Balakirev, Mily

(Alexeievich), significant Russian composer, leader of the Russian national school, member of the "Mighty Five"; b. Nizhny-Novgorod, Jan. 2, 1837 (new style; Dec. 21, 1836, old style); d. St. Petersburg, May 29, 1910. Balakirev went to Moscow as a teenager to pursue his musical studies. One of this teachers introduced him to an author and owner of an estate in his hometown, where Balakirev played piano in private musical evenings.

In 1853-54 Balakirev attended the University of Kazan to study mathematics, but in 1855, while visiting St. Petersburg, he met Russian composer MIKHAIL GLINKA who encouraged him to pursue his musical interests. In 1856, he made his compositional debut there, playing the solo part in the first movement of his Piano Concerto. Three years later his Overture on the Theme of Three Russian Songs was performed in Moscow, as well as his Overture to King Lear in St. Petersburg.

In 1863, while living in St. Petersburg, Balakirev organized a group known as the Balakirev Circle, to promote Russian national music and to oppose the influence of classical German compositions, which were very popular in Russia at that time. He also founded the Free Music School and gave concerts of Russian and German compositions. At the same time, other patriotic Russian writers and artists were promoting home-grown art.

In 1860 Balakirev took a boat ride down the Volga River from Nizhny-Novgorod to the Caspian Sea delta. While he was traveling, he collected, notated, and harmonized Russian folk songs. His 1866 collection included the ever-popular Song of the Volga Boatmen, also known as Song of the Burlaks (peasants who pulled large grain boats upstream on the Volga).

In 1867 Balakirev organized a concert at his Free Music School of Russian and Czech music that included pieces by ALEXANDER BORODIN, CESAR CUI, MODEST MUSSORGSKY, NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, and himself. A critic who attended this event called this group the "Mighty Five," and the name has become associated in music history with a return to Russian national melodies and rhythms. The Mighty Five were also influenced by Islamic and Asian musical styles. Balakirev became fascinated with the quasi-oriental melodies and rhythms of the Caucasus during several trips there. In 1869 he wrote a brilliant oriental fantasy for piano entitled Islamey; its technical difficulties rival FRANZ LISZT'S études.

In the early 1870s Balakirev began to slow down in his work as a composer, conductor, and teacher. He consistently had trouble completing his scores. In 1872 he discontinued his concerts at the Free Music School. Instead, he took a job with the national railroad and subsequently became an administrator in two women's educational institutions in St. Petersburg.

In 1881 Balakirev returned to musical activities. In 1882 he conducted the premiere of the Symphony No. 1 by the 16-year-old composer ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV. He also revised and completed his earlier scores, including the Second Overture on Russian Themes, renamed Russia (1864-82), the symphonic poem Tamara (1867-82), and the Symphony No. 1 in C Major (1864-97). Balakirev retired from teaching in 1894 and spent his remaining years composing. He composed his Symphony No. 2 in D Minor in 1909 and took up the Second Piano Concerto, which he had begun in 1861, but left it unfinished.

Meanwhile, Balakirev had a falling out with many of his old friends, including Rimsky-Korsakov. From 1890 they would no longer greet each other in public, such was the anger between the two men. However, Rimsky-Korsakov continued to perform Balakirev's music at his concerts.

Balakirev made a tremendous impact on Russian music, particularly because of his conviction that Russia could rival Germany and other nations in the art of music. If his output seems relatively small, it can be attributed to illnesses, among them encephalitis (an inflammation of the brain) and severe depression. Nonetheless, he left powerful and exotically colored works.