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The University High School Band
The History and Theory of Music

The "Mighty Five"

Modest Mussorgsky by Ilya Repin (1881)

QUOTE."

Five Russian-born composers rose to prominence during the reign of Alexander II, becoming known as "the Mighty Five."

  • César Cui Born to a French father who had settled in Lithuania after invading Russia with Napoléon Bonaparte's Grande Armée, César Cui's primary career was as a Russian army general and military academy professor, where his students included the future Tsar Nicholas II. Music was mainly a hobby, and his writings as a music critic negatively affected the reception of his own music. His music was promoted in Europe by Franz Liszt, however, and received significant recognition.
  • Aleksandr Borodin From Georgia in the Caucasus, Borodin was like Cui not a musician by profession, but a chemist. In his spare time, he wrote a handful of symphonies, string quartets, and the opera Prince Igor. His music was popularized in Europe by (who else?) Franz Liszt.
  • Mily Balakirev was the composer who brought the "Mighty Five" together in the 1850s, specifically promoting a unique Russian tone of classical music. In his youth, Balakirev
  • Modest Mussorgsky
  • Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

César Cui

Scherzo No. 1

Modest Mussorgsky

A Night on Bald Mountain

Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade

Pictures at an Exhibition: Great Gate of Kiev

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Flight of the Bumblebee