The next man, Mily Balakirev (1837–1910), a country boy steeped in folk songs, became the founder and leader of this Group of Five. He founded a free music school in Petrograd and later became the conductor of the Royal Musical Society, of the Imperial Musical Society, and Imperial Chapel. His works are chiefly in symphony form, brilliantly and effectively orchestrated. Some of his piano pieces and songs are very beautiful, but his greatest gift to music was his careful study of Russian national story and song, and he furthered the revival of the Oriental in Russian musical art.
César Cui (1835–1918), born at Vilna, Poland, was the son of a French officer, and became a great authority on military science. He wrote eight operas which were more lyric than dramatic and, as Balakirev’s friend and first disciple among “The Five,” he helped this younger Russian School with his musical compositions and writings for the press.
Last but not the least of this “Five” is Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov (1844–1908), who was born in Novgorod, and while a student at the Petrograd Naval College, became an advocate of the theories of Balakirev to keep Russian music, Russian. While on a three-year cruise, he wrote his first symphony, and on another, as a young naval officer, he came to America.
Very soon he left the navy and became a teacher and conductor in Petrograd. He is best known in this country for his orchestral suite, Shéhérazade, which gives a glamorous picture of some of the stories from “The Arabian Nights” as told by the Persian Queen, Shéhérazade. Another famous thing of his, is his second symphony Antar. Probably no other person among the Russians could give you the effect and colorfulness of the Orient as Rimsky. He takes most of his stories from Russian legends and his operas are entrancing. The best of these are The Snow Maiden, Sadko, and the humorous, fantastic and tuneful Coq d’Or (“The Golden Cockerel”). He has written works for the piano, and some of the songs out of his operas, such as The Song of India and Shepherd Lehl are probably familiar to you.
These five men and the group including Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein, Sergei Tanieiev (1856–1915) and Tchaikovsky, were very antagonistic, as we said before, until finally some of the Five went on the staff of the various conservatories in Russia and the breach seemed to be healed; and now new men have appeared, out-distancing even the Five in modern harmony, Alexander Scriabin (1872–1919) and Igor Stravinsky (1882).
Coming after these celebrated Russians were Anton Arensky (1861–1906), Alexander Glazounov (1865), both writers of symphonies, piano pieces and chamber music, Anatole Liadov (1855–1914), Serge Liapounov (1859), Nikolai Medtner (1879), Catoire, Reinhold Glière (1875), Ippolitov Ivanov (1859), Alexander Gretchaninov (1864), Serge Vassilenko (1872), Theodor Akimenko and Sergei Rachmaninov (1873), who has spent many years in America where he is known as a brilliant composer and gifted pianist. (Page [409].)
Bohemia—Czecho-Slovakia
Another country rich in national characteristics, donning national costume in art music as well as in folk music, is Bohemia—or Czecho-Slovakia. It is the land of harp players, street musicians and the gypsy, where nearly everybody seems to be musical. The Esterhazy family, nobles who were patrons of Haydn and other composers, were Bohemians.
In Prague, their principal city, Gluck, Mozart, Weber and many other foreigners were appreciated when their own countries turned deaf ears to them, but it is not until the middle of the 19th century, that Bohemia gave the world its own composers. Among these were Frederick Smetana (1824–1884), a pupil of Liszt and a fine pianist. He became the opera conductor at Prague and like Beethoven, became afflicted with deafness, but it unbalanced his mind and he died in an insane asylum at sixty. He wrote a number of pieces for chamber combinations, symphonic poems, symphonies and operas of which the best known is the Bartered Bride, a picture of Bohemian life.
The greatest Bohemian and one of the ablest musicians of the 19th century, is Antonin Dvorak (pronounced Dvorjak) (1843–1904), a peasant and son of an innkeeper and butcher at Mühlhausen. Coming from the people, he was familiar with the folk songs, and although his father wanted him to be an innkeeper and butcher, Antonin used to follow the strolling players and showed a decided talent for music. He learned to sing, to play the violin and the organ, and studied harmony. Later he went to Prague to continue his work. He was very poor but Smetana befriended him, and five years after he entered school, he wrote his first string quartet. Thirteen years afterwards, he became organist at $60.00 a year at St. Adalbert’s Church. He is another man whom Liszt helped by performing his works and finding publishers for them. He became famous through his fascinating Slavonic Dances and was soon invited to London after his Stabat Mater had been performed there. He wrote The Spectre’s Bride for the Birmingham Festival of 1885, and his oratorio for the Leeds Festival, St. Ludmilla, in the following year. The University of Cambridge made him Doctor of Music and before that, he had been Professor of Music at the Prague Conservatory. Soon he came to New York and received a salary of $15,000 a year as director of the New York Conservatory of Music. Homesickness overcame him and he went back to Bohemia where his opera, Armide, was given before he died.