Alexander Borodin on Music Theory Print

Baubles, Bangles, & Beads

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Like almost all the music in that show, the melody was based on works by Alexander Borodin, in this case the second theme of the second movement of his String Quartet in D. The “Kismet” setting maintains the original’s 3/4 waltz rhythm; pop music settings change the rhythm to a moderate four-beat accompaniment. Jazz musicians are especially drawn to the song’s beguiling melody and advanced harmonic structure. The familiar AA’BA+Coda structure of the song is energized by a key change up a major third interval for every section; the transition is marked by a harmonic progression from the central major key of one section to the tritone minor key of the following section.

In the Steppes of Central Asia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In the Steppes of Central Asia had been intended to be presented as one of several tableaux vivants to celebrate the silver anniversary of the reign of Emperor Alexander II of Russia, who had done much to expand the Russian Empire into the Caucasus, Far East and Central Asia. The intended production never occurred, but the work has been a concert favorite since its first performance, on 20 April 1880 (8 April Old style) in St. Petersburg by the orchestra of the Russian Opera under the conductorship of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Kismet (musical)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The musical was commissioned by Edwin Lester, founder and director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, who conceived of a musical based on the 1911 play Kismet by Edward Knoblock. Lester had previously produced Song of Norway, with the same composing team, adapting the melodies of Edvard Grieg. For Kismet, the writers seized upon the music of Alexander Borodin, which they felt had a suitable exotic flavor and lush melodies. Four film versions of the play were made before the creation of the musical, including a 1944 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by William Dieterle and starring Ronald Colman as Hafiz and Marlene Dietrich as Jamille.

Mlada

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

Mlada was conceived in 1870 by Stepan Gedeonov, director of the Imperial Theatres (1867–1875), as a ballet to be choreographed by Marius Petipa with music by Alexander Serov. The plot of Mlada was adapted, with a new time and place, from a ballet by Filippo Taglioni entitled The Shadow (, , Tyeñ ), which premiered in 1839 in Saint Petersburg. Serov died, however, in 1871 before composing anything for the work. Gedeonov revised his conception as an opera-ballet, with a libretto by Viktor Krïlov, and in 1872 proposed through Vladimir Stasov a collaborative effort by four members of The Mighty Handful—César Cui, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Modest Mussorgsky, and Aleksandr Borodin—who were to write music for the sung portions of the libretto and dramatic action. Ludwig Minkus, at that time the Bolshoy Kamenniy Theatre’s First Imperial Ballet Composer, was to write ballet music to be inserted at various points. Rimsky-Korsakov provides the following details concerning the work’s genesis in his memoirs, Chronicle of My Musical Life, 1909: “Gedeonov, Director of the Imperial Theatres at the time, had conceived the idea of producing a work which should combine ballet, opera and spectacle. For this purpose he had written the program of a stage performance in four acts on a subject borrowed from the Elbe slavs and had commissioned V. A. Krïlov to work up the text. Mlada, with its mixture of fantasy and everyday reality, was a most grateful subject for musical treatment. Gedeonov asked Cui, Borodin, Mussorgsky, and myself to compose music for it; moreover, Minkus, the official ballet composer of the Imperial Theatres, was to compose the incidental ballet music. Who the initiator of this order was, I do not know. I suspect here the influence of Lukashevich, an official of the Board of Directors of the Theatres, who had begun to gain power under Gedeonov… I also believe that the connection had not happened without V. V. Stasov’s having something to do with it. The four of us were invited to Gedeonov’s for a joint deliberation on the work. Act 1, as the most dramatic, was entrusted to the most dramatic composer—Cui; Act 4, a mixture of the dramatic and poetic, to Borodin; Acts 2 and 3 were distributed between Mussorgsky and myself. Some portions of Act 2 (folk-wise choruses) were assigned to me; the first half of Act 3 (flight of shadows and appearance of Mlada) was reserved for me; while Mussorgsky undertook the second half—appearance of Chernobog, for which he wanted to utilize his Night on Bald Mountain, heretofore unused. The thought of Mlada and the few sketches I made for it took me away from The Maid of Pskov and the work on The Stone Guest. Cui composed the whole first act of Mlada rather rapidly. Borodin, who had been somewhat disappointed in writing Prince Igor, now took much of the suitable material from it, composed some new music also, and thus wrote almost the whole draft of Act 4. Mussorgsky composed the ‘March of the Princes’ on a Russian theme (subsequently published separately, with the ‘Trio alla Turca’), as well as some other portions of Act 2; he also made suitable changes in his Night on the Bare Mountain and adapted it for Chernobog’s appearance in Act 3 of Mlada. On the other hand, my notes of the chorus in Act 2 and the flight of shadows in Act 3 were still uncompleted and nothing would come of them, owing to a certain haziness and indefiniteness in the task of writing music to a scenario insufficiently worked out. Gedeonov’s scheme was not destined to be realized. Soon he left the post of Director of the Imperial Theatres and vanished from sight. The Mlada affair dropped into oblivion, and all of us turned to the work we had left for it; whatever we had composed for Mlada found its way into other compositions later.” «Тогдашний директор императорских театров Гедеонов задумал осуществить произведение, соединяющее в себе балет, оперу и феерию. С этой целью он написал программу сценического представления в 4-х действиях, заимствовав сюжет из жизни полабских славян, и поручил разработку текста В. А. Крылову. Сюжет «Млады» с его фантастическими и бытовыми сценами являлся весьма благодарным для воспроизведения в музыке. Сочинение этой музыки было предложено Гедеоновым Кюи, Бородину, Мусоргскому и мне; сверх того, чисто балетные танцы должен был сочинить официальный балетный композитор при императорских театрах —Минкус. Откуда шел почин этого заказа, я не знаю. Предполагаю здесь влияние Лукашевича, чиновника театральной дирекции, начинавшего входить в силу при Гедеонове. Лукашевич был близок к певице Ю. Ф. Платоновой и знаменитому О. А. Петрову, последние оба пользовались симпатией Л. И. Шестаковой; таким образом устанавливалась некоторая связь между нашим кружком и директором театров. Полагаю также, что это дело не обошлось без участия В. В. Стасова. Мы четверо были приглашены к Гедеонову для совместного обсуждения работы, 1-е действие, как наиболее драматичное, было поручено наиболее драматическому композитору —Кюи; 4-е, смесь драматического и стихийного, — Бородину, 2-е и 3-е действия были распределены между мною и Мусоргским, причем некоторые части 2-го действия (бытовые хоры) достались мне, а в 3-м мне была предоставлена первая его половина: полет теней и явление Млады, а Мусоргский взял на себя вторую половину —явление Чернобога, в которую он намеревался пристроить оставшуюся не у дел «Ночь на Лысой горе». Мысль о «Младе» и сделанные мною некоторые наброски отвлекли меня от «Псковитянки» и от работы над «Каменным гостем». Кюи довольно быстро сочинил все 1-е действие «Млады»; Бородин, несколько разочарованный в ту пору в сочинении «Князя Игоря», взял из последнего много подходящего материала, а некоторое сочинив вновь, написал почти что весь эскиз 4-го действия. Мусоргский сочинил «Марш князей» на русскую тему (впоследствии изданный отдельно с трио ala turca) и еще кое-что для 2-го действия, а также переделал соответственно свою «Ночь на Лысой горе», приспособив ее для явления Чернобога в 3-м действии «Млады». Мои же наброски хора из 2-го действия и полет теней 3-го оставались недоделанными и не клеились, по некоторой неясности и неопределенности самой задачи, с недостаточно выработанной сценической программой. Затее Гедеонова не суждено было осуществиться; вскоре он покинул должность директора императорских театров и куда-то скрылся из виду. Дело с «Младой» заглохло, и мы все снова принялись за покинутые из-за нее на время работы, а все сделанное нами для «Млады» впоследствии разошлось по другим сочинениям.» Although the music was for the most part completed, the work was never staged. To date there is no published edition that collates the original manuscripts containing all the extant music composed for the Mlada of 1872.

Petite Suite (Borodin)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Polovtsian Dances

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Name#

The name Polovtsian Dances refers to the Cumans (Polovtsy), who were nomadic invaders of Russia; the Cumans capture Igor in the opera and then entertain him with dances.

Analysis#

The first dance, which uses no chorus and is sometimes omitted in concerts, is No. 8, entitled “Dance of the Polovtsian Maidens” “Пляска половецких девушек” : presto, , F major; it is placed directly after the “Chorus of the Polovtsian Maidens” which opens the act and is followed by “Konchakovna’s Cavatina”.

Prince Igor

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Original composition: 1869–1887#

After briefly considering Lev Mei’s The Tsar’s Bride as a subject (later taken up in 1898 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, his 9th opera), Borodin began looking for a new project for his first opera. Vladimir Stasov, critic and advisor to The Mighty Handful, suggested The Lay of Igor’s Host, a 12th century epic prose poem, and sent Borodin a scenario for a three-act opera on 30 April 1869. Initially, Borodin found the proposition intriguing, but daunting: After collecting material from literary sources, Borodin began composition in September 1869 with initial versions of Yaroslavna’s arioso and Konchakovna’s cavatina, and sketched the Polovtsian Dances and March of the Polovtsy. He soon began to have doubts and ceased composing. He expressed his misgivings in a letter to his wife: “There is too little drama here, and no movement … To me, opera without drama, in the strict sense, is unnatural.” This began a period of about four years in which he proceeded no further on Prince Igor, but began diverting materials for the opera into his other works, the Symphony No. 2 in B minor (1869–1876) and the collaborative opera-ballet Mlada (1872). Borodin returned to Prince Igor in 1874, inspired by the success of his colleagues Rimsky-Korsakov and Mussorgsky in the staging of their historical operas, The Maid of Pskov (1873) and Boris Godunov (1874). This period also marks the creation of two new characters, the deserters Skula and Yeroshka, who have much in common with the rogue monks Varlaam and Misail in Boris Godunov. In his memoirs, Rimsky-Korsakov mentions an 1876 concert at which Borodin’s “closing chorus” was performed, the first public performance of any music from Prince Igor identified by him: The idea of a choral epilogue in the original scenario was no doubt inspired by the example of A Life for the Tsar by Mikhail Glinka, to whose memory Prince Igor is dedicated. Borodin’s primary occupation was chemistry, including research and teaching. However, he also spent much time in support of women’s causes, much to the consternation of his fellow composers, who felt he should devote his time and talent to music. In 1876, a frustrated Stasov gave up hope that Borodin would ever finish Prince Igor, and offered his scenario to Rimsky-Korsakov. Rimsky-Korsakov instead assisted Borodin in orchestrating important numbers in preparation for concert performance; for example, the Polovtsian Dances in 1879: Borodin worked on Prince Igor, off and on, for almost 18 years.

Scherzo in A-flat major (Borodin)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Style#

The Scherzo can be recognized as one of Borodin’s compositions instantaneously because of its bright tone, pounding rhythms, and exciting melodies. In the main theme of the piece a constant rhythm is used, giving it a clear beat, but unfortunately, this also makes it very challenging for the pianist due to the constant jumps required. The piece often modulates, making it more interesting and varied. Played at the correct speed, the piece only lasts around three minutes. However, this “miniature” offers an admirable summary of its composer’s style.

Stranger in Paradise (song)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Meaning#

In Act 1 of the musical Kismet, the beautiful Marsinah is viewing the garden of a house her father wishes to buy. The young Caliph, who is dressed in disguise, has already been struck by her beauty from afar and enters the garden pretending to be a gardener, so that he might speak to her. She begins to sing about how the garden has been strangely transformed before her eyes. He takes over the song and sings about how he, too, strangely feels he has entered paradise when he stands beside an angel such as she. In the song he asks for an indication that she feels the same way about him. Though she feels a strong draw to him she breaks from the song and asks him a mundane question about what flowers to plant. He asks her to meet him again in the garden at moonrise, and she instantly agrees. He asks her to promise she’ll keep her rendezvous, and she now takes up the song, singing that it was his face that had made her feel in paradise. They now sing together that they are in bliss in each other’s company and how much they need to know the other cares.

String Quartet No. 2 (Borodin)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The string quartet has four movements:

I. Allegro moderato#

The first movement is written in sonata form. The principal theme of the exposition begins in measure one, with a cello singing a lyrical melody in high register. The transition begins in measure 35, and quickly leads into the subordinate theme (measure 44) in A major, the dominant. The subordinate theme has a complex structure, a three-part form of its own (a–b–a′), which leads into the closing theme in measure 86 (Animato), which concludes the exposition in measure 107. The development (beginning in measure 108) begins with the same material as the exposition, except the cello is in the low register, and the key is changed from D major to F major. After some contrapuntal work, the development reaches a dominant pedal point (measure 167), which resolves in the main key of the piece, D major, in the recapitulation in measure 180. The recapitulation follows the broad outlines of the exposition, except the subordinate theme (measure 224) begins in E-flat major instead of the customary D major. The three-part structure of the subordinate theme, though, allows Borodin to reach the expected D major in the a’ part of the subordinate theme (measure 257), and the closing theme (measure 266) concludes the movement. The first movement exemplifies Borodin’s lyrical (as opposed to dramatic) treatment of the sonata form. All thematic material is lyrical; contrasts are achieved via contrapuntal writing (as in the middle section of the subordinate theme, beginning in measure 57, and especially in beginning in measure 65), or color contrasts (such as changes of keys–beginning of the development, and particularly the non-traditional key of the subordinate theme in the recapitulation). ;1st theme (cello) : \relative c’ \clef bass \key d \major \time 2/2 \tempo “Allegro moderato” 2 = 84 \set Staff.midiInstrument = “cello” r4\p fis( a) fis8 e d4( fis) cis( fis) b,( fis’) b, a b cis \times 2/3 d–( e– fis–) fis ;2nd theme, part A (1st violin) : \relative c \key d \major \time 2/2 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 84 \set Staff.midiInstrument = “violin” \set Score.currentBarNumber = #44 \bar "" fis4(_\markup \italic “cantabile” b) ~ b8 a16( b a8 gis ) fis8( gis16 a gis8 fis ) cis2 d8.( e16 fis4) ~ fis8 e16( fis e8 d ) cis2-> gis ;2nd theme, part B (1st violin and cello) : \relative c \key d \major \time 2/2 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 84 \set Staff.midiInstrument = “violin” \override Hairpin #’to-barline = ##f \partial 4 cis8.\p cis16 \once \override Score.BarNumber #‘break-visibility = ##(#f #t #t) \set Score.currentBarNumber = #57 \bar " " fis4->>( d) cis-.( b-.)! fis8.\ \fz>( a2.)! gis4->\fz>( a2.)! ;3rd theme : \new StaffGroup \f cis,4-> cis2.-> fis,4-> fis2->( e4) cis’-> cis2.-> \new Staff \relative c \key d \major \clef treble \set Staff.midiInstrument = “violin” 2.->\f q4-> q2.-> a4-> 2.-> 4-> 2. \new Staff \relative c \key d \major \clef alto \set Staff.midiInstrument = “violin” a4->(\f gis8 g fis4) f-> e->( dis8 d cis4) c-> b->( d e) gis-> a2.-> \new Staff \relative c \key d \major \clef bass \set Staff.midiInstrument = “cello” e,1\f ~ e e 4-> s2 »

Symphony No. 2 (Borodin)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

Although he had a keen interest in music, Borodin’s scientific research and teaching duties as an adjunct professor of Chemistry in the Medico-Surgical Academy at St. Petersburg since 1874 interrupted his composition of the Second Symphony. As a result, this symphony took several years to complete. Immediately after the successful premiere of his first symphony in E conducted by Mily Balakirev at the Imperial Russian Music concert in 1869, Borodin began writing the Second Symphony in B minor. That summer, he left off work on the piece in order to work on Prince Igor (Knyaz Igor), an opera based on a 12th-century epic “the Story of Igor’s Army,” suggested by his friend and first biographer Vladimir Stasov. Borodin suddenly decided to abandon Prince Igor in March 1870, criticizing his own inability to write a libretto that would satisfy both musical and scenic requirement. He told his wife, “There is scarcely any drama or scenic movement… Anyhow, opera seems to me an unnatural thing… besides I am by nature a lyricist and symphonist; I am attracted by the symphonic forms.” Soon after setting Prince Igor aside, Borodin returned to the B minor Symphony, assuring Stasov that the “materials” created for the opera would be used in the newly revived symphony. According to Stasov in an article contributed to the “Vestnik Evropi” in 1883, Borodin told him more than once that in the first movement he wished to depict a gathering of Russian warrior-heroes, in the slow movement the figure of a bayan—a type of Russian accordion, and in the finale a scene of heroes feasting to the sound of guslis—an ancient plucked instrument. Borodin’s work on the symphony was again interrupted when the Director of the Imperial Theatres, Stephan Gedenov, asked him to collaborate on an extravagant opera-ballet Mlada with other members of Vladimir Stasov’s “mighty little heap,” namely Cesar Cui, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In his usual fashion of composing, Borodin borrowed heavily from earlier works, in this case Prince Igor. The show was ultimately cancelled because of production costs, and Borodin once again turned to the B minor Symphony. The following academic year (1873–74), more and more irritated that he was not receiving support or recognition for his scientific work, he published his last paper on aldehydes and turned to teaching; it was at this time that he became director of the Medical-Surgical Academy’s laboratory facilities. Meanwhile, he also took up Prince Igor again and worked on orchestrating the final three movements of the symphony, although this work was not ultimately completed until 1875. under the baton of Eduard Nápravník. The work was popular, but according to Rimsky-Korsakov, only enjoyed “moderate success” because Borodin had written the brass part too thickly. Borodin’s relationship with Liszt also had influenced his symphonic writing. Later in 1877, Borodin traveled to Germany in order to enroll some of his chemistry pupils in Jena University. While in Germany, Borodin visited Liszt in Weimar where the two played through both of Borodin’s symphonies in four-hand piano arrangements. Liszt had been an admirer of Borodin’s music and he arranged performances of Borodin’s symphonies, making them the first Russian symphonies to be received abroad. Regarding Borodin’s attempt to revise his score, Liszt said, From another source,