Though far from prolific as a composer -- by day he was
a scientist noted for his research on aldehydes --
Alexander Borodin nevertheless earned a secure place in
the history of Russian music. As a creative spirit,
Borodin was the most accomplished of the Russian
nationalists composers. He had a particular gift for
the distinctive stripe of exoticism so evident in his
most frequently performed work, the Polovtsian Dances
from the opera Prince Igor.
The illegitimate son of a Georgian pri...(+)
Though far from prolific as a composer -- by day he was
a scientist noted for his research on aldehydes --
Alexander Borodin nevertheless earned a secure place in
the history of Russian music. As a creative spirit,
Borodin was the most accomplished of the Russian
nationalists composers. He had a particular gift for
the distinctive stripe of exoticism so evident in his
most frequently performed work, the Polovtsian Dances
from the opera Prince Igor.
The illegitimate son of a Georgian prince and a
doctor's wife, Borodin enjoyed a comfortable
upbringing. As a child he learned to play several
instruments and tried his hand at composing, but other
aptitudes directed his formal education. He studied
chemistry at St. Petersburg's Medico-Surgical Academy,
obtaining his doctorate in 1858 and pursuing further
studies in Europe until 1862. Upon his return to
Russia, he became a professor at his alma mater; but
even as an academic career apparently loomed before
him, he maintained a devotion to music.
Under the influence of Mily Balakirev, whom he met in
1862, Borodin became interested in applying elements of
Russian folk music to works for the concert hall and
stage. He joined a circle of like-minded composers --
Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, and Cui --
famously dubbed "The Five" or "The Mighty Handful." The
influence of Balakirev in particular is at once in
evident in the Symphony No. 1 in E flat major (1867).
Borodin began the much craggier Symphony No. 2 in B
minor in 1869, the same year he commenced labor on his
most important work, the opulent four-act opera Prince
Igor. While it took Borodin more than five years to
complete the symphony, work on Prince Igor dragged on
for decades. Borodin, who had in the meantime completed
a number of other works, left the opera unfinished at
the time of his death. It was completed posthumously by
Rimsky-Korsakov, a skillful craftsman and a
particularly apt match for Borodin's colorful musical
character, and Alexander Glazunov. Glazunov also
completed the Symphony No. 3 in A minor, which the
composer had been working on until the time of his
death.
Aside from teaching chemistry and conducting research,
Borodin helped found a series of medical courses for
women in 1872. Such activities, as well as the poor
health that plagued him in the 1880s, drained the
energy that he might have devoted to composition.
Still, as a part-time composer, Borodin jeft a
significant oeuvre: more than a dozen worthy songs,
miscellaneous piano pieces, two string quartets (the
second of which contains a ravishing Nocturne often
performed in an arrangement for string orchestra), and
the popular tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia
(1880). He died while attending a ball in St.
Petersburg on February 27, 1887.
Borodin wrote little enough -- an opera, a couple of
symphonies, a tone poem for orchestra, a couple of
string quartets, a string quintet for chamber
musicians, and a handful of songs for voice and piano
-- and next to nothing of any substance for the piano
alone. The largest of his piano works is the Petite
Suite, seven brief movements composed over a period of
five years, dedicated to the Countess Louise de Merci
d'Argenteau and published in 1885. Following Borodin's
death in 1887, Glazunov edited and orchestrated a
number of his works, including the Petite Suite. In
Borodin's autograph, the score bears the dedication
"Petit poeme d'amour d'une jeune fille" (Little poems
on the love of a young girl). Each movement of the work
also has a brief explanation following it. The
austerely liturgical first "Au couvent" (At the
Convent), "The Church's vows foster thoughts only of
God"; the shyly charming second Intermezzo, "Dreaming
of Society Life"; the grandly joyous "Mazurka I,"
"Thinking only of dancing"; the lyrically romantic
"Mazurka II," "Thinking both of the dance and the
dancer"; the voluptuously lyrical "Reverie" (Dreams),
"Thinking only of the dance"; the sensually chaste
Serenade, "Dreaming of love"; and the closing romantic
Nocturne, "Lulled by the happieness of being in love."
Clearly, Borodin had a specific program for the whole
work, a work that is part dance, part dream, and all
love.
Source: AllMusic
(https://www.allmusic.com/composition/petite-suite-for-
piano-mc0002375472 ).
Although originally composed for Solo Piano, I created
this Interpretation of the "Mazurka" from the Petite
Suite (Mvt. 3) for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).
SHEET MUSIC