Alexander porfiryevich borodin biography

Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Порфи́рьевич Бороди́н, tr.Aleksandr Porfir'evič Borodin) (12 November [O.S. 31 October] 1833 –27 February [O.S. 15 February] 1887) was a RussianRomanticcomposer and a successful chemist, of Georgian-Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five (or "The Mighty Handful"), who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music. He is best known for his symphonies, his two string quartets, and his opera Prince Igor. Music from Prince Igor and his string quartets was later adapted for the musical Kismet.

Life and profession

Borodin was born in Saint Petersburg, the illegitimate son of a Georgian noble, Luka Gedevanishvili (Georgian: ლუკა სიმონის ძე გედევანიშვილი) and a Russian mother, the 25 year old Evdokia Konstantinovna Antonova (Евдокия Константиновна Антонова), who had him registered instead as the son of one of his serfs, Porfiry Borodin. As a boy he received a good education, including piano lessons. He eventually earned a doctorate in medicine at the Medico–Surgical Academy, the later home to Ivan Pavlov, and pursued a career in chemistry. He began taking lessons in composition from Mily Balakirev in 1862, while a professor of chemistry at the Academy of Medicine and married Ekaterina Protopopova, a pianist, the following year. Music remained a secondary avocation