Mily Balakirev
Mily Alexanyevich Balakirev (born Nizhny-Novgorod 2 January 1837; died St Petersburg 29 May 1910) was a Russian composer. His music sounds very Russian, and he was a very important influence on other Russian composers such as Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Borodin and César Cui. These five composers were known as the “Mighty Handful”. Balakirev mainly wrote music for orchestra, choir and piano and solo songs.
Mily Balakirev Media
Portrait of (left to right) Balakirev, Vladimir Odoevsky and Mikhail Glinka by Ilya Repin. The painting is somewhat anachronistic – Balakirev is depicted as a man approaching middle age, with a full beard; however, Glinka died in 1857, when Balakirev was only 20 years old.
Rimsky-Korsakov as a naval cadet, at the time he met Balakirev
Alexander Dargomyzhsky eventually replaced Balakirev as a mentor to The Five
- BalakirevsCuiIP
Bedřich Smetana, with whom Balakirev quarreled over the Prague production of Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar
Balakirev in his later years
Balakirev's grave at Tikhvin Cemetery
