Mily Balakirev (Jan. 2, 1837 - May 29, 1910)
Mily Balakirev was a Russian nationalist composer, who also had quite the temper. He was the leading member of "The Five," (aka The Mighty Handful and Mighty Coterie) which was a group devoted to creating a Russian style of music separate from the dependence on European traditions. Even though he was a fine piano player, and a noted composer, the story of Balakirev is filled with being forgotten and not gaining true appreciation.
Born in Nizhny Novgorod, into the family of a minor government official, he started out piano lessons with his mother. By the age of four he was already able to reproduce songs. When he turned 10 his mother took him to Moscow for piano lessons with Alexander Dubuque, a pupil of John Field.
Balakirev's talents did not go unnoticed for long. After the death of his mother he was put in hands of a great pianist, Karl Eisrach, by his patron Alexander Ulybyshev. While here, he was given the opportunity to work with many great pieces. By age 14 he was already conducting Mozart's Requiem. In 1885 Ulybyshev took Balakirev to St. Petersburg to first meet Glinka, a poineer of Russian music. Glinka found his composition style defective, but he saw potential in the young composer and encouraged him to pursue a career in music.
The close deaths of Glinka and Ulybyshev, in 1857 and 1858, left Balakirev without any influential supporters. Although his time with Glinka was short, Balakirev now had adopted a strong sense of Russian nationalism, especially regarding music. He eventually set out to find other, young, composers who shared his same feelings. This group became known as "The Five." Balakirev led this group with an iron fist, as he was the only one with professional musical experience. Since Balakirev started out as a performer on the piano and then used that knowledge to further his composing, he expected the other members to learn composition in this same manner. Eventually it got to the point where members would show him their works and he would sit down at the piano and show them what it "should have sounded like." Needless say composers like Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov started to ignore these teachings and began to write their own way.
At the same time that this was happening, the Free School of Music was also forming in retaliation to criticism that The Five were "amatuers" (which was actually a quite valid at that time). There was already a school like this in Russia, the Russian Musical Society (RMS), but the teacher there, Anton Rubinstein, taught using many German methods. Since The Five were trying to promote distinct Russian music, there were many hard feeling between them and RSM, which lead to the creatation of the Free School of Music. Unlike the RMS, this school didn't charge students anything to go to it. Balakirev raised money for this by conducting concerts featuring modern music, written by composers such as Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Glinka, and The Five.
Over the next 10 years the financial strain of the Free School led Balakirev into depression, and even to resign from his post in 1874. At this point he had started to take a five year break from music. From 1872 until 1876 Balakirev worked as clerk at railway in Warsaw. Luckily he never destroyed any of his manuscripts, though it is said he thought about it often. In 1876 he slowly started to work his way back into the musical world, although missing the energy from his earlier years. He stayed withdrawn from his former circle of composers, although he would send individuals that wished to pursue composition to work with Rimsky-Korsakov, who Balakirev kept some contact with. Balakirev was offered the post of director at a few different schools of music, even the RMS, but eventually decided to resume his post at the Free School once again.
In the years to follow he would finish many great pieces that he started in his much earlier days. In 1882 he finished writing the symphonic poem, Tamara, and revised his symphonic picture, 1,000 Years Later, in the following two years, retitling it Rus. Then between 1885 and 1910 he completed his 1st and 2nd Symphonies, a piano sonata, and two movements of his Second Piano Concerto.
Even though Balakirev was seeming to reemerge as a composer, the story of his life is that he was always underrated and never gained wide popularity. It could be because of his intolerant and assertive nature, or because he took much too long finish pieces. It literally took him decades to finish his First Symphony and Second Piano Concerto. Either way, Balakirev passed away in 1910, due to old age. By this time many of works had been forgotten to the point that there were going to have a concert of his works in 1909, but ended up cancelling it due to lack of support.
Perhaps if we are going remember Balakirev, it might not be for his works, but for teaching The Five. Without him, it's plausibly that we'd never have the Rimsky-Korsakov or Mussorgsky the we know today. The very reason that brought them to fame is actually what held Balakirev back. Since he would take so long to finish a piece, by the time it was being performed other members of The Five had already taken ideas from his pieces and used it themselves. Tamara, which is below, is great example of this. A lot of us have maybe never heard of this, but the piece that drew from this was received much better... Scheherazade, by Rimsky-Korsakov. So thank you Balakirev, without Tamara, we would've never experienced Scheherazade.
The Five -
Balakirev
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