Five, The
Five, The,
name of a group of late 19th-century Russian composers. They were BalakirevBalakirev, Mili Alekseyevich, 1837–1910, Russian composer and conductor, leader of the group called the Five. He founded (1862) the Free School of Music in St. Petersburg and conducted (1867–69) the Russian Music Society and (1883–94) the Imperial Chapel Choir
..... Click the link for more information. , the leader, CuiCui, César Antonovich
, 1835–1918, Russian composer and critic, a military engineer by profession. As a music critic in St. Petersburg and Paris, he championed the group of nationalist Russian composers known as The Five, consisting of Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev,
..... Click the link for more information. , MoussorgskyMoussorgsky, Modest Petrovich
, 1839–81, Russian composer. His name is also transliterated as Mussorgsky and Musorgsky. He was one of the first to promote a national Russian style.
..... Click the link for more information. , BorodinBorodin, Aleksandr Porfirevich
, 1833–87, Russian composer, chemist, and physician. He studied at the academy of medicine in St. Petersburg, where he later taught chemistry. He also helped found a school of medicine for women.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Rimsky-KorsakovRimsky-Korsakov, Nicolai Andreyevich
, 1844–1908, Russian composer; one of the group of nationalist composers called The Five. He prepared himself for a naval career, but after meeting Balakirev in 1861 he turned seriously to composing.
..... Click the link for more information. . These men, united by a nationalistic fervor, tried to write music of distinctively Russian character, drawing on the history, literature, and folklore of their country.
Bibliography
See V. I. Seroff, The Mighty Five (1948); M. O. Zetlin, The Five (tr. 1959).