Alexander Borodin

Borodin was born in Saint Petersburg, the illegitimate son of a prince who had him registered instead as the son of one of his serfs. He received a good education, including piano lessons, but it was chemistry in which he specialised, and he did not receive any formal lessons in composition until 1863, when he was taught by Mily Balakirev.

In 1869, Balakirev conducted Borodin's first symphony, and in the same year, Borodin started on his second symphony. This new symphony was a failure at its premiere, but Franz Liszt arranged a performance of it in Germany in 1880, and this brought Borodin some fame outside Russia.

Also in 1869, Borodin began work on his opera, Prince Igor, seen by some to be his most significant piece. It contains the Polovtsian Dances, which are often performed as a stand-alone work, and in that form probably constitute his best known composition. Borodin left the opera incomplete at his death, composition being slowed by his heavy workload as a chemist. It was completed posthumously by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov.

Despite being recognised as an accomplished composer, Borodin always earned a living as a chemist, and gained great respect in that field also, being particularly noted for his work on aldehydes. As a result, he was not as prolific a composer as many of his contemporaries, but he did write the popular symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia, two string quartets and a handful of songs and piano pieces. He also started work on a third symphony, but that, also, was incomplete at his death (two movements of it were later completed by Glazunov).

Alexander Porfyrevich Borodin died on February 27, 1887 and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Sound samples

• Polovstian Dances from Prince Igor (.ogg format, 19 secs, 89KB) - possibly Borodin's best known piece