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Alexander Borodin (1833 - 1887)
Polovtsian Dances
Like many Russian composers
of the late 19th century, Alexander Borodin was not a
professional musician. He was trained as a doctor and
chemist, and was appointed a professor of chemistry in
the St. Petersburg Medical School at the age of 31. While
there he published important research papers on the group
of organic chemicals called aldehydes, and helped found
a medical school for women.
He was slow to write music, since he had to squeeze it
into the gaps between his working schedule and looking
after his family, which comprised an ill wife, several
other relatives, and a large number of cats. His second
symphony took so long to write (7 years) that his friends
gave him an ashtray in the shape of a tortoise.
His opera Prince Igor was left unfinished at his
death, when it was completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov.
But the exciting Polovtsian Dances were all his
own work. The Prince, having been captured by the Mongol
chief Khan Konchak, is entertained by his musicians and
dancing girls in a series of brilliant and exciting dances.
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