Miliy Alekseevich Balakirev(January 2, 1837 - May 29, 1910), Russian composer, pianist, conductor, head of the “Mighty Handful”.
The enormous role of M. A. Balakirev in the history of Russian culture is well known, and yet his significance remains not fully appreciated. Perhaps this is due to the fact that he evoked a complex and ambiguous attitude towards himself from his contemporaries - both through his creativity and social activities.
“In Balakirev I always felt two people: one - a charming and cheerful interlocutor, ready to tell a not entirely decent joke; the other is some kind of schismatic abbot, despotically demanding, even cruel, capable of completely unexpectedly offending a person who is friendly towards him,” recalled M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov.
Being in the spotlight cultural life or going into the shadows, he never compromised with the opinion of society - even in contradiction with it. In silence and solitude, he continued to do the same as at the height of fame - to serve art, sacrificing everything else: health, personal life, friendship of close people, good opinion of fellow musicians. Balakirev is one of the most tragic figures in the history of Russian musical culture of the 19th century.
His life was long and covered several periods in the history of Russian musical culture. While still a young man (at the age of 19), A.D. Ulybyshev brought Balakirev to the Christmas tree with Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, who immediately predicted a “brilliant musical future” for him. Later, he even gave him the theme of the Spanish march, for which he composed the Overture. And at the end of his life, fate brought him into contact with Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov, who conducted the symphonic poem “Tamara” in 1905. For more than half a century, he communicated with various outstanding musicians of Russia and Europe, in every possible way contributing to the prosperity of true art.
He was born in Nizhny Novgorod December 21, 1836 in the family of an official. He received initial musical knowledge from his mother, later he studied with K.K. Eisrich and took individual lessons from various musicians, including A. Dubuk, but he mainly owed his musical education to himself. Eisrich introduced him to the house of A.D. Ulybyshev, a lover and connoisseur of music who wrote a monograph on Mozart. With him, Balakirev participated in musical evenings and studied music literature.
In 1853, he moved to Kazan and enrolled as a student at the University in physics. Faculty of Mathematics, however, two years later he left there for St. Petersburg. IN northern capital Balakirev quickly became close to a circle of musicians - M. I. Glinka, A. S. Dargomyzhsky, A. N. Serov, V. V. Stasov, and also S. Monyushko. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, a circle formed around him, which was later called the “Mighty Handful.”
This name first appeared in 1867 in Stasov’s article “Slavic Concert of Mr. Balakirev”, which contains the following lines: “God grant that our Slavic guests forever retain the memory of how much poetry, feeling, talent and skill the little but already a mighty group of Russian musicians.” The circle itself called itself the “New Russian School”.
After active creative life In the 1860s, a severe crisis began that lasted almost the entire decade. During these years, Balakirev almost completely abandoned communication with his former friends and from creative activities, for a short time he even became an official in the Store Department of the Warsaw Railway. Second period creative activity The composer's era came in the 1880-1900s. Until the last years of his life, he was actively involved in creative, social and performing activities.
These are the most significant milestones in his biography. But how to describe how much mental strength and did Balakirev put inner fire into his works? All his life he burned with a bright fire, awakening ebullient creative energy in others. His era - the time when he fully and happily revealed the potential of his creative talent - was the 1860s. At this time, after Nicholas I left the throne, art was perceived as a means to improve the life of society. Subsequently, these ideas faded into the background, but for Balakirev they always remained significant.
He devoted most of his life to active musical and social activities, which did not always find an appropriate response from his contemporaries. His most important and difficult undertaking was the creation in 1862, together with G. Ya. Lomakin, of the Free music school(BMSH), the goals for which were the same as for the Russian Musical Society (RMS) - training of Russian musicians and availability of appropriate education for everyone.
In addition to Balakirev, from 1873 to 1882 the BMS was headed by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, and from 1908 by S. M. Lyapunov. After October Revolution she ceased to exist.
However, the opening of the St. Petersburg Conservatory by A. G. Rubinstein in the same year on the basis of the Russian Musical Society diverted public attention from Balakirev’s noble undertaking and contributed to the emergence of two parties in it - adherents of the ideas of Balakirev and Rubinstein. Balakirev himself had a very ambivalent attitude towards Rubinstein’s undertaking. The main objection to the conservatory was that a standardized music education should, in his opinion, kill the individuality of students. With his friends, he sneered at Rubinstein, calling him Dubinstein, Tupinstein and even Grubinstein. However, perhaps this was also due to personal resentment for his own initiative - the BMS, which, being aimed at the same goals, did not attract such attention from either patrons or the public.
Difficulties in the affairs of the BMS were largely the cause of the crisis that befell Balakirev in the 1870s. At the same time, over time negative attitude to RMO it was smoothed out. In 1871, he approved of Rimsky-Korsakov's decision to work at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Although Rimsky-Korsakov believed that Balakirev had the selfish intention of “inducting his own into a conservatory hostile to him.” Nevertheless, Balakirev respected his knowledge of harmony and counterpoint and sent to him those of his students who needed consistent study these items. This is how young A.K. Glazunov came to Rimsky-Korsakov in 1879. And in 1878, the Moscow branch of the RMO even invited Balakirev to take the place of P.I. Tchaikovsky, who had left the Conservatory by that time. He did not accept the offer, but was touched by it.
In addition to the BMS, in the 1870s Balakirev was actively involved in teaching and inspectorate activities in women's institutes. From 1873 he was an inspector of music classes at the women's Mariinsky Institute, and from 1875 - at the St. Elena. Finally, from 1883 to 1894 he was the manager of the Court Singing Chapel, after which he retired.
Pedagogical activity accompanied Balakirev throughout his life. He trained a galaxy of composers who made up an entire era of Russian music. It was around him that the most talented composers of his time united in the “New Russian School” - Caesar Antonovich Cui (familiar with Balakirev since 1856), Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (from 1857), Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (from 1861), Alexander Porfirievich Borodin (from 1862 ), as well as A. S. Gussakovsky (from 1857, after 1862 he retired from the circle) and N. N. Lodyzhensky (from 1866).
Music critics and public figures A.N. Serov and V.V. Stasov also joined the circle (both from 1856, however, by 1859 the relations of Balakirev and Cui with Serov were hopelessly damaged). However, Balakirev was not a teacher in the usual sense of the word. The “New Russian School” was a friendly circle where Balakirev was perceived as an older and more educated comrade. Not without humor, he wrote about the circle meetings, for example, the following: “Our entire company lives as before. Mussorgsky now looks cheerful and proud, they wrote the Allegro - and thinks that he has already done a lot for art in general and Russian art in particular. Now every Wednesday I have a meeting of all Russian composers, our new (if anyone composes) works and generally good works by Beethoven, Glinka, Schumann, Schubert and so on are played.” (letter to A.P. Zakharyina dated December 31, 1860, quoted from: M.A. Balakirev. Chronicle of Life and Creativity).
The playing of works (both their own and those of others) was accompanied by their detailed analysis. Stasov recalled that at the meetings of the circle, “everyone gathered in a crowd around the piano, where either M.A. Balakirev or Mussorgsky accompanied them as the most powerful pianists of the circle, and then testing, criticism, weighing of advantages and disadvantages, attack and defense immediately took place.”
Every young man who came to the circle again felt the irresistible charm of Balakirev’s personality and his amazing ability ignite the fire of inspiration in people. Rimsky-Korsakov recalled that “From the first meeting, Balakirev made a huge impression on me. He demanded that I start composing a symphony. I was delighted." Mussorgsky wrote to Balakirev: “You were very good at pushing me while I was dozing.” And E. S. Borodina said that “The fruits of (Borodin’s) newly established acquaintance with Balakirev were felt in a fabulous way in terms of strength and speed. Already in December he played me almost the entire first Allegro of his symphony in Es major.”
But not everything was rosy. Very soon the members of the circle realized the despotism of their older friend, his unshakable conviction that he was absolutely right and his desire to actively participate in all the details of their creative process. He told Rimsky-Korsakov: “You can believe in my critical ability and in the ability of musical understanding, but let my opinions not be immutable for you.”
However, Balakirev’s intervention in literally every bar, every note of the barely emerging works of young composers gradually became painful for them. In 1861, Mussorgsky wrote to Balakirev: “As for the fact that I get stuck and have to be pulled out, I’ll say one thing - if I have talent, I won’t get stuck. It’s time to stop seeing me as a child who needs to be led so that he doesn’t fall.”
By the end of the 1860s, the circle gradually began to disintegrate - the chicks fledged and gradually flew further and further from the nest. Balakirev became lonely and a creative crisis set in. Subsequently, he had other students, but only after for many years, in 1884, he met Sergei Mikhailovich Lyapunov, who became his only completely devoted and faithful student, who continued the traditions of Balakirev’s music in his work.
Of great importance in Balakirev’s life was his performing activity, which he was engaged in from his youth until the last years of his life. Having become acquainted with the capabilities of the piano from the age of four, by the age of eighteen he was already an established virtuoso pianist, “the pianists who came to Kazan - Seymour Schiff and Anton Kontsky - treated him as a colleague.”
In a letter to Rostislav, published in “Northern Bee” (No. 290), A.D. Ulybyshev recommended Balakirev as a virtuoso: “He should listen once to a large piece performed by an orchestra in order to convey it without notes in all accuracy on the piano. He reads all kinds of music and, accompanying the singing, immediately translates the aria or duet into another tone, whatever he wants.”
In the second half of his life, Balakirev was recognized as a pianist not only in Russia, but also abroad, in particular in Poland. In 1894, his last public concert took place there, dedicated to his beloved composer, Chopin, in connection with the opening of a monument to him. This was the time when political relations Russia and Poland were aggravated, and friends dissuaded Balakirev from going there. He was “scared both by the fact that the hall would be empty and by the fact that they could arrange a demonstration for him as a Russian, a patriot. But Balakirev was not afraid, he went, and the concert took place. All of Polish Warsaw was in Zelazowa Wola. Balakirev can never talk about this without emotion. This was his last appearance in front of the public, he never played again.”
Balakirev also picked up the conductor's baton with young age. Already at the age of 15, he made his debut with Beethoven's Eighth Symphony in a concert in Nizhny Novgorod, replacing his teacher Karl Eisrich who had left. However, as he later recalled, at that time “He didn’t even know in which direction the beats of the bar were pointed with a stick.”
Later he became a major, recognized conductor. After the founding of the Free Music School (FMS) in 1862, he conducted concerts for it and for its benefit (since 1863). In 1866-1867, Balakirev was invited to Prague to stage Glinka's operas. The matter was not without misunderstandings; in a letter to L.I. Shestakova, he indignantly wrote that “The local vile conductors decided to lose the clavier of “Ruslan” somewhere, it’s good that, to the surprise of everyone, I accompanied the entire opera from memory.”
In 1868, the directorate of the Russian Musical Society entrusted him with the management of its concerts (10 concerts in total). Starting from the next season, Balakirev increased the number of concerts of the Free Music School, but for a long time he could not compete with the Russian Musical Society. A year later, he was replaced by E. F. Napravnik, and this caused a great resonance in the press, in particular, an article by P. I. Tchaikovsky “A Voice from the Moscow Musical World” was published expressing protest about this. This event became one of the reasons for the severe crisis that befell the composer in the 1870s.
In 1872, the last of the announced RMO concerts could no longer take place. The distressed Balakirev also left the Free Music School in 1874. Rimsky-Korsakov was elected its director. The failures ended with an unsuccessful concert in Nizhny Novgorod. The dejected Balakirev was close to suicide. Needing funds not only for himself, but also for his sisters, who were left in his care after the death of his father, he entered the service of the Store Administration of the Warsaw Railway and began again giving music lessons. He moved away from his musical friends, avoided society, became unsociable, became very religious, and began to perform rituals that he had previously denied.
Later he returned to active conducting work, including abroad. In 1899, Balakirev was invited to Berlin to conduct a symphony concert of Glinka's works in honor of the opening memorial plaque at the house where he died. Later, due to health reasons, Balakirev retired from conducting.
Balakirev did not write many works during his life. The composer's creative inactivity often surprised his contemporaries - after all, it was he who stimulated the creative energy of his friends, condemned them for laziness, and created so little himself. However, the reason for this was not laziness at all, but something else. Balakirev was a man with demanding and impeccable taste. In any music he immediately sensed something new or banal, something new or a repetition of old cliches. From himself, as well as from his friends, he demanded only something new, original, and individual. This is the secret of his excessively detailed intervention in the creative process of his associates. But he was no less demanding of himself. Each note written was subjected to the most severe criticism of the author's inner ear - and did not always pass it. As a result, works could take decades to create. Most shining example- First symphony. Back in the 1860s, he encouraged all his friends to create a symphony, considering it the pinnacle of the genre system. He began his own symphony in 1864 and finished it in 1897.
When Glinka, at the end of his life, gave Balakirev the theme of a Spanish march for his future overture, he thereby appointed him as his successor. Indeed, Balakirev inherited a lot from his older contemporary, and in particular a colossal breadth of interests and creative ideas, but his own way was quite original. One of the most important principles of Balakirev’s work was not to repeat - neither the music of other composers, nor himself. Each of his compositions was unique.
Balakirev was the only composer of The Mighty Handful who never wrote an opera. The idea for an operatic work called “The Firebird” was never realized. Balakirev's only work for the theater is music for Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear", which includes an overture, symphonic intermissions and other numbers for orchestra. In general, Balakirev’s largest creations were works for symphony orchestra. In addition to two symphonies, this includes various overtures: on the theme of the Spanish march, given to the author Glinka (1857, 2nd edition 1886), on themes of three Russian songs (1858, 2nd edition 1881), Czech overture (written under the impression of a trip to Prague, 1867, 2nd edition 1905). Here you can also find the symphonic poems “Rus” (originally the musical picture “1000 Years”, 1864, 2nd edition 1887, 1907), “Tamara” (1882) and Suite in three parts(1901-1909, completed by S. M. Lyapunov).
As a concert pianist, he composed many works involving the piano. Of these, two piano concertos (1st 1855, 2nd 1862-1910, completed by S. M. Lyapunov), Octet (1856), as well as just piano ones - among them the fantasy “Islamey” (as well as “ Tamara”, associated with impressions from trips to the Caucasus in the 1860s, 1869), sonata (1905), many piano miniatures, transcriptions and arrangements of vocal and symphonic music, etc.
Balakirev’s work in the Court Chapel was associated with the creation of choral music - arrangements for choir Acapella Glinka's romances and Chopin's mazurkas. In addition, throughout his life Balakirev created many romances for voice with piano or orchestra (“Georgian Song”, 1863).
Balakirev made a great contribution to the history of collecting and recording folk songs. After a trip along the Volga, specially undertaken to record folk songs, Balakirev published a collection of “40 Russian folk songs for voice and piano” (1866), which had a great public response. Later, the composer was offered to participate in the commission for the compilation and publication of Russian folk songs collected by the expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society. The result of this work was the publication of the collection “30 Russian folk songs for piano 4 hands” (1898). In his work, Balakirev often turned to authentic Russian melodies, and with this he continued in music the traditions laid down by Glinka’s “Kamarinskaya”.
Of particular importance in creative activity Balakirev had his editorial work. Beginning in the 1860s, she accompanied Balakirev throughout creative path. Probably, if we compare the number of editorial and original works of the composer, there will be almost more of the former. This includes work with the emerging music of close friends and students (Cui, Lyapunov, etc.), and editions of works by composers who have already passed away (such as Berlioz and Chopin). This includes simple transcriptions of symphonic works for piano (2 or 4 hands), and creative reinterpretations of existing works by other authors (this includes various piano transcriptions, concert arrangements, and others).
Back in 1877, M. I. Glinka’s sister L. I. Shestakova asked Balakirev to edit and publish Glinka’s opera scores at her expense. By the end of 1878, the score of the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was published, and in 1881, “A Life for the Tsar,” edited by M. A. Balakirev, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and A. K. Lyadov. At the same time, he was engaged in editing and proofreading other works by Glinka, published in various publishing houses. Work with Glinka’s music reached its logical conclusion at the end of Balakirev’s life - since 1902 he actively participated in the editing and publication Full meeting Glinka's works. As for Chopin, work with his music has remained in the shadows, but it is no less important.
It is little known that it was Balakirev who became the editor of the world's first Collected Works of Chopin, published in Russia in the edition of Stellovsky in 1861-1864. Later he also worked on editorial various works Chopin and crowned his creative biography two large-scale works related to Chopin's work - a re-instrumentation of the First Piano Concerto in 1909, and an orchestral Suite from his own works in 1910.
In the last period, Balakirev was surrounded by musical youth, but the most dear person to him during these years was S. Lyapunov. According to his will, Lyapunov completed a number of unfinished works by the composer, including the concerto in E-flat major. Balakirev died on May 16, 1910.
Balakirev was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
(December 21, 1836, old style) in Nizhny Novgorod. He was a hereditary nobleman, the Balakirev family has been known since mid-XIV century. He received his first piano lessons from his mother Elizaveta Yasherova, and in the summer of 1846 in Moscow he studied with the pianist and composer Alexander Dubuc, a student of the Irish composer John Field.
In 1883-1895, Balakirev was the manager of the St. Petersburg court chapel, where he improved the repertoire and performance. He raised the teaching of singing and music theory to professional level and introduced instrumental classes. The most gifted students of the chapel formed a musical circle around their leader. Balakirev was also the center of the so-called Weimar circle.
He edited the early works of Mussorgsky, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov, and together with the latter he prepared for publication the scores of Glinka’s operas “A Life for the Tsar” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, and works by Frederic Chopin.
In the second half of the 1860s, Balakirev staged Glinka’s operas “A Life for the Tsar” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila” in Prague.
In 1894, on his initiative, a monument to Chopin was erected in Zelazowa Wola (Chopin’s birthplace), and he publicly performed works by this composer there and in Warsaw.
From the early 1880s, he was the censor of sacred and musical works. Balakirev's spiritual and musical heritage amounted to 11 completed works, mainly intended for performance during worship.
Balakirev created two symphonies (1897, 1908); three overtures, including Overture on Themes of Three Russian Songs (1858); symphonic poems "Rus" ("1000 years", 1862), "In the Czech Republic" (1867), "Tamara" (1882). He wrote the music for Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear" (1861); two concertos for piano and orchestra; fantasy "Islamey" (1869); Cantata for the opening of the Glinka monument in St. Petersburg (1904); pieces for piano.
Balakirev is the author of 40 romances. The composer set to music the poems “The Cliff” and “When the Yellowing Field is Worried” by Mikhail Lermontov, “I Came to You with Greetings” and “Whisper, Timid Breath” by Afanasy Fet.
On May 29 (May 16, old style), 1910, Mily Balakirev died in St. Petersburg. He was buried in the Necropolis of Art Masters.
In Vladimir, Yekaterinburg, Lipetsk and Nizhny Novgorod there are streets and alleys named after the composer. Also named after Miliya Balakirev are music schools and art schools in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Gus-Khrustalny.
In 2017, Balakireva will appear in Moscow at the intersection of Samarkand Boulevard and Fergana Street in the Vykhino-Zhulebino area of the South-Eastern Administrative District.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Mily Alekseevich Balakirev, an outstanding figure who made a huge contribution to the development of Russian music, was born on December 21, 1836 (old style). The creativity of this talented person And public figure left a bright mark on the spiritual and cultural development our country.
For a long time, history could not give a proper assessment of the contribution that he made to the Russian musical culture. The ideological wars that took place in our country in the last century did not provide an opportunity to evaluate the merits of this outstanding person. Currently, when I began to give credit to those who for a long time was forgotten, Balakirev’s works were appreciated by his descendants. Finally, history put everything in its place.
Balakirev had not only a brilliant musical gift. An excellent journalist and teacher by vocation, he was constantly looking for ways spiritual growth Russia. Thanks to him, today we know what such a great composer as means to Russian culture. It was Mily Alekseevich who collected, edited Glinka’s manuscripts and presented them to the general public.
It is Balakirev who is the creator of the brotherhood outstanding composers, which is known in world culture as the “Mighty Handful”. , Cui, Borodin and Balakirev himself formed a community of truly powerful talents. They wrote their first works, guided by the instructions given by Balakirev. He did not escape its influence in his work. He was not part of the “Mighty Handful,” but Balakirev’s enormous talent could not help but influence young Peter Ilyich.
Balakaryov did everything for creative development his students, helped them rise to the highest levels in Russian culture and never reminded them who helped them become great. But later, when his students gained their convictions, he firmly defended his convictions and did not compromise. Mily Alekseevich is not only a brilliant composer. His talent as a conductor and pianist became the basis of the work of Gilels and Mravinsky, Oistrakh and Richter.
However pedagogical activity Balakireva is almost unknown. The free music school in which he taught music became the basis of that system of children's music education. It exists in Russia now and is recognized throughout the world. Another brainchild of teacher Balakirev, the Court Singing Chapel, was transformed by him together with Rimsky-Korsakov into a brilliant choir, which is remembered as a legend of Russian culture.
His journalistic activities have also been little studied. The reason for this was the spiritual worldview that Balakirev came to at the end of his life. His condition, similar to schema-mongering, was not understood and not appreciated by society. They didn’t accept him later either. The God-fighters could not appreciate the feat of the Christian and spiritual seer Balakirev, and his name was forgotten.
Mily Alekseevich died in St. Petersburg on May 16 (29), 1910. Currently, the creative feat of the great composer is appreciated. put everything in its place.
Every new discovery was true happiness and delight for him, and he carried along with him, in a fiery impulse, all his comrades.
V. Stasov
M. Balakirev had an exceptional role: to open new era in Russian music and lead an entire direction in it. At first, nothing foreshadowed such a fate for him. Childhood and youth were spent far from the capital. Balakirev began to study music under the guidance of his mother, who, convinced of her son’s extraordinary abilities, specially went with him from Nizhny Novgorod to Moscow. Here a ten-year-old boy took several lessons from the then famous teacher - pianist and composer A. Dubuk. Then again Nizhny, early death mother, studying at the Alexander Institute at the expense of the local nobility (father, a minor official, having married a second time, lived in poverty with his large family) ...
Of decisive importance for Balakirev was his acquaintance with A. Ulybyshev, a diplomat, as well as an excellent music connoisseur, the author of a three-volume biography of V. A. Mozart. His house, where they gathered interesting society, concerts were organized, became for Balakirev a real school artistic development. Here he conducts an amateur orchestra, whose performance program includes various works and among them Beethoven's symphonies, acts as a pianist, at his service is a rich library of sheet music, in which he spends a lot of time studying the scores. Maturity comes to a young musician early. Having entered the mathematics department of Kazan University in 1853, Balakirev left it a year later to devote himself exclusively to music. The first creative experiments dated back to this time: piano works, romances. Seeing Balakirev’s extraordinary successes, Ulybyshev takes him to St. Petersburg and introduces him to M. Glinka. Communication with the author of “Ivan Susanin” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was short-lived (Glinka soon went abroad), but meaningful: having approved Balakirev’s undertakings, the great composer gives advice on creative pursuits and talks about music.
In St. Petersburg, Balakirev quickly gained fame as a performer and continued to compose. Brightly gifted, insatiable in knowledge, tireless in work, he was eager for new achievements. Therefore, it is natural that when life brought him together with C. Cui, M. Mussorgsky, and later with N. Rimsky-Korsakov and A. Borodin, Balakirev united and led this small musical group, which went down in music history under the name “The Mighty Handful.” "(given to him by V. Stasov) and the "Balakirev circle".
Every week, musician friends and Stasov gathered at Balakirev’s. They talked, read aloud a lot together, but devoted most of their time to music. None of the beginning composers received special education: Cui was a military engineer, Mussorgsky was a retired officer, Rimsky-Korsakov was a sailor, Borodin was a chemist. “Under the leadership of Balakirev, our self-education began,” Cui later recalled. - “We played four hands everything that was written before us. Everything was subjected to strict criticism, and Balakirev analyzed the technical and creative sides of the works.” The tasks given were immediately responsible: start straight with a symphony (Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov), Cui wrote operas (“ Caucasian prisoner", "Ratcliffe"). Everything composed was performed at circle meetings. Balakirev corrected and gave instructions: “... a critic, a technical critic, he was amazing,” wrote Rimsky-Korsakov.
By this time, Balakirev himself had written 20 romances, including such masterpieces as “Come to Me,” “Song of Selim” (both 1858), “Song of the Goldfish” (1860). All romances were published and received highly appreciated A. Serova: “...Fresh healthy flowers on the soil of Russian music.” Balakirev's symphonic works were performed at the concerts: Overture on the themes of three Russian songs, Overture from the music to Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear". He also wrote many piano pieces and worked on a symphony.
Balakirev’s musical and social activities are connected with the Free Music School, which he organized together with the wonderful choirmaster and composer G. Lomakin. Here everyone could get involved in music by performing in the school’s choral concerts. Singing, musical literacy and solfeggio classes were also provided. The choir was conducted by Lomakin, and the guest orchestra was conducted by Balakirev, who included works by his circle comrades in the concert programs. The composer always acted as a faithful follower of Glinka, and one of the testaments of the first classic of Russian music was reliance on folk song as a source of creativity. In 1866, Balakirev’s Collection of Russian Folk Songs was published, and he spent several years working on it. A stay in the Caucasus (1862 and 1863) provided an opportunity to get acquainted with the eastern musical folklore, and thanks to a trip to Prague (1867), where Balakirev was to conduct Glinka’s operas, he also learned Czech folk songs. All these impressions were reflected in his work: a symphonic picture on the themes of three Russian songs “1000 Years” (1864; in the 2nd edition - “Rus”, 1887), “Czech Overture” (1867), oriental fantasy for piano “Islamey” "(1869), the symphonic poem "Tamara", begun in 1866 and completed many years later.
Balakirev’s creative, performing, musical and social activities make him one of the most authoritative musicians, and A. Dargomyzhsky, who became the chairman of the Russian Musical Society, manages to invite Balakirev there to the position of conductor (seasons 1867/68 and 1868/69). Now the music of the composers of the “Mighty Handful” was also heard in the Society’s concerts, and the premiere of Borodin’s First Symphony was a success.
It seemed that Balakirev’s life was on the rise, that there was an ascent to new heights ahead. And suddenly everything changed dramatically: Balakirev was removed from conducting RMO concerts. The injustice of what happened was obvious. Tchaikovsky and Stasov, who spoke in the press, expressed their indignation. Balakirev switches all his energy to the Free Music School, trying to contrast its concerts with the Musical Society. But competition with a richly endowed, highly patronized institution turned out to be unbearable. One after another, Balakirev is haunted by failures, his financial instability turns into extreme need, and this is, if necessary, to support his younger sisters after the death of his father. There is no room for creativity. Driven to despair, the composer even has thoughts of suicide. There is no one to support him: his circle comrades moved away, each busy with his own plans. Balakirev's decision to break forever with musical art it was like thunder from a clear sky for them. Without listening to their calls and persuasion, he enters the Warsaw Railway Store Office. Fatal event, which divided the composer’s life into two strikingly different periods, occurred in June 1872...
Although Balakirev did not serve in the office for long, his return to music was long and internally difficult. He earns his living by giving piano lessons, but does not compose himself, and lives secluded and secluded. Only at the end of the 70s. he starts showing up at friends' houses. But this was a different person. The passion and ebullient energy of a man who shared - albeit not always consistently - the progressive ideas of the 60s, was replaced by sanctimonious, pious and apolitical, one-sided judgments. Healing after the crisis did not come. Balakirev again becomes the head of the music school he left behind, works on completing “Tamara” (based on Lermontov’s poem of the same name), which was first performed under the direction of the author in the spring of 1883. New, mainly piano pieces, new editions appear (Overture on the theme of a Spanish march, symphonic poem "Rus"). In the mid-90s. 10 romances are created. Balakirev composes extremely slowly. So, started in the 60s. The first symphony was completed in only 30 seconds extra years(1897), in the Second Piano Concerto conceived at the same time, the composer wrote only 2 parts (it was completed by S. Lyapunov), work on the Second Symphony lasted for 8 years (1900-08). In 1903-04 a series of beautiful romances appears. Despite the tragedy he experienced and his distance from former friends, Balakirev’s role in musical life is significant. In 1883-94. he was the manager of the Court Singing Chapel and, in collaboration with Rimsky-Korsakov, changed it beyond recognition music training, putting it on a professional basis. The most gifted students of the chapel formed a musical circle around their leader. Balakirev was also the center of the so-called Weimar circle, which met with Academician A. Pypik in 1876-1904; here he performed with whole concert programs. Balakirev’s correspondence with foreign musical figures is extensive and informative: with the French composer and folklorist L. Bourgault-Ducudray and critic M. Calvocoressi, with the Czech musical and public figure B. Kalensky.
Balakirev's symphonic music is gaining increasing fame. It sounds not only in the capital, but also in provincial cities Russia, and is successfully performed abroad - in Brussels, Paris, Copenhagen, Munich, Heidelberg, Berlin. His piano sonata is played by the Spaniard R. Vines, and “Islamea” is performed by the famous I. Hoffmann. The popularity of Balakirev’s music and his foreign recognition as the head of Russian music seem to compensate for his tragic isolation from the mainstream in his homeland.
Balakirev's creative heritage is small, but it is rich artistic discoveries, which fertilized Russian music with the second half of the 19th century V. Tamara is one of the pinnacle works of national-genre symphony and a unique lyric poem. In Balakirev's romances there are many techniques and textural finds that germinate beyond the boundaries of chamber vocal music - in the instrumental sound recording of Rimsky-Korsakov, in the operatic lyrics of Borodin.
The collection of Russian folk songs not only opened new stage in musical folklore, but also enriched Russian opera and symphonic music with many great topics. Balakirev was an excellent music editor: all the early works of Mussorgsky, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov passed through his hands. He prepared for publication the scores of both operas by Glinka (together with Rimsky-Korsakov) and the works of F. Chopin. Balakirev lived great life, in which there were both brilliant creative ups and tragic defeats, but on the whole it was the life of a true innovative artist.
Brief biography
Balakirev was born on January 2, 1837 in Nizhny Novgorod. Everywhere in the city the boy heard a mournful burlatsky song, lyrical drawn-out and fair dance songs. Childhood love for Russian folk music, multiplied by persistent studies with the city bandmaster Eisrich, gave amazing results: by the age of eighteen, Milius had become an independent and talented musician.
Of course, his acquaintance with the local philanthropist Ulybyshev had a significant influence on the boy’s fate. It was he who gave the young musician the opportunity to become acquainted with the advanced literature of the time and gain his first conducting skills in leading a home orchestra.
The same Ulybyshev provided excellent patronage, and the future composer moved to St. Petersburg. First public speaking Balakirev in February 1856 caused a storm of positive responses among the capital’s “bohemians”; a brilliant future was predicted for the musician.
The doors of the most popular aristocratic houses and salons opened for performances, but, as a convinced democrat, Mily chooses the path of selfless service to Russian culture. Having abandoned the financially profitable career of a virtuoso musician, the talented young man continues to improve and creates short terms several works, including an overture based on a Spanish march and “Spanish Serenade” for piano.
"The Mighty Handful"
Also in 1856, at one of the musical evenings, Balakirev met the then already famous composer Dargomyzhsky and music critic Stasov. Soon other composers join them. In conversations, disputes and music playing, a wonderful creative community was born - the so-called “five”, or “Mighty Handful”, which included:
- Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky;
- Alexander Porfirievich;
- Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov;
- Caesar Antonovich;
- Mily Alekseevich Balakirev is the head of the association.
At the meetings, written works were analyzed in detail, errors were corrected, and composers shared ideas for future works. Modern critics recognize that many Russian composers of the following decades became continuers of the traditions of the “Mighty Handful”.
Conducting activities
Acting as the director of concerts for students of the Free Music School, Balakirev actively promotes best works Russian composers who were not particularly perceived by the aristocratic elite in St. Petersburg. The German composer Wagner spoke very flatteringly about his conducting skills, calling him his Russian rival.
With his performances, the leader of the “Mighty Handful” ensured that Russian works became widely known to the European public. It was under his leadership that the operas “A Life for the Tsar” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila” received enormous success in Prague.
Creation
Among Balakirev’s creative heritage, more than twenty romances and songs can be distinguished. Among them " Goldfish", "Whisper, timid breathing", "Offensive", " Jewish melody", "Georgian song".
A special place in his work is occupied by the fantasy for piano “Islamey”, invented in the Caucasus, the musical poem “Tamara”, and several overtures on Russian themes.
Unfortunately, sudden death father, the need to take care of his sisters forced the composer to step away from music for a long period of time and get a job as an official railway and were not allowed to complete several planned works.
Balakirev's last, also unfinished, symphonic work was the Suite for Orchestra, which was completed by the Russian composer Lyapunov. Balakirev died in St. Petersburg on May 29, 1910.
