Borodin, Aleksandr

Borodin, Aleksandr (Porfiryevich)

(born Nov. 12, 1833, St. Petersburg, Russia—died Feb. 27, 1887, St. Petersburg) Russian composer. From 1862 he took lessons from Mily Balakirev; fired by nationalist sentiment, the two men became the core of the group of Russian composers known as The Five. A professor of chemistry for much of his life, he left a small compositional output, which includes the orchestral suite In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880), two string quartets, and three symphonies, the second of which has remained highly popular. His opera Prince Igor—which contains the often-heard “Polovtsian Dances”—was left unfinished after 18 years of intermittent work.