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The Five ( rus, link=no, Могучая кучка, lit. ''Mighty Bunch''), also known as the Mighty Handful, The Mighty Five, and the New Russian School, were five prominent 19th-century Russian
composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...
who worked together to create a distinct national style of classical music:
Mily Balakirev Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (russian: Милий Алексеевич Балакирев,BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian: Miliy Alekseyevich Balakirev; ALA-LC system: ''Miliĭ Alekseevich Balakirev''; ISO 9 system: ''Milij Alekseevič Balakir ...
(the leader), César Cui,
Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin. They lived in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, and collaborated from 1856 to 1870.


History


Name

In May 1867 the critic
Vladimir Stasov Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (also Stassov; rus, Влади́мир Васи́льевич Ста́сов; 14 January Adoption_of_the_Gregorian_calendar#Adoption_in_Eastern_Europe.html" ;"title="/nowiki> O.S._2_January.html" ;"title="Adoption of ...
wrote an article, titled ''Mr. Balakirev's Slavic Concert'', covering a concert that had been performed for visiting Slav delegations at the "All-Russian Ethnographical Exhibition" in Moscow. The four Russian composers whose works were played at the concert were Mikhail Glinka,
Alexander Dargomyzhsky Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky ( rus, link=no, Александр Сергеевич Даргомыжский, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dargomyzhskiy., ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪdʑ dərɡɐˈmɨʂskʲɪj, Ru-Aleksandr-Sergeevich- ...
,
Mily Balakirev Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (russian: Милий Алексеевич Балакирев,BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian: Miliy Alekseyevich Balakirev; ALA-LC system: ''Miliĭ Alekseevich Balakirev''; ISO 9 system: ''Milij Alekseevič Balakir ...
, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The article ended with the following statement: The expression "mighty handful" (russian: Могучая кучка, ''Moguchaya kuchka'', "Mighty Bunch") was mocked by enemies of Balakirev and Stasov: Aleksandr Serov, academic circles of the conservatory, the Russian Musical Society, and their press supporters. The group ignored critics and continued operating under the moniker. This loose collection of composers gathered around Balakirev now included Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Borodin — the five who have come to be associated with the name "Mighty Handful", or sometimes "The Five".
Gerald Abraham Gerald Ernest Heal Abraham, (9 March 1904 – 18 March 1988) was an English-Jewish musicologist, editor and music critic. He was particularly respected as an authority on Russian music. Early career and author Abraham was born at Newport, Isl ...
stated flatly in the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' that "they never called themselves, nor were they ever called in Russia, 'The Five'" (although today the Russian equivalent "Пятёрка" ("Pyatyorka") is occasionally used to refer to this group). In his memoirs, Rimsky-Korsakov routinely refers to the group as "Balakirev's circle", and occasionally uses "The Mighty Handful", usually with an ironic tone. He also makes the following reference to "The Five": The Russian word ''kuchka'' also spawned the terms "kuchkism" and "kuchkist", which may be applied to artistic aims or works in tune with the sensibilities of the Mighty Handful. The name of
Les Six "Les Six" () is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's '' The Five'', originates in two 1920 articles by critic Henri Collet in ' ...
, an even looser collection of French-speaking composers, emulates that of "The Five".


Formation

The formation of the group began in 1856 with the first meeting of Balakirev and César Cui.
Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
joined them in 1857, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1861, and Alexander Borodin in 1862. All the composers in The Five were young men in 1862. Balakirev was 25, Cui 27, Mussorgsky 23, Borodin the eldest at 28, and Rimsky-Korsakov just 18. They were all self-trained amateurs. Borodin combined composing with a career in chemistry. Rimsky-Korsakov was a
naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contex ...
(he wrote his First Symphony on a three-year naval voyage circumnavigating the globe). Mussorgsky had been in the prestigious
Preobrazhensky Regiment The Preobrazhensky Life-Guards Regiment (russian: Преображенский лейб-гвардии полк, ''Preobrazhensky leyb-gvardii polk'') was a regiment of the Imperial Guard of the Imperial Russian Army from 1683 to 1917. The P ...
of the Imperial Guard, and then in the civil service before taking up music; even at the height of his career in the 1870s he was forced by the expense of his drinking habit to hold down a full-time job in the State Forestry Department. In contrast to the élite status and court connections of Conservatory composers such as
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...
, The Five were mainly from the minor gentry of the provinces. To some degree their '' esprit de corps'' depended on the myth, which they themselves created, of a movement that was more "authentically Russian," in the sense that it was closer to the native soil, than the classic academy. Spurred on by Russian nationalist ideas, the Five “sought to capture elements of rural Russian life, to build national pride, and to prevent western ideals from seeping into their culture.” Before them, Mikhail Glinka and
Alexander Dargomyzhsky Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky ( rus, link=no, Александр Сергеевич Даргомыжский, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dargomyzhskiy., ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪdʑ dərɡɐˈmɨʂskʲɪj, Ru-Aleksandr-Sergeevich- ...
had gone some way towards producing a distinctly Russian kind of music, writing operas on Russian subjects, but the Mighty Handful represented the first concentrated attempt to develop such a music, with Stasov as their artistic adviser and Dargomyzhsky as an elder statesman to the group, so to speak. The circle began to fall apart during the 1870s, no doubt partially due to the fact that Balakirev withdrew from musical life early in the decade for a period of time. All of "The Five" are buried in
Tikhvin Cemetery Tikhvin Cemetery (russian: Тихвинское кладбище) is a historic cemetery in the centre of Saint Petersburg. It is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and is one of four cemeteries in the complex. Since 1932 it has been part of the ...
in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.


Musical language


Stylization

The musical language The Five developed set them far apart from the Conservatoire. This self-conscious Russian styling was based on two elements: *They tried to incorporate in their music what they heard in village songs, in Cossack and
Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...
dances, in church chants and the tolling of church bells (to the point where the bell tolling became a cliché). The Five's music became filled with imitative sounds of Russian life. They also tried to reproduce the long-drawn, lyrical and
melisma Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is refer ...
tic peasant song, what Glinka had once called "the soul of Russian music." Balakirev made this possible by his study of songs from the Volga in the 1860s. More than any previous anthology, his transcriptions artfully preserved the distinctive aspects of Russian folk music: **Tonal mutability *:A tune seems to shift naturally from one
tonal center In music, the tonic is the first scale degree () of the diatonic scale (the first note of a scale) and the tonal center or final resolution tone that is commonly used in the final cadence in tonal (musical key-based) classical music, popular ...
to another, often ending up in a different key than the one in which the song began. This can produce a feeling of elusiveness, a lack of definition or of logical progression in the harmony. Even when stylized by The Five, this quality can make Russian music sound very different from the tonal structures of the West. **
Heterophony In music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time ...
*:A melody is simultaneously rendered by two or more performers in different variations. This is improvised by the singers until the end, when the song reverts to a single melodic line. **
Parallel fifth In music, consecutive fifths or parallel fifths are progressions in which the interval of a perfect fifth is followed by a ''different'' perfect fifth between the same two musical parts (or voices): for example, from C to D in one part alon ...
s, fourths, and thirds *:The effect lends Russian music a raw sonority missing entirely from the comparatively polished harmonies of Western music. *The Five also adopted a series of harmonic devices to create a distinct "Russian" style and color different from Western music. This "exotic" styling of "Russia" was not just self-conscious but entirely invented. None of these devices were actually used in Russian folk or church music: **
Whole tone scale In music, a whole-tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, there are only two complementary whole-tone scales, both six-note or '' hexatonic' ...
*:Although Glinka did not invent this scale, his application of it in the opera '' Ruslan and Lyudmila'' (1842) — most recognizable at the end of the festive overture — provided a characteristic harmonic and melodic device. This scale in "Russian" works often suggests evil or ominous personages or situations. It was used by all the major composers from Tchaikovsky (the appearance of the Countess's ghost in '' The Queen of Spades'') to Rimsky-Korsakov (in all his magic-story operas—''
Sadko Sadko (russian: Садко) is the principal character in a Russian medieval epic '' bylina''. He was an adventurer, merchant, and '' gusli'' musician from Novgorod. Textual notes "Sadko" is a version of the tale translated by Arthur Ransome ...
'', '' Kashchey the Deathless'' and '' The Invisible City of Kitezh''). Claude Debussy also uses this scale in his music, taking this, among many things, from the Russians. Later it became a standard device in horror-movie scores. **The Russian submediant *:Also linked to Glinka's ''Ruslan'', this is a harmonic pattern (in major mode) in which one upper part proceeds from the dominant pitch chromatically to the submediant while the other harmony parts remain constant. The most basic form of this pattern can be shown as follows (beginning with typical tonic): root-position tonic triad → root-position augmented tonic triad → 1st inversion submediant minor triad. A famous example of the Russian submediant occurs in the very opening bars of the third movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's '' Scheherezade''. ** Diminished or octatonic scale *:Rimsky-Korsakov first used this in his symphonic poem ''Sadko'' in 1867. This scale became a sort of Russian calling-card — a '' leitmotif'' of magic and menace used not just by Rimsky-Korsakov but all of his followers, above all Alexander Scriabin, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky and Olivier Messiaen (mode 2). **Modular rotation in sequences of thirds *:The Five made this device of Franz Liszt their own to base a loose symphonic-poem type of structure. This way, they could avoid the rigid Western laws of modulation in
sonata form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th c ...
, allowing the form of a musical composition to be shaped entirely by the "content" of the music (its programmatic statements and visual descriptions) rather than by formal laws of symmetry. This loose structure became especially important for Mussorgsky's ''
Pictures at an Exhibition ''Pictures at an Exhibition'', french: Tableaux d'une exposition, link=no is a suite of ten piano pieces, plus a recurring, varied Promenade theme, composed by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. The piece is Mussorgsky's most famous pia ...
'', a work that may have done more than any other to define the Russian style. **
Pentatonic scale A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many an ...
*:This stylistic aspect became used by every Russian nationalist composer.Figes, 391. Its distinctive feature is to have only five notes in the octave, rather than the seven of the
heptatonic scale A heptatonic scale is a musical scale that has seven pitches, or tones, per octave. Examples include the major scale or minor scale; e.g., in C major: C D E F G A B C—and in the relative minor, A minor, natural minor: A B C D E F G A; the m ...
s (e.g., major and minor). The pentatonic scale is one of the ways of suggesting a "primitive" folk-melodic style as well as the "Eastern" element (Middle East, Asia). A melodic example of the "major-mode" pentatonic scale (C-D-E-G-A) can be heard at the entrance of the chorus at the beginning of Borodin's ''
Prince Igor ''Prince Igor'' ( rus, Князь Игорь, Knyáz Ígor ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the Ancient Russian epic '' The Lay of Igor's Host'', which re ...
''.


Orientalism

One hallmark of "The Five" was its reliance on orientalism.Figes, 391. Many quintessentially "Russian" works were composed in orientalist style, such as Balakirev's ''
Islamey ''Islamey: Oriental Fantasy'' (russian: Исламей: Восточная фантазия), is a composition for piano by Russian composer Mily Balakirev written in 1869. Harold C. Schonberg noted that ''Islamey'' was "at one time…considered ...
'', Borodin's ''
Prince Igor ''Prince Igor'' ( rus, Князь Игорь, Knyáz Ígor ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the Ancient Russian epic '' The Lay of Igor's Host'', which re ...
'' and Rimsky-Korsakov's ''
Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade'' de ...
''.Figes, 391. Orientalism, in fact, became widely considered in the West both one of the best-known aspects of Russian music and a trait of Russian national character.Maes, 80. As leader of "The Five," Balakirev encouraged the use of eastern themes and harmonies to set their "Russian" music apart from the German symphonism of
Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein ( rus, Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн, r=Anton Grigor'evič Rubinštejn; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the Sa ...
and other Western-oriented composers.Figes, 391. Because Rimsky-Korsakov used Russian folk and oriental melodies in his First Symphony, Stasov and the other nationalists dubbed it the "First Russian Symphony," even though Rubinstein had written his ''Ocean'' Symphony a dozen years before it.Figes, 391. These were themes Balakirev had transcribed in the Caucasus.Figes, 391. "The symphony is good," Cui wrote to Rimsky-Korsakov in 1863, while the latter was out on naval deployment. "We played it a few days ago at Balakirev's—to the great pleasure of Stassov. It is really Russian. Only a Russian could have composed it, because it lacks the slightest trace of any stagnant Germanness."Rimsky-Korsakov, A.N., ''N.A. Rimskii-Korsakov: zhizn' i tvorchestvo'', vyp. 2 (Moscow, 1935), 31. Orientalism was not confined to using authentic Eastern melodies.Maes, Francis, tr. Pomerans, Arnold J. and Erica Pomerans, ''A History of Russian Music: From ''Kamarinskaya ''to'' Babi Yar (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2002), 82. What became more important than the melodies themselves were the musical conventions added to them. These conventions allowed orientalism to become an avenue for writing music on subjects considered unmentionable otherwise, such as political themes and erotic fantasies.Maes, 80. It also became a means of expressing Russian supremacy as the empire expanded under Alexander II.Maes, 80. This was often reinforced through
misogynist Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced f ...
symbolism—the rational, active and moral Western man versus the irrational, passive and immoral Eastern woman. Two major works entirely dominated by orientalism are Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite ''
Antar Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) is an independent, national non-government, not-for-profit, community-based organisation founded in 1997 which advocates for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in A ...
'' and Balakirev's symphonic poem ''Tamara''. ''Antar'', set in Arabia, uses two different styles of music, Western (Russian) and Eastern (Arabian). The first theme, Antar's, is masculine and Russian in character. The second theme, feminine and oriental in melodic contour, belongs to the queen, Gul Nazar. Rimsky-Korsakov was able to soften the implicit misogyny to some extent. However, female sensuality does exert a paralyzing, ultimately destructive influence. With Gul Nazar extinguishing Antar's life in a final embrace, the woman overcomes the man. Balakirev gives a more overtly misogynistic view of oriental women in ''Tamara''. He had originally planned to write a Caucasan dance called a ''lezginka'', modeled on Glinka, for this work. However, he discovered a poem by
Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...
about the beautiful Tamara, who lived in a tower alongside the gorge of Daryal.Maes, 83. She lured travelers and allowed them to enjoy a night of sensual delights, only to kill them and throw their bodies into the River Terek.Maes, 83. Balakirev uses two specific codes endemic to orientalism in writing ''Tamara''. The first code, based on obsessive rhythms, note repetitions, climactic effects and accelerated tempi, represents Dionysian intoxication. The second code, consisting of unpredictable rhythms, irregular phrasing and based on long passages with many repeat notes, augmented and diminished
intervals Interval may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers ** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to arbitrary partially ordered sets * A statistical level of measurement * Interval e ...
and extended
melisma Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is refer ...
s, depict sensual longing. Not only did Balakirev use these codes extensively, but he also attempted to supercharge them further when he revised the orchestration of ''Tamara'' in 1898.Maes, 83.


Quotations

Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...
provides the following picture of "The Mighty Handful" in his memoirs, ''Chronicle of My Musical Life'' (translated by J. A. Joffe):


Tastes


Balakirev


Abilities


Influence

Except perhaps for Cui, the members of this group influenced or taught many of the great Russian composers who were to follow, including Alexander Glazunov,
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Ипполи́тов-Ива́нов; 28 January 1935) was a Russian and Soviet composer, conductor and teacher. His music ranged from the late-Romantic era ...
,
Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...
, Igor Stravinsky, and Dmitri Shostakovich. They also influenced the two French symbolist composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy through their radical tonal language.


Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:155 PlotArea = width:620 height:135 left:100 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:Borodin value:tan1 id:Cui value:rgb(1,0.6,0.5) id:Balakirev value:lightorange id:Mussorgsky value:gray(0.8) id:Rimsky-Korsakov value:coral id:Ruler value:white Period = from:1830 till:1920 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1830 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:10 start:1830 Define $markred = text:"*" textcolor:red shift:(0,3) fontsize:10 PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:18 shift:(0,-5) bar:Ruler color:white text:"" from: 1830 till: 1855 color: orange text: Nicholas I from: 1855 till: 1881 color: yellow text: Alexander II from: 1881 till: 1894 color: orange text: Alexander III from: 1894 till: 1917 color: yellow text: Nicholas II from: 1917 till: 1920 color: red text:
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
bar:Borodin color:Borodin from: 1833 till: 1887 bar:Cui color:Cui from: 1835 till: 1918 bar:Balakirev color:Balakirev from: 1837 till: 1910 bar:Mussorgsky color:Mussorgsky from: 1839 till: 1881 bar:Rimsky-Korsakov color:Rimsky-Korsakov from: 1844 till: 1908 LineData= at:1855 color:black width:0.5 layer:back at:1881 color:black width:0.5 layer:back at:1894 color:black width:0.5 layer:back at:1917 color:black width:0.5 layer:back


See also

* Belyayev circle, successors to The Five *
List of Russian composers This is an alphabetical list of significant composers who were born or raised in Russia or the Russian Empire. A * Els Aarne (1917–1995), born in present-day Estonia * Evald Aav (1900–1939), born in present-day ...
* Tchaikovsky and the Five * American Five *
Group of Eight (music) The Group of Eight (also known by its Spanish name ) was a group of Spanish composers and musicologists, including Jesús Bal y Gay, Ernesto Halffter and his brother Rodolfo, Juan José Mantecón, Julián Bautista, Fernando Remacha, Rosa Garc ...
, Spanish composers *
Les Six "Les Six" () is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's '' The Five'', originates in two 1920 articles by critic Henri Collet in ' ...


References


External links


The Article about The Five in "1000 years of Russian Music"

Russian musical influences of The Five on works of Claude Debussy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Five, The Russian classical composers Articles which contain graphical timelines