Mily Balakirev

Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev was a central figure in 19th-century Russian music. He was a composer, a pianist, and a conductor.

His primary mission was to promote musical nationalism. This movement sought to create a distinct Russian school of music. He wanted to move away from Western and Southern European influences. Instead, he fused traditional folk music with experimental classical practices. This approach helped establish a unique national identity through sound.

Balakirev's musical development began in his early childhood in Nizhny Novgorod. He was born into a noble family with a long history. His mother, Elizaveta Ivanovna, began giving him piano lessons at age four.

When he was ten, she took him to Moscow for formal lessons. After his mother died in 1847, he studied at the Nizhny Novgorod Noble Institute. A wealthy patron named Alexander Ulybyshev soon discovered his talent. Through Ulybyshev, Balakirev gained access to a vast musical library. He also met the pianist Karl Eisrach, who introduced him to the music of Frédéric Chopin and Mikhail Glinka.

By his mid-teens, Balakirev was already showing professional skill. At age 14, he led a performance of Mozart's Requiem. At age 15, he led rehearsals for Beethoven's First and Eighth Symphonies.

He eventually moved to Saint Petersburg, where he met the composer Mikhail Glinka. While Glinka noted that Balakirev's technical composition skills were still developing, he encouraged him to pursue music professionally. In 1858, Balakirev performed the solo part in Beethoven's Emperor Concerto before the Tsar. Despite these successes, he often lived in extreme poverty. He supported himself by giving as many as nine piano lessons a day.

Balakirev is most famous for leading a group known as The Five.

They were also called The Mighty Handful. This group included Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. For many years, Balakirev was the only professional musician among them. The others were mostly amateurs with limited formal musical education. He acted as their mentor and shared his musical beliefs. He taught them through an empirical approach. This meant they learned by studying existing musical scores to see how problems were solved.

His teaching methods were unique and sometimes controversial. Balakirev vehemently opposed formal academic training. He believed strict schooling was a threat to musical imagination. He argued that composers should learn by the act of creation itself.

However, his leadership could be dictatorial. He often demanded that his students' musical tastes match his own exactly. Rimsky-Korsakov later noted that even slight deviations from Balakirev's preferences were prohibited. While this helped the group find a unified voice, it could also be difficult for individual growth.

As a composer, Balakirev was known for a very slow working pace. This slow speed sometimes prevented his music from reaching its full impact during his lifetime. For example, he began his First Symphony in 1864 but did not finish it until 1897. He also began his Second Symphony in 1900 and completed it in 1908.

In contrast, he composed his oriental fantasy, Islamey, very quickly. This piece remains a popular work for piano virtuosos. Many musical ideas that people associate with Borodin or Rimsky-Korsakov actually originated in Balakirev's own compositions.

Beyond his own group, Balakirev provided vital support to other major composers. He played a significant role in the career of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He provided guidance during the creation of the Romeo and Juliet fantasy-overture in 1868–69. He also assisted with the Manfred Symphony between 1882 and 1885. His influence helped establish the reputations of many musicians both individually and as a collective. Even after he lost much of his influence following a nervous breakdown, his role in defining Russian musical nationalism remained permanent.