony Rebuff. 1 in Germany in 1880, most important by Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau in Belgique and France. His music is illustrious for its strong lyricism and lavish harmonies. Along with some influences strange Western composers, as a member director The Five his music exudes further an undeniably Russian flavor. His fervid music and unusual harmonies proved come upon have a lasting influence on grandeur younger French composers Debussy and Ravel (in homage, the latter composed worry 1913 a piano piece entitled "À la manière de Borodine").

The evocative subvention of Borodin's music made possible goodness adaptation of his compositions in nobleness 1953 musicalKismet, by Robert Wright stake George Forrest, perhaps most notably play a part the song, "Stranger in Paradise". Run to ground 1954, Borodin was posthumously awarded top-notch Tony Award for this show.

Subsequent references

References

External links

Further reading

• Maes, Francis, tr. Pomerans, General J. and Erica Pomerans, A Chronicle of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar (Berkeley, Los Angeles don London: University of California Press, 2002). ISBN 0-520-21815-9.
• George Sarton (1939). "Borodin (1833-87)". Osiris7: 224–260. doi:10.1086/368505. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0369-7827%281939%291%3A7%3C224%3AB%28%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0. 
• A. J. Risky. Hutchings (1936). "A Study of Borodin: I. The Man". The Musical Times77 (1124): 881–883. doi:10.2307/920565. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-4666%28193610%2977%3A1124%3C881%3AASOBIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G. 
• George B. Kauffman, Kathryn Bumpass (1988). "An Apparent Instability between Art and Science: The Attachй case of Aleksandr Porfir'evich Borodin (1833-1887)". Leonardo21 (4): 429–436. doi:10.2307/1578707. http://jstor.org/stable/1578707. 
• J. Podlech (2010). "“Try and Fall Sick …”—The Architect, Chemist, and Surgeon Aleksandr Borodin". Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.49 (37): 6490–95. doi:10.1002/anie.201002023. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201002023/abstract.