Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (UK: /bə-ˈlæk-ɪ-rɛv/, US: /ˌbɑː-lɑː-ˈkɪər-ɛf/; Russian: Милий Алексеевич Балакирев, pronounced [ˈmʲilʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsʲe(j)ɪvʲɪdʑ bɐˈlakʲɪrʲɪf]; 2 January 1837 [O.S. 21 December 1836] – 29 May [O.S. 16 May] 1910) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is best known for supporting musical nationalism and helping other famous Russian composers, such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He started his career as an important figure, continuing the work of composer Mikhail Glinka to blend traditional folk music with new classical music ideas. Balakirev created musical patterns that clearly expressed national pride. After a mental health crisis and a break from work, he returned to music but had less influence than before.
In the late 1850s and early 1860s, Balakirev worked with critic Vladimir Stasov to bring together a group of composers later called The Five (also known as The Mighty Handful). The group included Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. For many years, Balakirev was the only professional musician in the group; the others were amateurs with limited musical training. He taught them his ideas about music, which shaped their work even after he left the group in 1871. He also supported their compositions. Although his methods were sometimes strict, his influence helped these composers gain recognition individually and as a group. He also supported Tchaikovsky twice: first with the fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet (1868–69) and later with the Manfred Symphony (1882–85).
As a composer, Balakirev often took many years to finish his works. He started his First Symphony in 1864 but completed it in 1897. The exception was his piano piece Islamey, an oriental fantasy, which he wrote quickly and remains popular among skilled musicians. Many musical ideas later associated with Rimsky-Korsakov or Borodin first appeared in Balakirev’s compositions, which he performed at informal meetings of The Five. However, his slow progress in completing public works meant he did not receive credit for his creativity. Works that might have been successful in the 1860s and 1870s had less impact when they were finally completed.
Balakirev began writing his Second Symphony in D minor in 1900 but did not finish it until 1908.
Life
Balakirev was born in Nizhny Novgorod to a noble Russian family. His father, Alexey Konstantinovich Balakirev (1809–1869), was a government official who came from a long family line. This family traced its history to Ivan Vasilievich Balakirev, a Moscow noble and military leader who fought against the Khanate of Kazan in 1544. Another ancestor, Andrei Simonovich Balakirev, helped defend Moscow during the 1618 Siege of Moscow and was given land in Nizhny Novgorod. A story about a Tatar ancestor who fought in the Battle of Kulikovo was made up by Balakirev, but there is no proof it is true.
Balakirev’s mother was Elizaveta Ivanovna Balakireva, born Yasherova. Her father, Ivan Vasilievich Yasherov, was given a noble title after rising from a government position to become a State Councillor. The name "Mily," which Balakirev was given, came from either the Russian word for "nice" or the Greek name for an island. His mother taught him piano starting at age four and took him to Moscow for piano lessons with Alexander Dubuque when he was ten. She died in 1847 from smallpox.
Balakirev studied at a school in Nizhny Novgorod. After his mother’s death, he moved to a special school for noble students, where he studied from 1849 to 1853. His musical talent was noticed by Alexander Ulybyshev, a wealthy and influential music patron in the area. Ulybyshev owned a large music library and wrote books about composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Balakirev’s music lessons were taught by pianist Karl Eisrach, who also organized musical events at Ulybyshev’s estate. Eisrach and Ulybyshev gave Balakirev access to music by Frédéric Chopin and Mikhail Glinka. They also let him rehearse with Ulybyshev’s private orchestra. At age 14, Balakirev conducted a performance of Mozart’s Requiem. At 15, he led rehearsals of Beethoven’s First and Eighth Symphonies. His earliest surviving compositions include a septet (a piece for seven musicians) and a fantasy based on Russian folk songs.
In 1853, Balakirev left his school and entered the University of Kazan to study mathematics. He became known in his community as a pianist and earned money by teaching students. During holidays, he visited Nizhny Novgorod or Ulybyshev’s estate, where he played Beethoven sonatas to help his patron write about the composer. His works from this time include a piano fantasy based on themes from Glinka’s opera A Life for the Tsar, a string quartet, and the opening movement of his First Piano Concerto.
After finishing his studies in 1855, Ulybyshev took Balakirev to Saint Petersburg, where he met Glinka. Though Glinka thought Balakirev’s musical skills were not yet strong, he praised his talent and encouraged him to pursue music. Balakirev gave his first public performance in 1856, playing a movement from his First Piano Concerto. He later performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto before the Tsar and published 12 songs in 1859. Despite his success, he struggled financially, relying on piano lessons and performances at aristocratic events.
After Glinka and Ulybyshev died, Balakirev lost key supporters but became passionate about creating a unique Russian style of music. He gathered other composers who shared his vision, including Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Alexander Borodin. Together with César Cui, they became known as "The Five." Balakirev taught them to compose through experience, not formal training, but later insisted they follow his musical ideas strictly. This caused conflicts, as some composers grew tired of his strict control.
Balakirev’s influence coincided with a time of change in Russia, when new institutions like the Russian Musical Society and music conservatories were created. These organizations helped shape the future of Russian music, though Balakirev’s methods and ideas remained controversial.
Personal life
Balakirev did not marry and had no children, as no records mention any. In his early years, he held liberal political views, believed in personal freedom of thought, and did not believe in God. For a time, he considered writing an opera based on a novel by Chernishevsky titled What is to Be Done?. In the late 1860s, he visited a person who claimed to predict the future to learn about his destiny with the Russian Musical Society. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that Balakirev, who did not believe in God, began to believe in the Devil. The Devil, according to Rimsky-Korsakov, later led Balakirev to believe in God as well. These sessions caused him great fear.
After a mental breakdown, Balakirev found comfort in the strictest group of Russian Orthodox Christians. He dated his religious conversion to March 1871, the anniversary of his mother’s death. No letters or diaries from this time remain, so the exact details of his conversion are unknown. Rimsky-Korsakov described some of Balakirev’s unusual behaviors during this period, such as refusing to eat meat and only eating fish that had died naturally. He would remove his hat and cross himself quickly when passing a church. He also showed great care for animals, releasing insects he found indoors by saying, “Go thee, deary, in the Lord, go!” Balakirev lived alone in a home filled with dogs, cats, and religious images. The only time he socialized was during musical gatherings he held on Tuesdays after returning to music in the 1870s and 1880s. He also became politically conservative, opposed foreign influences, and praised members of the royal family in religious songs.
Rimsky-Korsakov noted that some of Balakirev’s traits existed before his conversion but became stronger afterward. This included his intolerance of opposing views, especially his anti-Semitism. His criticism of Anton Rubinstein in the 1860s became harsh and anti-Semitic, and Jews were not allowed in the Free School during his earlier leadership. After his conversion, he suspected people he disliked were Jewish and blamed Jews for crucifying Christ. He became aggressive in religious discussions, insisting friends cross themselves and attend church with him. Rimsky-Korsakov described Balakirev’s behavior as a mix of kindness, cruelty, love for animals, dislike of people, artistic interests, and trivial concerns. These traits grew more extreme over time.
Music
Balakirev became an important figure in Russian music history because of his compositions and leadership. More than Glinka, he helped shape Russian orchestral music and lyrical songs during the second half of the 19th century. He learned from Glinka how to use Russian folk songs in instrumental music and from Hector Berlioz how to write clearly and brightly for an orchestra. He also used many elements of his own style, but he improved and expanded on what he learned, combining it with Romantic techniques that were popular at the time.
However, the long time it took to complete some of his works made it harder for people to recognize how creative he was. Pieces that could have been successful in the 1860s and 1870s had less impact when they were finally completed later in his life. This was partly because younger composers had already created new styles, and some of Balakirev’s ideas were used by others in The Five, like Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, which was influenced by Balakirev’s Tamara. Another issue was that he spent too much time refining details, which made his later works seem less fresh and inspired.
Despite the long time he took to complete his works, there was no clear difference between the sections of his two symphonies written in the 1860s and those written later. Zetlin said that Balakirev’s talent did not decrease, but he stopped evolving as an artist. His newer works seemed to repeat ideas from the past.
Balakirev’s early experience as a pianist influenced the style of his compositions. He wrote music in many of the same genres as Frédéric Chopin, except for the Ballade, and his work had a similar charm. Another pianist who influenced him was Franz Liszt, as seen in Islamey and his arrangements of other composers’ works, including Tamara.
Balakirev’s use of folk music was most similar to Glinka’s. However, he improved on Glinka’s method of using “variations with changing backgrounds,” blending classical techniques with the unique qualities of folk songs. He used methods like breaking down musical ideas into smaller parts, combining melodies in complex ways, and using relationships between musical keys.
Balakirev became interested in collecting and arranging folk songs. This work showed him that many Russian melodies often used the Dorian mode, shifted between major and minor keys, and emphasized notes that did not follow traditional harmony rules. These features appeared in his own use of folk music.
Although The Five often avoided German musical styles, Balakirev was well-versed in German symphonic traditions. This was especially impressive because he was mostly self-taught. His King Lear overture, written when he was 22, was more similar to Beethoven’s concert overtures than to Liszt’s symphonic poems, focusing on the dramatic structure of sonata form.
In his First Overture on Russian Themes, Balakirev focused on creating symphonic works with Russian character. He used folk songs from collections available at the time, following Glinka’s Kamarinskaya as a model. He took a slow song for the introduction and paired two songs with similar structures for the fast section. This was a new approach, linking symphonic form with Glinka’s variations on a repeating pattern.
The Second Overture on Russian Themes shows more complexity. Balakirev used Beethoven’s method of creating short musical ideas from longer themes, combining them into a detailed structure. This overture can be seen as both an example of abstract composition and a statement about Russian identity. It used folk songs to create large-scale symphonic works, paying special attention to protyazhnaya songs, which have flexible rhythms, uneven phrases, and uncertain tonal centers. Balakirev used these features to build larger musical structures, moving away from traditional tonal relationships and using techniques similar to Liszt and Schumann.
Like other members of The Five, Balakirev believed in program music—music inspired by stories or other non-musical ideas. However, for him, the musical form always came first, not the story or image. His overtures helped shape Russian symphonic music by introducing a style now considered “Russian.” His style influenced other composers, such as Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia, and Tchaikovsky’s Little Russian Symphony.
Balakirev began his First Symphony after finishing the Second Overture, but he paused to work on an Overture on Czech Themes. He returned to the symphony 30 years later, finishing it in 1897. Letters show that the first movement was mostly completed, and the final movement was sketched, though he later added a new theme for the finale. While he delayed adding folk material to the finale, he wanted to include a new religious element in the opening movement. The structure of this movement was unusual: the slow introduction introduced the main theme, and the allegro vivo section had three parts—exposition, second exposition, and development—instead of the usual exposition, development, and recapitulation. This structure showed a progression of complexity, which was ahead of its time and similar to later works by Jean Sibelius.
Balakirev also expanded on the oriental style in Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila, making it a more consistent part of his own musical style. This style appears in his use of Georgian themes.