Mily Balakirev

He was born at Nizhny-Novgorod[?], and had the advantage as a boy of living with Oulibichev, author of a biography of Mozart, who had a private band, and from whom Balakirev obtained a valuable education in music. At eighteen, after a university course in mathematics, he went to Saint Petersburg, full of national ardour, and there made the acquaintance of Mikhail Glinka. Round him gathered C�sar Cui and others, and in 1862 the Free School of Music[?] was established.

In 1869 Balakirev was appointed director of the imperial chapel and conductor of the Imperial Musical Society[?]. His influence as a conductor, and as an organizer of Russian music, give him the place of a founder of a new movement. His works consist largely of songs and collections of folk songs, but include a symphony (first played in England in 1901), two symphonic poems[?] (Russia and Tamara), and four overtures, besides piano pieces. His orchestral works are generally pieces of programme music[?] in a style developed by Balakirev�s disciples, such as Alexander Borodin and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev died on May 29, 1910 and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg, Russia.