Garden, Edward

2019-02-15T14:25:33Z

2019-02-15T14:25:33Z

1969

There is not a single full-length study of Balakirev, his life and works in any language, and it is this gap in our knowledge of a composer who at last is slowly gaining the recognition he deserves, that the present critical study is intended to fill.

This extraordinary character is as contradictory a figure as can be found anywhere in the history of music: selfless and autocratic, helpful and domineering, thoroughly sincere and remarkably tactless. But does he deserve more than his place in history as the leader and mentor of the Russian national group of composers known erroneously in English speaking countries as "The Five"? We know that Tchaikovsky was wrong about "so many undeveloped, incorrectly developed, or prematurely decayed talents". Our knowledge of Borodin, if it goes no further than the second symphony, the second string quartet and "Prince Igor"; of Rimsky-Korsakov, if only in "Shehereazade" and an opera or two; and of Mussorgsky, perhaps particularly in "Boris Godunov", a few songs and "Pictures at an Exhibition", should preclude our taking Tchaikovsky's letter too seriously. But what were the "draw-backs", (if any) in Balakirev's talent to which he referred, and were they "fatal"? Are we to agree with César Cui, his one-time collaborator and a member of "The Five", that "he could have achieved more than he did achieve"? Was he "rather disobliging" or a "great-hearted man indeed"? The present enquiry endeavours to throw more light on such questions as these, light which it is hoped will not be thought unnecessary if only because the literature dealing with this subject is so scanty and often erroneous.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/34295

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2019 Block 22

Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev: a critical study of his life and music

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

PhD Doctor of Philosophy