Alexander Borodin
Alexander Borodin was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 11, 1833. He was trained in the sciences, having attended the Academy of Medicine in St. Petersburg and in 1858 receiving his doctorate in chemistry. He continued after that to devote himself to scientific activities, both in and out of Russia. He produced several significant papers and, from 1859 to 1862, served on an important scientific mission.
He had also received some musical training in his boyhood. In 1862 he began to direct his energies with equal vigor to music as well as to science. He soon joined four colleagues (Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Cui, and Rimsky-Korsakov) in forming a national school of composition henceforth identified as “The Mighty Five” or “The Russian Five.” Like the other members of this group, Borodin concerned himself with the creation of a national Russian musical art, well grounded in Russian folk song and dance, Russian culture and history. In this style he produced three symphonies, the folk opera Prince Igor, two string quartets, and various operas and instrumental compositions. He differed from the other members of the “Russian Five” by his partiality to Oriental melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and instrumental colors, and by his preference for exotic subjects. Borodin died in St. Petersburg on February 27, 1887.
In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880) is a popular tone poem for orchestra, one of several tableaux vivants (“living pictures”) commissioned from various composers to honor the 25th anniversary of the reign of Czar Alexander II. Each tableau vivant was intended to portray an incident from the Russian past, or a picture of a Russian scene. Borodin prepared his own programmatic note to explain his music; it appears in the published score. “Over the uniformly sandy steppes of Central Asia come sounds of a peaceful Russian song. Along with them are heard the melancholy strains of Oriental melodies, then the stamping of approaching horses and camels. A caravan, accompanied by Russian soldiers, traverses the measureless waste. With full trust in its protective escort, it continues its long journey in a carefree mood. Onward the caravan moves. The songs of the Russians and those of the Asiatic natives mingle in common harmony. The refrains curl over the desert and then die away in the distance.”
The peaceful Russian song is given by the clarinet, while the “melancholy strains of Oriental melodies” is an expressive song for English horn. These two melodies are the core of a composition that is free in form.
The Nocturne (Notturno) is a haunting, poetic song for strings, the third movement of the composer’s String Quartet No. 2 in D major (1885). It is often heard apart from the rest of the work, particularly in various transcriptions for orchestra, or for violin and piano. In 1953, furnished with lyrics and adapted into a popular song by Robert Wright and George “Chet” Forrest, it was heard in the Broadway musical Kismet as “This Is My Beloved” and became an outstanding hit.
The Polovtsian Dances come from Prince Igor, a folk opera with libretto by Vladimir Stassov based on an old Russian chronicle. It was introduced at the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg in 1890. The setting is 12th-century Central Asia where a Tartar race, known as the Polovtzi, capture Prince Igor and his son, Vladimir. Though captives, Prince Igor and his son are regaled by the leader of the Tartars with a lavish feast and Oriental dances. It is at this point in the opera (Act 2) that the popular Polovtsian Dances appear. They are exciting aural experiences because of their primitive rhythms, exotic Oriental melodies, and flaming instrumental colors. One of the dances is a poignant melody for flute and oboe; another is a dance of savage men in which the main melody in clarinet is set against a sharply accented phrase of four descending notes; a third is barbaric, a syncopated melody for strings accompanied by crash of cymbals; a fourth is a haunting Oriental song divided by violins and cellos. This last melody was used by Robert Wright and George “Chet” Forrest for their popular song hit of 1953, “Stranger in Paradise,” in their Broadway musical, Kismet. The concluding dance is again in a savage manner. A passionate melody is begun by the woodwind and carried on by the strings, while receiving a vigorous horn accompaniment.