The Russian Five (or the Mighty

Handful)
came together in the 1860s to attempt to establish a
truly national school of Russian music - free of the stifling
influence of Italian opera, German lieder, and other
western European forms

*Modest Mussorgsky (last weeks class)

Pictures at an Exhibition
His most famous piano piece. Orchestrated later on
for symphony by Maurice Ravel.
http://www.stmoroky.com/reviews/gallery/pictures/hartma
nn.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictures_at_an_Exhibition#Pro
menade

Around 1870 Mussorgsky met artist and architect Viktor

Hartmann. Both men were devoted to the cause of an
intrinsically Russian art and quickly became friends.
Hartmann died from an aneurysm in 1873. The sudden
loss of the artist, aged only 39, shook Mussorgsky along

with others in Russia's art world. An exhibition of over 400

Hartmann works was arranged in the Academy of Fine
Arts in Saint Petersburg, Russia in February and March
1874.
Mussorgsky lent works from his personal collection to the
exhibition and viewed the show in person. Fired by the
experience, he composed Pictures at an Exhibition in six
weeks. The music depicts an imaginary tour of an art
collection. Titles of individual movements allude to works
by Hartmann; Mussorgsky used Hartmann as a working
title during the work's composition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8ei1NF0oic

Cesar Cui (1835-1918)

o Born: January 6 (or 18), 1835 Vilna [now
Vilnius], Lithuania, Russian Empire
o Died: March 24, 1918 Petrograd [St.
Petersburg], Russia from cerebral
apoplexy (stroke)
Composer of operas (10), songs, and piano music.
He was a music critic and military engineer
Had no Russian ancestry (French and Lithuanian
decent) but became a journalistic champion for
Russian nationalism.
1864-1877 a music critic for the St. Petersburg
News

 1878 became professor of fortification

In 1916 went blind, but was able to compose through
dictation

Tarantella 1859
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHtUESEKnbI

Orientale - Kaleidoscope Op.50 No.9 - Cello And Piano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at71Fk4DtNQ

Opera
The Caucasian Prisoner (1858), The Mandarin's Song
(1859) Dedicated to his wife, William Ratcliffe (1869),
Angelo (1875-6), Le Filibuster (1888-9), The Saracen
(1899), Feast in Time of Plague (1901), Matteo Falcone
(1907), The Captain's Daughter (1911)

Childrens Opera
Little Red Riding Hood (1911), Ivan the Fool (1913), Pussin-Boots (from Perrault) (1915)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)

Born: March 18, 1844 in Tikhvin (near Saint
Petersburg), Russia

 Died: June 8 (or June 21), 1908 in Lyubensk,

Russia from chest pain and a blockage of his
coronary
compositions were descriptive at setting a mood
or describing a place
1862 graduated from the naval academy at
sailed on the clipper ship Almaz until 1865.
1871 after a successful performance of his first
symphony and several other works, began
teaching at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He
frankly admitted his lack of qualifications in his
autobiography.

Family background: Wealthy, noble, aristocratic

Russian family. His father was a governor of the Volyn
Province. At the time of his birth his father was 60,
his mother 42 and his brother was 22 years old
Childhood and education: Received music lessons at
home together with an excellent education. As a
child he wanted to follow his brother and become a
naval officer. He graduated with honors from the Sea
Cadet Corps (Naval College) in 1862
His interest in music increased as he went to various
operas and concerts

 Mentored and taught composer Stravinsky

His types of compositions and works included operas,
symphonies, orchestral works and songs
Scheherazade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNymNaTrY
a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of
A Thousand and One Nights
Capriccio Espagnol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh6mDLVwYw
based on Spanish folk melodies. In 5
movements. Originally intended for solo violin
and orchestra but he decided a pure orchestra
work would do better justice for the melodies
Russian Easter Festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=rXR0tloMmoo

Overture on liturgical themes tunes largely

from Russian Orthodox liturgy. Dedicated to the
memories of Borodin and Mussorgsky

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887)

o Born: November 12, 1833, St Petersburg, Russia
o Died: February 15, (or February 27, 1887) in St.
Petersburg, Russia. Died of Heart failure while
dancing energetically.
He was the illegitimate son of a Russian noble, Prince
Luka Gedevanishvili and Evdokia Konstantinovna
Antonova. He was registered as the son of one of
Prince Luka Gedevanishvili's servants whose name
was Porfiry Borodin
Borodin had an excellent education and learned how
to play the violin, cello, flute and piano. He was
interested in medicine and attended the MedicoSurgical Academy from where he received a
doctorate.
Borodin became a full time professor at the MedicoSurgical Academy and pursued a career in chemistry
Gained prominence as a composer in Europe when
Liszt arranged a performance of the Symphony No. 1 in
Germany in 1880
His types of compositions and works included operas,
songs and symphonies
His opera "Prince Igor" was left not finished when
Alexander Borodin died and was completed by Glazunov
and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Famous Song: Stranger in Paradise from the 1953 musical

Kismet, by Robert Wright and George Forrest. All music in
the show was Borodins. In 1954 Borodin was
posthumously awarded a Tony Award for his song
"Stranger in Paradise"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=mbCJbnNDmoM
Polovtsian Dances
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mX0SvdfAXA

an exotic scene from act II of Prince Igor. Given the title

PD when performed without singers.
Steppes of Central Asia (tone poem)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3H4b9Dus7I

The work was originally intended to be presented to celebrate the silver anniversary of the reign
of Alexander II of Russia, who had done much to expand the Russian Empire eastward. The work is
dedicated to Liszt.

Mily Balakirev (1837-1910)

 Born: January 2, 1837 (or December 21, 1836) in

Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Died: May 29, (or May 16) 1910 in St. Petersburg,
Russia
He was a concert pianist and became concert conductor
of the Free School of Music in 1862.
He composed songs, symphonic poems, piano pieces and
orchestral music.
Received early music lessons from his mother and later
studied with Alexander Dubuque and Karl Eisrich.
At 15 he began composing and continued to do so while
pursuing mathematics at the University of Kazan from
1853 to 1855. He began performing as a concert pianist
by the end of 1855 and took under his wing four young
composers
He was a concert pianist and became concert conductor
of the Free School of Music in 1862 and director in 1868.
Resigned in 1874. Resumed in 1881.
Suffered a nervous breakdown in 1871. Took a 5 year
break from music and isolated himself. Financial distress
caused him to take a job with the railway.

Notable Works:
Islamey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78AslTXMp30
Overture on Russian Themes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fnggX4W2hA

-King Lear, incidental music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcq5XNiX1EY

Antonin Dvorak
Born: September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, near
Kralupy, Prague, Bohemia now in the Czech
Republic
Died: May 1, 1904 in Prague from heart failure
Family background: His father was a professional
player of the zither, an innkeeper and a butcher
His Bohemian heritage strongly influenced his music
A musical child, Antonin Dvorak studied music and
learned to play various musical instruments including
the piano, viola and violin
He became a full time musician at the age of 18 and
played viola in the Bohemian Provisional Theater
Orchestra and taught piano lessons through which he
met his future wife Anna Cermakova with whom he
had 6 children

Moved to America in 1892. From 1892-1895 was the

artistic director of the National Conservatory of Music
in New York
1895 returned to Prague and resumed his role as
professor and then Director at the Prague
Conservatory
New World Symphony (Symphony No. 9)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=WuqyfEyNXQo
composed while director of National
Conservatory of Music in America. Influenced by
Native American Music and African American
Spirituals. Commissioned by the NY Philharmonic

Slavonic Dances (16 total)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=WIywT8fKVZA
published in 2 sets. Originally for piano for four hands.
Inspired by Brahms Slavonic Dances. We orchestrated for
orchestra at the request of his publisher soon after
original publication.
"American" String Quartet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV-kbAydcwk

Cello Concerto in B minor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=I002Aq1o3Pg

20th Century:

Impressionism: Vague, Dream Imagery

Initiated by French composer Claude Debussy.
Introduced by analogy with contemporaneous French
painting Debussy disliked the term.
Elements include:
static harmony, emphasis on instrumental timbres
that creates a shimmering interplay of colours,
melodies that lack directed motion, surface
ornamentation that obscures or substitutes for melody,
and an avoidance of traditional musical form.
Impressionism can be seen as a reaction against the
rhetoric of Romanticism, disrupting the forward motion of
standard harmonic progressions

Claude Debussy
BORN: August 22, 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye,
France.
DIED: March 25, 1918 in Paris, France from colon cancer
SOME FAMOUS PIECES:

Claire de Lune (Moonlight)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ip64cG7gK4

Laprs-midi dun faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of

a Faun).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9iDOt2WbjY
Golliwoggs Cakewalk (from a group of pieces for the
piano called Childrens Corner written for his
daughter)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhvtsQ-qmHA

The opera Pellas et Mlisande.

Preludes, Books 1 and 2.
La Mer (The Sea)for orchestra.
Plus other piano pieces, such as Estampes.

Childhood and education: Educated at first by tutors.

In 1873 at the age of 10 to the Paris Conservatory
where he studied music composition and piano.
was recognized as a musical prodigy and was
fortunate to attract the patronage of Nadezhda
Filaretovna von Meck and Madame Maut de
Fleurville who also happened to be a friend
of Chopin
In 1884 won the Prix de Rome, a competition for
composers, for his cantata called The Prodigal Son. A
cantata is a poem set to music

 Main musical influences included Wagner, Borodin

and Mussorgsky

Other composers associated with impressionism is

Maurice Ravel
Paul Dukas
Ottorino Respighi
Frederick Delius
Manuel de Falla
Expressionism: atonal, serial
Expressionism and the Second Viennese School
Composers: Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Alban Berg
(1885-1935), Anton Webern (1883-1945)
Arnold Schoenberg, creator of the twelve-tone system (or,
dodecaphony): "I personally hate to be called a
revolutionist, which I am not. What I did was neither
revolution nor anarchy."

* episodic, fragmentary form and structure

* abrupt musical language
* clashing dissonances

* interest in common man

* tonality, triadic harmony, and consonance vs.
dissonance are not valid anymore
* abstract procedures
* great emotional intensity
Neo-Classicism: smaller ensembles, stricter forms
Neo-Romaticism: continuation of Romantic traditions
Modern: avant-garde, sometimes avoiding conventional
instruments and notation