The Five (composers)

The Five (), also known as the Mighty Handful or The Mighty Five, were five prominent 19th-century Russian composers who worked together to create a distinct national style of classical music: Mily Balakirev (the leader), César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin. They lived in Saint Petersburg and collaborated from 1856 to 1870. History Name In May 1867 the critic Vladimir Stasov wrote an article, titled Mr. Balakirev’s Slavic Concert, covering a concert that had been performed for visiting Slav delegations at the “All-Russian Ethnographical Exhibition” in Moscow. The four Russian composers whose works were played at the concert were Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Mily Balakirev, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The article ended with the following statement: The expression “mighty handful” (, Moguchaya kuchka, “Mighty Bunch”) was mocked by enemies of Balakirev and Stasov: Aleksandr Serov, academic circles of the conservatory, the Russian Musical Society, and their press supporters. The group ignored critics and continued operating under the moniker. (although today the Russian equivalent “Пятёрка” (“Pyatyorka”) is occasionally used to refer