• Name: Alexander Borodin
• Birthday: 11/12/1833
• Birth Place: St. Petersburg, Russia
• Died: 02/27/1887
• Place of Death: St. Petersburg, Russia
• Country: Russia
• Period: Romantic
• Genre: Classical

Title	Release
(128) String Quartet No. 2 in D major
(114) In the Steppes of Central Asia (V sredney Azii), musical picture for orchestra
(637) Prince Igor, opera (completed by Rimsky-Korsakov & Glazunov)
(74) Symphony No.2 in B minor
(20) String Quartet No. 1 in A major
(11) Petite Suite for orchestra (orchestrated by Glazunov)	1994
Allegretto for piano, 4 hands in D flat major (adapted from String Quintet in F minor, 3rd movement: Trio)	2005
(4) Arabian Melody (Arabskaya melodiya), song for voice & piano	1966
(8) At Some Folks' Houses (U lyudey-to v domu), song for voice & orchestra	1966
(16) For the Shores of Thy Far Native Land (Dlya beregov otchiznï dal'noy), song for voice & piano WA	1993
(5) From My Tears (Iz slyoz moikh), song for voice & piano	1966
(4) Grand Trio for 2 violins & cello in G major (3rd movement unfinished)	1995
(2) Hélèné, polka for piano, 4 hands (or solo piano) in D minor	1993
(4) Listen to My Song, Little Friend (Slushayte, podruzhen'ki, pesenku moyu), song for voice & piano (with cello obbligato)	1966
Marche funèbre for piano, 3 hands (from collaborative Paraphrases for piano, with Lyadov, Rimsky-Korsakov, & Cui)	1993
(4) My Songs Are Poisoned (Otravoy polnï moi pesni), song for voice & piano	1966
(76) Nocturne for string orchestra (arranged by Malcolm Sargent from String Quartet No. 2)
(27) Petite Suite for piano	1985
(10) Piano Quintet in C minor	1988
(8) Piano Trio in D major (3 movements only)	1947
(3) Polka for piano, 3 hands (from collaborative Paraphrases for piano, with Lyadov, Rimsky-Korsakov, & Cui)	1993
(4) Pride (Spes'), song for voice & piano	1966
(2) Requiem for piano, 3 hands (from collaborative Paraphrases for piano, with Lyadov, Rimsky-Korsakov & Cui)	1992
(15) Scherzo for piano in A flat major	1985
(4) Scherzo for string quartet in D major (for collaborative "Les Vendredis," Book 2, No. 3, and used in Symphony No. 3)
(5) Sonata for cello & piano in B minor	1988
(8) Song of the Dark Forest (Pesnya tyomnogo lesa), for voice & piano	1990
(9) Spanish Serenade for string quartet (for the collaborative String Quartet "B-La-F" with Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, Lyadov)
(6) String Quintet for 2 violins, viola & 2 cellos in F minor (Finale completed by O. Evlakhov)
(3) String Sextet in D minor (3rd & 4th movements lost)
(16) Symphony No. 3 in A minor (completed by Glazunov)	1992
(21) Symphony No.1 in E flat major	1989
(2) Tarantella for piano, 4 hands in D major
(4) The Beautiful Fisher Maiden (Krasavitsa-rïbachka), song for voice & piano (with cello obbligato)	1966
(5) The False Note (Fal'shivaya nota), song for voice & piano	1994
(5) The Magic Garden (Septain or Chudnïy sad), song for voice & piano	1966
(5) The Pretty Girl No Longer Loves Me (Razlyubila krasna devitsa), song for voice & piano (with cello obbligato)	1996
(5) The Sea (More), song for voice & piano	1966
(7) The Sea Princess (Morskaya tsarevna), song for voice & piano	1994
(7) The Sleeping Princess (Spyashchaya knyazhna), song for voice & piano	1950
Trio for 2 violins & cello in G minor (based on a Russian song "How I did grieve thee")	1995
(3) Why Art Thou So Early, Dawn? (Chto tï rano, zoren'ka), song for voice & piano	1966
(11) Work(s)

Though far from prolific as a composer -- by day he was a scientist noted for his research on aldehydes -- Alexander Borodin nevertheless earned a secure place in the history of Russian music. As a creative spirit, Borodin was the most accomplished of the Russian nationalists composers. He had a particular gift for the distinctive stripe of exoticism so evident in his most frequently performed work, the Polovtsian Dances from the opera Prince Igor.

The illegitimate son of a Georgian prince and a doctor's wife, Borodin enjoyed a comfortable upbringing. As a child he learned to play several instruments and tried his hand at composing, but other aptitudes directed his formal education. He studied chemistry at St. Petersburg's Medico-Surgical Academy, obtaining his doctorate in 1858 and pursuing further studies in Europe until 1862. Upon his return to Russia, he became a professor at his alma mater; but even as an academic career apparently loomed before him, he maintained a devotion to music.

Under the influence of Mily Balakirev, whom he met in 1862, Borodin became interested in applying elements of russian folk music to works for the concert hall and stage. He joined a circle of like-minded composers -- Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, and Cui -- famously dubbed "The Five" or "The Mighty Handful." The influence of Balakirev in particular is at once in evident in the Symphony No. 1 in E flat major (1867). Borodin began the much craggier Symphony No. 2 in B minor in 1869, the same year he commenced labor on his most important work, the opulent four-act opera Prince Igor. While it took Borodin more than five years to complete the symphony, work on Prince Igor dragged on for decades. Borodin, who had in the meantime completed a number of other works, left the opera unfinished at the time of his death. It was completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov, a skillful craftsman and a particularly apt match for Borodin's colorful musical character, and Alexander Glazunov. Glazunov also completed the Symphony No. 3 in A minor, which the composer had been working on until the time of his death.

Aside from teaching chemistry and conducting research, Borodin helped found a series of medical courses for women in 1872. Such activities, as well as the poor health that plagued him in the 1880s, drained the energy that he might have devoted to composition. Still, as a part-time composer, Borodin jeft a significant oeuvre: more than a dozen worthy songs, miscellaneous piano pieces, two string quartets (the second of which contains a ravishing Nocturne often performed in an arrangement for string orchestra), and the popular tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880). He died while attending a ball in St. Petersburg on February 27, 1887. ~ James Reel, All Music Guide