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Image:Borodin-Bust.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Borodin's
tomb bust at Tikhvin Cemetery
Alexander Porfyrevich Borodin
(Алекса́&
#1085;др
Порфи́р&#
1100;евич
Бороди́&#
1085;) (November 12, 1833 – February 27,
1887) was a Russian composer who made his living
as a chemistry|chemist. He was a member of The
Five, or "The Mighty Handful", a group of
composers dedicated to producing a specifically
Russian music.

Borodin was born in Saint Petersburg, the
illegitimate son of a Georgia (country)|Georgian
Prince, Luka Gedevanishvili, who had him
registered instead as the son of one of his serfs.
He received a good education, including piano
lessons, but it was chemistry in which he
specialised, and he did not receive any formal
lessons in composition until 1863, when he was
taught by Mily Balakirev.

In 1869, Balakirev Conducting|conducted Borodin's
first symphony, and in the same year, Borodin
started on his second symphony. This new symphony
was a failure at its premiere, but Franz Liszt
arranged a performance of it in Germany in 1880,
and this brought Borodin some fame outside Russia.


Also in 1869, Borodin began work on his opera,
Prince Igor, seen by some to be his most
significant piece. It contains the Polovetsian
Dances, which are often performed as a stand-alone
work, and in that form probably constitute his
best known composition. Borodin left the opera
incomplete at his death, composition being slowed
by his heavy workload as a chemist. It was
completed posthumously by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
and Alexander Glazunov.

Despite being recognised as an accomplished
composer, Borodin always earned a living as a
chemist, and gained great respect in that field
also, being particularly noted for his work on
aldehydes. As a result, describing himself as a
"Sunday composer", he was not as prolific a
composer as many of his contemporaries, but he did
write the popular symphonic poem In the Steppes of
Central Asia, two string quartets of which the
String Quartet No. 2 (Borodin)|second, perhaps due
to its strong lyricism and the popular nocturne
movement, has become the more often performed, and
a handful of lied|songs and piano pieces. He also
started work on a third symphony, but that, also,
was incomplete at his death (two movements of it
were later completed by Glazunov).

Borodin's music is noted for its strong lyricalism
and rich harmonies. As a member of the famous
Russian five his music also contains a undeniably
Russian flavor. His passionate music and unusual
harmonies proved to have a lasting influence on
the younger french composers Claude Debussy and
Maurice Ravel. 

Borodin died on February 27, 1887 and was interred
in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky
Monastery, in St. Petersburg|St. Petersburg,
Russia. 

The Borodin String Quartet was named in his
honour.

In 1954, Borodin was posthumously awarded a Tony
Award for composition on the Broadway musical
Kismet (musical)|Kismet, by Robert Wright
(writer)|Robert Wright and George Forrest, which
reworked several of his compositions.

==Sound sample==
*media:Polovstian.ogg|Polovtsian Dances from
Prince Igor (.ogg format, 19 s, 89 KB) - possibly
Borodin's best known piece