have[317] there is a strong note of freedom not to be missed. His
Symphonic PoemTamaraand his fantasy for pianoforteIslamey
are remarkable for that semi-oriental exotic spirit so prevalent
in Russian music. Many of his songs also are of genuine beauty.
[Footnote 317: Towards the end of his life he destroyed many of
his compositions.]
Borodin (1834-1887) is the ne plus ultra example of that ver-
satility in which the modern Russian School is unique. As a
surgeon and doctor he enjoyed a high position; as a chemist he
made original researches and wrote treatises which were recog-
nized as distinct contributions to science; he was one of the ear-
liest scholars in the world to advocate that women should have
the same education as men and was one of the founders (about
1870) of a medical school for women in Petrograd. So tireless
was he in these varied activities, it seems a miracle that he could
also become one of the best pianists of his time (he played well
also the violin and the flute) and according to Liszt,[318] one of
the most able orchestral masters of the nineteenth century. But
as evidence of this amazing fact are his works, comprising two
symphonies (the second in B minor often heard in this country)
two string quartets, the first strikingly original, thematically,
harmonically and in idiomatic use of the instruments; a small
Suite for pianoforte, of which the Serenade is cited in the Supple-
ment; an opera,Le Prince Igor—remarkable for its picturesque
description and Oriental coloring, of which the composer him-
self said “Prince Igor is essentially a national opera, which can
be of interest only to us Russians who love to refresh our pa-
triotism at the sources of our history and to see the origins of
our nationality live again upon the stage;” a symphonic poem
Dans les Steppes de l’Asie centraleand—showing some of his
most characteristic work—theParaphraseswritten in collabo-
ration with Korsakoff, Liadoff and Cui as a kind of musical joke.
This composition,[319] a set of twenty-four variations founded
on the tune popularly known as “chop-sticks” is dedicated “to
little pianists capable of executing the theme with a finger of
each hand.” For the paraphrases themselves a player of consid-
erable technique is required. In Borodin’s style we always find
a glowing color-scheme of Slavic and Oriental elements. As a
modern Russian composer says, “It is individually descriptive
and extremely modern—so modern that the audience of to-day
will not be able to grasp all its intrinsic beauties.”