By GINA LEVINSON

On December 4, the Department of Vocal Arts and the Collaborative Piano Department will present an evening of Russian song by the composers known as the "Big Five" or the "Mighty Handful" (in Russian, moguchaya Kuchka).

The national characteristics of Russian music might seem to be a given, but they were hardly so at the time these composers came to the fore in the second half of the 19th century. When Peter the Great declared St. Petersburg the capital of Russia in 1712, it was part of an effort to inspire his backward nation to become more westernized through access to a port city. Over the next century, St. Petersburg did indeed become an influential European power under Catherine the Great and her successors. On the heels of the Decembrist Revolution of 1825 (led by liberal aristocrats inspired by the principles of the French Revolution following Alexander the Great's death) came a period of extreme repression under the rule of Nicholas I. Under this near police state, where education and reform may as well have not existed, came the first great flowering of Russian national art. Among the writers working in St. Petersburg at this time were Pushkin, Turgenev, Gogol, and Dostoevsky. And it was also during this time and shortly following that the Big Five came into being.

The composers known as the "Big Five" were instrumental in establishing a Russian nationalist identity that led to a clear shift away from European influence.

The critic and journalist Vladimir Stassov (1824-1906) was a champion of the Russian nationalism movement. He was a person of immense enthusiasm who possessed a unique gift of sociability. Appointed head of the St. Petersburg Public Library's art department in 1872, Stassov used his prominence to lobby for the importance and excellence of Russian national music and art. He was particularly known as the supporter of Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), whom he regarded as the progenitor of a uniquely Russian manifestation of classical music that incorporated folk themes. Stassov helped to lay the foundation of these populist principles and encourage their flowering in a new generation of composers, who became known as the "Big Five." The intellectual and social leader of this new assemblage of Russian talent, he was an advocate for all that was new in the world of art throughout his entire life.

The self-appointed leader of the "Big Five" was Mily Balakirev (1837-1910). Upon arriving in St. Petersburg, he met Glinka and was greatly influenced by the elder composer's nationalistic musical goals. César Cui (1835-1918), a military engineer by trade, was also both a published critic and composer. As a devotee of Balakirev, he was one of the main spokesmen for this new Russian school, along with Stassov. Joining them were Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881), Aleksander Borodin (1833-1887), and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908). The "Big Five" were liberal and self-trained, as opposed to the conservative and formally trained musicians of the Russian Music Society, and had a strong opposition to European-trained composers. They preferred originality to the technique that was being taught at the conservatories at the time. (Stassov even claimed that the conservatories were harmful—that they were "breeding grounds for talentless people.") As none of them had formal training, the "Big Five" learned from each other through trial and error. It was Stassov who dubbed the group the "Mighty Handful" in an 1867 review. Indeed, there was something "mighty" about the rapid pace of their growth and development. Although they never referred to themselves as such, their belief in the Russian nationalistic school led to a clear shift away from the European influence to a truly unique Russian sound, which has delighted listeners across the world to this day.

Mussorgsky was considered to be one of the most original and influential of the 19th-century Russian composers. He was a military officer—that is, when he wasn't let go for frequent bouts of alcoholism and mania. His music was primarily based on the scales of Russian folk music and he utilized bold harmonies that were unorthodox for his time. His songs (among the finest of the 19th century) reflect his desire to reproduce the rhythm and contours of Russian speech. His operatic masterpiece, Boris Godunov, is set to the drama of Russian author Aleksander Pushkin. This monumental work is unusual in its musical and dramatic use of the chorus, and is admired continually for its unparalleled psychological insight. Other well-known works of Mussorgsky include Pictures at an Exhibition and the song cycles The Nursery and Songs and Dances of Death. The latter cycle is a setting of words by Mussorgsky's close friend, Count Arseni Gelonishchev-Kutuzov. It portrays Death as the resting-place for a sick child, as a knight claiming his bride, as the dancing partner of a drunken peasant … and finally, as a commander counting his spoils on the battlefield. On the upcoming concert, mezzo-soprano Alison Tupay and baritone Anton Belov will each perform two songs from Songs and Dances of Death.

Liederabend: An Evening of Russian Song Paul Hall Thursday, Dec. 4, 6 p.m. For ticket information, please see the calendar.

Borodin was a renowned scientist and professor of chemistry at the St. Petersburg Military Academy, where he both taught and did research. Unlike the other composers of the "Big Five," who drew on Russian folk melodies for inspiration, Borodin did not—preferring to relate his music to images of Russian places and legends. In 1869 he began the opera Prince Igor (completed by Rimsky Korsakov after Borodin's untimely death). He is also famous for his string quartets and 16 art songs—for most of which he wrote the text himself. Bass-baritone Daniel Gross will sing four of these songs on this program (as well as on his solo recital on November 15 at Paul Hall). "The Sleeping Princess" is a fairy-tale-like lullaby that seems to pave the way for the songs of Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky, with its use of the whole-tone scale and unresolved minor seconds. "Song of the Dark Forest" is a brooding and powerful setting of a Russian folk legend. "For the Shores of Your Distant Homeland," his most well known song, is a deeply romantic and impassioned work about the loss of a loved one. Last is "Pride," a humorous tale of how Pride parades around "all puffed up."

Rimsky-Korsakov is remembered today for the freshness and brilliance of his instrumentation and is regarded by many as one of classical music's paramount orchestrators. A pre-eminent teacher in Russia, he taught himself theory and harmony as he was teaching his students, and is recognized today for his re-orchestration of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and for his symphonic suite Sheherazade. Soprano Hanan Alattar will present four songs of Rimsky-Korsakov.

Like Stassov, Cui wrote numerous articles of music criticism. As a composer, his output was tremendous: some 14 operas, including four children's operas. He wrote several hundred songs (in Russian, French, Polish, and German), many piano pieces and chamber works, and several orchestral and choral works. Orientale is perhaps his best known work, originally for violin and piano, and now transcribed for everything from piano duet to Hawaiian guitar. Bass Alvin Crawford will present Cui's The Statue of Tsarboyeselo and Mussorgsky's famous The Song of the Flea.

Balakirev wholeheartedly employed Russian folk melodies in his compositions and used Russian folk tales as a basis for his symphonic poems Tamara and Russia, as well as his fantasia for piano, Islamey—arguably one of the most challenging and virtuosic pieces ever written for the keyboard. Devoted to the concept of Russian nationalism, he was one of the founders of the "Free School of Music" in St. Petersburg, which as its name suggests provided tuition free music education. At press time, his music has not been programmed on the concert. But baritone Alex Hajek will sing three songs of the Russian composer Sergei Taneev (1856-1915)—another Russian composer who associated with them.

Gina Levinson is Russian diction coach for the Vocal Arts Department.