Successful composers who are also distinguished medical school faculty members, as well as research chemists with over forty respected publications are rare, to say the least.\u00a0 Yet, that was Borodin, holding doctorates in both fields. Born an illegitimate serf, he nevertheless was fortunate to have a loving father (a member of the nobility), who took major steps to legitimize him, educate him, and situate him in the higher ranks of Russian society.\u00a0 From his earliest years he pursued equally avid interests in music and science.\u00a0 Many of his youthful musical compositions survive, he learned to play the violoncello well, and, with friends, studied, composed, and performed music with gusto.\u00a0 He entered medical school, discovered an interest in research chemistry, and spent a career in both endeavors.\u00a0 Typically, on trips to Europe he found time both to visit laboratories of well-known chemists, and to show his musical scores to Franz Liszt–an admirer of his work.<\/p>\n
Although he composed songs, piano works, chamber works, and symphonies, he is best remembered today for his unfinished opera, Prince Igor<\/em> (many will think of the famous \u201cPolovtsian Dances\u201d from that work) and, of course, In Central Asia<\/em>.\u00a0 Truth be told, he would probably be surprised that the latter work is almost his signature composition for today\u2019s audiences, for it is a modest one.\u00a0 He expended far greater effort on Prince Igor<\/em>, his very respected symphony in B minor, and his many chamber works\u2014for him, personally, they defined his career\u2019s successes.<\/p>\n In Central Asia<\/em> is a brief work intended to accompany a tableau (one of twelve, each with its own illustrative music by various Russian composers).\u00a0 These twelve tableaux vivants<\/em> were intended as a part of a general celebration in 1880 of the first twenty-five years of the reign of Czar Aleksandr II.\u00a0 After an assassination attempt (not uncommon in those days) the whole affair was canned, but Borodin\u2019s contribution was premi\u00e8red later in the year in another circumstance.\u00a0 One of the putative virtues of the Czar was his expansion of the Russian Empire (sound familiar?) to the East, and the scene that Borodin was assigned was a rough illustration of that.<\/p>\n The pictorial content of the music is clear, for Borodin included the following description in his score:<\/p>\n \u201cIn the silence of the monotonous steppes of Central Asia is heard the unfamiliar sound of a peaceful Russian song. From the distance we hear the approach of horses and camels and the bizarre and melancholy notes of an oriental melody. A caravan approaches, escorted by Russian soldiers, and continues safely on its way through the immense desert. It disappears slowly. The notes of the Russian and Asiatic melodies join in a common harmony, which dies away as the caravan disappears in the distance.\u201d<\/p>\n This romantic little piece consists of only three clear musical elements:\u00a0 a melody that evokes a Russian folksong, another one\u2014a very different one–that is intended to be in an \u201cEastern\u201d style, and constant pizzicato octaves in the strings that depict the animals of the caravan plodding along. Solos from the clarinet and horn with the Russian tune open the work, and shortly, the pizzicato strings evoke the caravan, followed by the exotic sound of the English horn with the \u201cOriental\u201d tune.\u00a0 Gradually, the Russian tune is treated to fuller and louder orchestration as the caravan happily moves along, obviously content and secure under the aegis of the \u201cprotection\u201d of the expanding Russian empire.\u00a0 The string section returns with a full treatment of the Eastern tune, and then all three elements are cleverly combined contrapuntally as we reach the climax.\u00a0 Gradually there is a musical fade out as apparently the caravan disappears into the distance, and we are left only with the solo flute playing the Russian tune.<\/p>\n –Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n \u00a9\u00a0 2015 William E. Runyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"program_note_tax":[14],"class_list":["post-53","program_note","type-program_note","status-publish","hentry","program_note_tax-alexanderborodin"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/program_note"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"program_note_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note_tax?post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}