Alexander Borodin

Great Composers Datebook: November 12

 

Alexander Borodin: Beyond Love for Chemistry  

Brief biography of Russian composer Alexander Borodin, a successful chemical scientist by profession, with equal passion for classical music.One of 'The Five', a group of nationalist Russian composers.

 

Alexander Borodin is famous for his opera Prince Igor which he left unfinished and completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Aleksander Glazunov, first performed in St. Petersburg in 1890.  He is a member of 'The Five' or 'The Mighty Handful'  group of nationalist Russian composers including  Mily Balakirev (leader), Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. 

Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin, Russian composer and chemistry scientist by profession, was born in St. Petersburg on November 12, 1833, the illegitimate son of a prince.  Having been illegitimate, his father, Prince Gedeanov, registered Alexander (or Aleksandr) as the son of one his serfs.  His mother later married a retired army doctor.  

As a youth, Borodin developed parallel interests in music and chemistry, teaching himself cello at the same time qualifying in medical chemistry. His music life was apparently subordinated to his research and his activities as a lecturer at the Medico-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg.  At age 23, he received his doctorate in chemistry.

In 1862, while professor of chemistry at the Academy of Medicine, he began to take lessons from Mily Balakirev, his music mentor.  The following year he  married Ekaterina Protopopova, a pianist.  He began working on his only opera Prince Igor in 1869.  Prince Igor includes ‘Polovstian Dances’ and ‘Maidens’ Dance.’ He worked on it at irregular intervals. The familiar melody of 'Stranger in Paradise' was originally from a segment of the Prince Igor opera called "Polovtsian (or Polovetsian) Dances, Gliding Dance of the Maidens".

From 1872, he lectured on chemistry at the School of Medicine for Women until his death and wrote important treatises on his subject. He worked for nearly 20 years on the opera until his death in 1887.  

To this day, the theatre audience and Borodin admirers recognize a theme from his ‘Polovtsian Dances’ as “Stranger in Paradise” from a popular Broadway musical hit  Kismet during the early 1950s for which Robert Wright and George Forrest converted some of his melodies.  Kismet also contains the popular love song love song “This is My Beloved” which was based on Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D major. The song earned him a Tony Award in 1954, posthumously, 67 years after his death. "And This Is My Beloved" is a the nocturne from the third movement of Borodin's String Quartet in D. The same melody had earlier (1946) been used for a song credited to William Engvick, Bert Reisfeld and Alec Wilder entitled "Spring Magic," which was recorded by Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra.

Listening Pleasure: 

Alexander Borodin Quartet play Borodin String Quartet no. 2 - video 1973. YouTube, uploaded by ADGO. Accessed November 12, 2021. 

Alexander Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia. YouTube, uploaded by Main Line Symphony Orchestra. Accessed November 12, 2021. 

Alexander Borodin - Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances, conducted by Andrzej Kucybała. YouTube, uploaded by Akademia Filmu i Telewizji. Accessed November 12, 2021.

Aleksander Borodin - Symphony No. 2 in B minor. YouTube, uploaded by Philharmonic of Republic of North Macedonia. Conducted by Viktor Mitrevski. Accessed November 12, 2022.  

Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D major. YouTube, uploaded by HarpsichordM. Accessed November 12, 2022. 

Kirov Opera: Alexander Borodin - Prince Igor / Князь Игорь (Part 1). YouTube, uploaded by EuroArtsChannel. Accessed November 12, 2021.

Video Credit: 

Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D major. YouTube, uploaded by Brooklyn Classical. Accessed November 12, 2022.

 

Borodin work includes: 

Symphony No. 1 (1867)

Symphony No. 2 (1876)

String Quartet No. 1 (1879) 

In the Steppes of Central Asia for orchestra (1880)

String Quartet No. 2 (1881)

Symphony No. 3 (1886)  Completed by Glazunov

Opera, Prince Igor, including 'Polovtsian Dances' and 'Maidens' Dance' (Completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov)

Little Suitefor piano

Songs

Chamber music, all using traditional Russian themes.

Such a remarkable man to become a famous composer, at the same time a chemistry scientist by profession. Overworked, Borodin died from a heart attack  at St Petersburg  27 February, 1887.  One wonders what he might have achieved had he devoted all his time to composition or to science.

 

(Note: I wrote this article for Suite101.com, June 10, 2007. / Tel) 

 

Image credit: 

Alexander Borodin.  Public Domain. 

 

Resources:

1. Classical Music, The Great Composers and their Masterworks by John Stanley (1994)

2. The Grove concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie (1994)

 

(c) November 11, 2009. Updated November 11, 2021. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.