The Russian composer Mily Balakirev was mentored by local musicians, in particular by Karl Eisrich, a conductor. Eisrich helped Balakirev develop an interest in the music of Chopin and Glinka. He also introduced him to Alexander Ulybyshev, a local landowner, who not only had a deep and enduring interest in music but also possessed a large library of musical scores. This contact proved to be important in Balakirev’s career. In 1855, Ulybyshev took Balakirev to meet Glinka in St. Petersburg, after the young man had shown his abilities in his Piano Fantasia on themes from Glinka’s ‘A Life for the Tsar’. Recognizing Balakirev’s talent, Glinka gave him encouragement and advice. Balakirev’s debut as a pianist into St. Petersburg’s musical scene was splendid. In 1858, with the Tsar present in the audience, he performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5. What was diagnosed as “brain fever” attacked Balakirev in April 1858. He recovered, but the nervousness, headaches and depression from which he suffered for the rest of his life are attributed to the after-effects of this illness. Both Glinka and Ulybyshev wished to develop a style which reflected the Russian national spirit. Balakirev took it upon himself to carry their ideas forward... show more

The Russian composer Mily Balakirev was mentored by local musicians, in particular by Karl Eisrich, a conductor. Eisrich helped Balakirev develop an interest in the music of Chopin and Glinka. He also introduced him to Alexander Ulybyshev, a local landowner, who not only had a deep and enduring interest in music but also possessed a large library of musical scores. This contact proved to be important in Balakirev’s career. In 1855, Ulybyshev took Balakirev to meet Glinka in St. Petersburg, after the young man had shown his abilities in his Piano Fantasia on themes from Glinka’s ‘A Life for the Tsar’. Recognizing Balakirev’s talent, Glinka gave him encouragement and advice. Balakirev’s debut as a pianist into St. Petersburg’s musical scene was splendid. In 1858, with the Tsar present in the audience, he performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5. What was diagnosed as “brain fever” attacked Balakirev in April 1858. He recovered, but the nervousness, headaches and depression from which he suffered for the rest of his life are attributed to the after-effects of this illness. Both Glinka and Ulybyshev wished to develop a style which reflected the Russian national spirit. Balakirev took it upon himself to carry their ideas forward after both of them died. One of Balakirev’s compositions – incidental music to Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’, from 1859-1861 – became very popular, and his reputation rose. In 1861, with support from Tsar Nicolas, Balakirev and Gabriel Lomakin joined hands to set up the Free School of Music. Concerts held at the school showcased his own music and that of some of his students. In particular, he along with four of his students – Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov – were acknowledged as the standard bearers of a new form of Russian musical art, earning them the sobriquet “Mighty Handful” from the Russian press.
Balakirev took over the prestigious directorship of the Free School when Lomakin relinquished that post in November 1867. At that time certain weaknesses in his make-up began to surface, thereby alienating his associates and others: insensitivity to the needs and feelings of others, and an overbearing attitude. Audiences in St. Petersburg, which expected light and familiar musical performances at the Free School were disappointed, and protested. Again, letters between Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov written in the late 1860s, record their growing anguish with their senior’s “interference”. Though Balakirev resigned from his position at the Free School in April 1869, his next composition re-established his reputation. That December, Nicholas Rubinstein premiered Balakirev’s best known work, the superb piano fantasy Islamey. The work became very popular in Western Europe after Rubistein performed it before audiences in Paris and other places. Balakirev also mentored the young Tchaikovsky, who composed his Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture. Rimsky-Korsakov became Director of the Free School, after Balakirev lapsed into depression when the school had a disastrous concert season in 1871- 1872. This spell of depression lasted for five years, but in 1877 Balakirev returned as an instructor after friends helped him to recover. Balakirev became director again after temperamental differences between him and Rimsky-Korsakov forced the latter to resign. Balakirev’s finest work, the symphonic poem Tamara, was well received in Russia when it was premiered in 1883. In France, too, the textures of Russian orchestral color left musicians wonderstruck; to them Tamara was a revelation. In the same year, he became the Music Director of the Imperial Chapel; he nominated Rimsky-Korsakov as his assistant. In 1886, Balakirev was dropped from his publisher, Jurgenson’s roster after a dispute. The ties between Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov, already tenuous, finally snapped in 1890: the latter had held a gala to commemorate his own 25th anniversary as a composer, an event which the senior composer declined to attend. In 1894 Balakirev retired from the Imperial Chapel. His final public appearance was in 1898, when he conducted his First Symphony at the Free School. This symphony found acceptability with a new publisher, and enabled Balakirev to continue his work as a composer. Sadly, this phase of his work, the ‘Glinka’ Cantata (1904), a Second Symphony (1909) and others did not become popular. Over the years Balakirev had had conflicts with most of the people in his social circle, leaving him with just a few friends in his last days. He died in 1910, aged 73.
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