The meaning of Balakirev Mily Alekseevich in a brief biographical encyclopedia. Mily Alekseevich Balakirev biography Balakirev composer short biography

BALAKIREV, MILIY ALEKSEEVICH(1837-1910), Russian composer, pianist, conductor, head and inspirer of the famous "Five" - ​​"The Mighty Handful" (Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov), which personifies the national movement in Russian musical culture 19th century

Balakirev was born on December 21 (January 2, 1837) in Nizhny Novgorod in an impoverished noble family. Brought to Moscow at the age of ten, he briefly took lessons from John Field; later, A.D. Ulybyshev, an enlightened amateur musician, philanthropist, author of the first Russian monograph on Mozart, took a great part in his fate. Balakirev entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kazan University, but in 1855 he met in St. Petersburg with M.I. Glinka, who convinced young musician devote himself to composition in the national spirit, based on Russian music - folk and church, on Russian plots and texts.

« mighty bunch” developed in St. Petersburg between 1857 and 1862, and Balakirev became its leader. He was self-taught and drew knowledge mainly from practice, therefore he rejected the textbooks and methods of teaching harmony and counterpoint accepted at that time, replacing them with a wide acquaintance with the masterpieces of world music and their detailed analysis. "The Mighty Bunch" creative association existed for a relatively short time, but had a huge impact on Russian culture. In 1863, Balakirev founded the Free Music School - in contrast to the St. Petersburg Conservatory, the direction of which Balakirev assessed as cosmopolitan and conservative. He performed a lot as a conductor, regularly acquainting listeners with early works your circle. In 1867 Balakirev became the conductor of the concerts of the Imperial Russian Musical Society, but in 1869 he was forced to leave this post. In 1870 Balakirev experienced the strongest spiritual crisis, after which he did not study music for five years. He returned to composition in 1876, but by that time he had already lost his reputation as the head of the national school in the eyes of the musical community. In 1882, Balakirev again became the head of the concerts of the Free Music School, and in 1883 - the manager of the Court Singing Chapel (during this period he created a number of church compositions and arrangements of ancient chants).

Balakirev played a huge role in the formation of the national music school, but he composed relatively little himself. In symphonic genres, he created two symphonies, several overtures, music for Shakespeare's King Lear(1858–1861), symphonic poems Tamara(c. 1882), Russia(1887, 2nd edition 1907) and in the Czech Republic(1867, 2nd edition 1905). For piano he wrote the sonata in B flat minor (1905), a brilliant fantasy Islamey(1869) and a number of plays in different genres. Romances and adaptations are of high value. folk songs. musical style Balakirev relies on one side on folk origins and traditions church music, on the other hand, on the experience of new Western European art, especially Liszt, Chopin, Berlioz. Balakirev died in St. Petersburg on May 16 (29), 1910.

The name of Mily Alekseevich Balakirev is familiar to many, it immediately evokes associations with the "Mighty Handful". However, there is hardly a person far from musicology who is able to offhand name even one or two of his compositions. It so happened that Balakirev is known as public figure, teacher, but not as a composer. Why is it creative destiny remained in the shadow of his great contemporaries, and what is the true significance of his personality in Russian culture?

A short biography of Milia Balakirev and many interesting facts read about the composer on our page.

Brief biography of Balakirev

Mily Balakirev was born on December 21, 1836, the heir to the old noble family, the first mention of which dates back to the 14th century. Balakirevs for several centuries consisted of military service, but the father of the future composer, Alexei Konstantinovich, was a civil servant. The house where Mily Alekseevich was born is a family mansion in Nizhny Novgorod on Telyachya Street. So unusual name the boy received from his mother, Elizaveta Ivanovna, in whose family it was quite common.

In the biography of Balakirev, as in many other Russian composers, one can find references to the fact that the first acquaintance with music in general and the piano in particular was due to his mother. Balakirev is no exception - Elizaveta Ivanovna played beautifully herself and taught her son the basics of owning an instrument, and at the age of 10 she took him to Moscow to the famous teacher A. Dubuc. Soon after returning home, she died, but Mily began to study with the conductor K. Eiserich.

At the age of 16, the young man graduates from the walls of the Nizhny Novgorod Noble Institute and enters the volunteer student at the Faculty of Mathematics of Kazan University. He had to earn a living by teaching music. Having not studied in Kazan even for two years, he returns home, where he begins to conduct the orchestra of K. Eiserich, performing at the fair, in the theater and the Assembly of the Nobility.

HELL. Ulybyshev, the first Russian musicologist, also from Nizhny Novgorod, in whose house symphony evenings with Balakirev's participation were often held, highly appreciated the talent young man. He was a member of the musical circles of the capital and in 1855 brought 19-year-old Milia to St. Petersburg. Balakirev immediately began to perform as a pianist and met M.I. Glinka. This acquaintance, as well as rapprochement with the critic V. Stasov, became crucial in his life. Thanks to Glinka, he actively took up composing music, and together with Stasov they became ideologists " mighty handful”, which was subsequently joined by Ts.A. Cui, M.P. Mussorgsky, ON THE. Rimsky-Korsakov and A.P. Borodin.

Balakirev considered the formation of Russian music and the music school to be the main task of his whole life. He actively participated in the work of not only the "Kuchkists", but also other composers, Tchaikovsky, for example, suggesting to them new themes and plots for creativity. Thus, his own writing faded into the background. In 1862, Balakirev founded the "Free Music School", and a few years later refused an invitation to become a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, considering himself insufficiently educated to teach within the academic walls. Since 1867 he has been the conductor of the concerts of the Imperial Russian musical society. His removal from this position in 1869 is the result of both court intrigues and his own irreconcilable radicalism in his views on music.

By the beginning of the 1870s, the paths of the Kuchkist composers diverged, Balakirev was very upset by the loss of influence on his former like-minded people. He refused music lessons, entered the routine service on the Warsaw railway, hit into religion and in moments of spiritual devastation even thought about leaving for a monastery. Only in the next decade did the composer return to a full-fledged musical activity, again heading his school and accepting in 1883 an offer to become the head of the court choir. For 11 years in this position, he demonstrated his best organizational skills - starting with the reconstruction of the chapel building and ending with concern for the fate of singers who have lost their voice. From that moment on, the institution has its own full-fledged orchestra, which still exists today.

After his dismissal from the chapel, Miliy Alekseevich gets the opportunity and time to do his own work. He writes new works, reworks those that were written in his youth. Becoming more and more despotic and intolerant, he supports Slavophile views and condemns the revolution of 1905, which alienates many people from his inner circle. On May 10, 1910, the composer died. Despite the fact that he had not participated in the public musical life, he was buried as a great figure of Russian culture.

Interesting facts about Balakirev

• The symphonic poem "Tamara" was not ignored "Russian Seasons" S.P. Diaghilev who was personally acquainted with the composer. In 1912, M. Fokine staged the ballet of the same name with Tamara Karsavina in the title role.

• It was Balakirev who became interested in the young pianist N.A. Purgold. Not meeting reciprocity, the girl turned her attention to Rimsky-Korsakov whom she later married. But Mily Alekseevich never married.
• Balakirev was an ardent opponent of conservatories, believing that talent is cultivated only at home.
• The composer spent the summer months in Gatchina, a remote suburb of St. Petersburg.
• After the death of the emperor Alexander III in 1894, Balakirev resigned from the post of head of the Court Chapel, also because he did not favor the heir to the throne, Nicholas II, and this was mutual. However, he still had an indifferent patron at court - the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. She took part in the fate of the composer, answered his requests. So, she allocated money to send Balakirev's nieces with tuberculosis to Europe for treatment.
• Balakirev's biography says that the composer studied a lot folk art, collecting unknown songs on trips to the Volga villages and the villages of the Caucasian peoples - Georgians, Armenians, Chechens.
• Balakirev was a very poor man all his life. He was able to improve his financial situation only during the years of service in the chapel. Nevertheless, those around him noted his generosity and responsiveness, he always came to the aid of those who turned to him.

• Through the efforts of Balakirev in Berlin, on the house where Glinka died, in 1895 a memorial plaque was installed. This is Historical building demolished, a new one was built in its place, but the memory of the Russian composer is immortalized to this day. The new commemorative plaque includes an image of the original, Balakirevskaya, with an inscription in Russian.

Creativity Milia Balakirev

Balakirev wrote his first works while still a student at Kazan University. Among them is Fantasia on the themes of the opera " Ivan Susanin", which he played when he first met Glinka, making a huge impression on the latter. Dargomyzhsky I also liked the young musician, and with great enthusiasm Mily left for Kazan for the summer to work as a private teacher, hoping to create and compose. His plans included both a symphony and piano concert... But, remaining alone with a sheet of music paper, he experienced excitement, which grew into depression. He was not confident in himself, he wanted to be the best, to become on the same level with Glinka or Beethoven but was afraid of disappointment and failure. Much better he succeeded in the role of musical consultant and editor, the inspirer of his colleagues in " mighty handful", so as not to write yourself. Ideas “for himself” quickly disappointed him and, as a result, were rejected. Perhaps because he gave the most winning plots to his Kuchkist students.

According to Balakirev's biography, in 1857 he began work on the theme of the Overture on the theme of the Spanish march, presented to him by Glinka. Written in the same year, the Overture was completely revised after 30 years. It is symbolic, but the first work, which in 1859 introduced the St. Petersburg public to the young composer, was the Overture on the themes of three Russian songs. In 1861 in Alexandrinsky theater Shakespeare's "King Lear" was staged, Balakirev was ordered the music for the play. As a result, the composer got an independent symphonic work, the plot of which in some scenes did not correspond to the plot of the tragedy. But this music never sounded in Alexandrinka - Balakirev did not have time to finish it by the day of the premiere.

In 1862, from the composer's pen comes symphonic poem"1000 years", which was later renamed "Rus". The reason for writing it was the opening in Veliky Novgorod of a monument to the millennium of Russia. This music became a reflection of the views of the emerging "Mighty Handful", its ideas can be traced in the later works of Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.

In 1862-63, the composer visited the Caucasus and, impressed by the trips, began to write the symphonic poem "Tamara" based on the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov, his favorite poet. The work dragged on for nearly 20 years. The premiere of the work took place only in 1882. On the oriental theme in 1869, after the third visit to the Caucasus, the most technically complex piano work of the composer "Islamey" was written.

In 1867, after a trip to Prague to conduct concerts from the works of Glinka, Balakirev wrote the overture "In the Czech Republic", in which he gave his interpretation of Moravian folk songs. The creation of the First Symphony took a long time: the first drafts date back to the 1860s, and the completion in 1887. This symphony certainly comes from the time of The Mighty Handful, since the construction of its main themes is reflected in both Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov. The work is based on the melody of folk Russian and oriental music. The second symphony was born on the slope of the composer's life, in 1908. In their symphonic works Balakirev focuses primarily on Berlioz and Liszt However, the lack of academic education does not allow him to fully use all the achievements of the style of these composers.

In 1906, a monument to M.I. Glinka. For this ceremony, Balakirev writes a Cantata for choir and orchestra, one of his four choral works. Another work written for the opening of the monument, this time Chopin , in 1910 - Suite for orchestra, composed of 4 works by the Polish composer. Concerto Es-dur for piano and orchestra - last major work Balakirev, which was already being completed by his colleague S.M. Lyapunov. It, like many compositions for pianoforte, is notable for its complex performance. Balakirev, being an excellent pianist, tried to emphasize the skill of the musician in his works, sometimes to the detriment of the melodic value of the piece. The legacy of Balakirev in the genre of romance and song remained the most extensive in terms of quantity - in total more than 40 works based on poems by the leading poets of the era: Pushkin, Lermontov, Fet, Koltsov. The composer created romances throughout his life, starting in the 1850s.

Sadly, but outside the narrow philharmonic circle of lovers of Russian classical music Balakirev's works are almost never published. Even the experts of the world cinema turned to the composer's work only once - in the 2006 Swiss film "Vitus" about a young virtuoso pianist, where the oriental fantasy "Islamey" sounded.

Domestic cinema used the image of Balakirev in the 1950 film Mussorgsky, his role was played by Vladimir Balashov.

With the members of the "Mighty Handful" Balakirev shared not only time, but also what he aspired to - their original compositional development on the basis that he gave them. Ultimately, he was not only brilliant composer or an outstanding performer. He was something big - a great Russian musician. A man who, like no one else, felt music. A man whom the universe endowed with the gift of discovering talents. He did not write an opera, but would the successful chemist Borodin have created his only, but infinitely brilliant, "Prince Igor" without him? He was unable to establish his own school of composition, but was it not under his influence that the naval officer Rimsky-Korsakov found the strength to quit his service and become not only a composer, but also the greatest teacher? Mily Alekseevich Balakirev is one of the main passionaries of Russian music. And just as the big is better seen at a distance, so today its merits before national culture become more and more valuable.

Video: watch a film about Balakirev

(December 21, 1836, old style) in Nizhny Novgorod. He was a hereditary nobleman, the Balakirev family has been known since the middle of the 14th century. He received his first piano lessons from his mother Elizaveta Yasherova, in the summer of 1846 he studied in Moscow 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 tool 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 early writings Mussorgsky, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov, together with the latter prepared for publication the scores of Glinka's operas A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila, compositions 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 Żelyazowa Wola (Chopin's birthplace), and in the same place and in Warsaw he publicly performed the works of this composer.

From the beginning of the 1880s, he was the censor of spiritual and musical works. Spiritual and musical legacy of Balakirev amounted to 11 completed works, mainly intended for performance at divine services.

Balakirev created two symphonies (1897, 1908); three overtures, including the Overture on the Themes of Three Russian Songs (1858); symphonic poems "Rus" ("1000 years", 1862), "In the Czech Republic" (1867), "Tamara" (1882). He wrote music for Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear (1861); two concertos for piano and orchestra; fantasy "Islamey" (1869); Cantata for the opening of the monument to Glinka in St. Petersburg (1904); pieces for piano.

Balakirev is the author of 40 romances. The composer set to music the poems "Cliff" and "When the yellowing field is agitated" by Mikhail Lermontov, "I came to you with greetings" and "Whisper, timid breathing" by Afanasy Fet.

On May 29 (May 16, old style), 1910, Mili Balakirev died in St. Petersburg. He was buried in the Necropolis of Masters of Arts.

In Vladimir, Yekaterinburg, Lipetsk and Nizhny Novgorod there are streets and lanes named after the composer. Also, the name of Mily Balakirev is carried by music schools and art schools in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Gus-Khrustalny.

In 2017, Balakirev 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 on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Mily Alekseevich Balakirev gained fame as a man who was better at creating great composers than great music. His "" is not as well known as "", and romances are lost in the shadow of vocal masterpieces. But if it were not for Balakirev, there would probably be no masterpieces, and there would be no Russian music in the form we know it now.

A native of Nizhny Novgorod, the son of a titular adviser, Balakirev showed musical ability already in childhood. His first piano teacher was his mother. When the boy was ten years old, the mother summer holidays went with him to Moscow, where Mily took several piano lessons from the composer Alexander Dubuc. Upon return to hometown he began studying with the conductor and pianist Carl Eiserich.

Balakirev is studying at the Alexander Institute. A meeting with diplomat Alexander Ulybyshev played a significant role in his fate. This man is an amateur musician, one of the first music critics, the author of a biography, introduced the young man to classical literature, and in the amateur orchestra created by Ulybyshev, Balakirev masters in practice the basics of conducting and instrumentation. The orchestra's repertoire was rich - it even included Beethoven's symphonies.

In 1853, Balakirev entered Kazan University, but after a year he left it to study music. He creates romances as well piano works. Ulybyshev follows the progress of the young composer. In St. Petersburg, he introduced Mily Alekseevich. Mikhail Ivanovich approved of Balakirev's works and gave him some advice.

In the capital, Balakirev becomes famous as a performer-pianist, he continues to compose music. Soon he meets Caesar Cui and, and later with and. This is how a community of young composers arose, which the critic Vladimir Stasov later called "The Mighty Handful". None of these people received music education: officer, sailor, chemist, military engineer Cui, and even Balakirev himself, who became the soul of this community, did not study at the conservatory. But, perhaps, that is why they could say a new word in art, opposing the dominance of the West that reigned in professional music, works on a national basis.

Friends-composers gathered every week at Balakirev's, played a lot of works on the piano four hands - and, of course, demonstrated their own. Balakirev, in the words of , showed himself to be "an amazing technical critic", carefully analyzing all the works, and he played a decisive role in the self-education of his friends. But, of course, he did not limit himself to giving advice. By that time, he had already created two dozen romances, which were highly appreciated by Alexander Serov. His symphonic works gained fame - in particular the overture "King Lear", as well as piano pieces.

Balakirev makes a trip along the Volga and visits the Caucasus three times, during these trips he writes down folk songs. The result of communication with barge haulers on the Volga was the "Collection of Russian Folk Songs". Mily Alekseevich created an Overture on the themes of three Russian songs, conceived a symphony dedicated to the millennium of Russia, but this work was not completed. Caucasian impressions were reflected in the works created years later - "Islamee" and "".

In 1862, the composer, together with Gavriil Lomakin, created the Free Music School. The choir that existed in it made it possible to join the musical art to everyone. The orchestra conducted by Balakirev also participated in these concerts, including the creations of the Kuchkists in the programs. Mily Alekseevich also conducted concerts of the Russian Musical Society.

1870s became difficult for Balakirev: unfair removal from RMO concerts, material problems. All this leads to thoughts of suicide. Nevertheless, the composer did not do this, but came to the decision about “musical suicide” - he decides to abandon creativity forever. For some time he serves in the railway office, then earns private lessons. Only towards the end of the 1870s. he gradually comes to his senses: he again begins to communicate with friends, again heads the Free Music School, completes "", creates piano pieces and romances, and from 1883 for eleven years he headed the Court Singing Chapel. Through his efforts, an orchestra was created at the chapel.

Balakirev's music is performed not only in Russia, but also in Brussels, Berlin and Copenhagen.

Balakirev died in 1910. His last work- Suite for orchestra - remained unfinished, Sergei Lyapunov finished it.

Music Seasons

Balakirev Mily Alekseevich (1836/1837-1910), composer.

Born on January 2, 1837 (according to the new style) in Nizhny Novgorod. The first music teacher for Balakirev was his mother, who studied with her son from the age of four. True, Balakirev did not receive a musical education, graduating in 1854 from the mathematical faculty of Kazan University. But he did not leave music, studying on his own, and from the age of 15 he began to perform in concerts as a pianist.

At the dawn of it musical career stood A. D. Ulybyshev, the first serious researcher of the work of W. A. ​​Mozart. Together with him in 1855, Balakirev came to St. Petersburg, where he met M.I. Glinka. Soon around Balakirev, who was distinguished not only by musical erudition, but also by the ability to subtly and accurately analyze works, young people began to group talented musicians. This circle, which finally took shape in 1862, was subsequently called the "Mighty Handful". In addition to Balakirev, the association included M. P. Mussorgsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, Ts. A. Cui and A. P. Borodin.

Balakirev contributed to raising the level of musical education of his associates. “Since I am not a theoretician, I could not teach Mussorgsky harmony, but I explained to him the form of the composition ... the technical warehouse of the works and he himself was occupied with the analysis of the form,” Balakirev wrote in a letter to V.V. Stasov, one of the ideologists of the circle.

In 1862, a Free School of Music, the favorite brainchild of Balakirev. From 1868 he became its director. 50-60s of the XIX century. - the heyday of Balakirev's composing talent. At the opening of the monument to the Millennium of Russia in Novgorod, he wrote the overture "1000 years" (1864; revised into a symphonic poem "Rus" in 1887).

In 1869, the piano fantasy "Islamey" was completed, which became F. Liszt's favorite work. In addition, Balakirev wrote more than 40 romances to the verses of A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, A. V. Koltsov. There was even an attempt to create the opera The Firebird, but the work remained unfinished.

The severe mental crisis that followed in 1874 after the refusal of the director's position free school and connected mainly with difficulties of a material nature, led to the fact that Balakirev retired from all musical affairs for several years.

In 1881, at the request of the school council, he returned to the post of headmaster, but he never completely recovered from emotional experiences. The only thing significant essay last period- symphonic poem "Tamara" (1882), created on the plot of Lermontov. However, creative and social activity Balakirev had a huge influence on further development Russian music.