BORODIN: LUCKY CHORD OF MUSIC AND SCIENCE

     Every young person, sooner or later, thinks about the question of what to devote his life to, how to ensure that his future work becomes a continuation of his childhood or youthful dream. Everything is simple if you are passionate about one, main goal in life. In this case, you can concentrate all your efforts on achieving it, without being distracted by other, secondary tasks.

      But what if you madly love nature, the underwater world, dream of circumnavigating the world, warm seas, fierce storms, are raving about the southern starry sky or the northern lights?  And at the same time, you want to become a doctor, like your parents. A serious question arises, a dilemma: to become a traveler, submariner, sea captain, astronomer or doctor.

      But what about a girl who was born with the dream of becoming an artist, but who really needs to become a physicist and come up with a formula to neutralize the land contaminated for hundreds of years, where her grandmother once lived not far from Chernobyl. I want to return it to my beloved granny  Homeland, lost  dreams, health…

    Art or science, pedagogy or sports, theater or space, family or geology, chess or music??? There are as many alternatives as there are people on Earth.

     Did you know that a very talented composer, who is also an outstanding chemist, who is also a renowned physician – Alexander Porfirievich Borodin – taught us a unique lesson in successfully combining several callings at once. And what is especially valuable: in all three completely different areas of human activity, he achieved worldwide recognition! Three professions, three hypostases – one person. Three different notes merged into a wonderful chord! 

      A.P. Borodin is interesting to us for another completely unusual fact. Due to the circumstances, he lived his entire life under someone else’s last name, with someone else’s patronymic. And he was forced to call his own mother aunt…

      Isn’t it time for us to look into this life, full of mysteries, of a very kind by nature, simple, sympathetic person?

       His father, Luka Stepanovich Gedianov, belonged to an old princely family, the founder of which was Gedey. During the reign  Tsar Ivan the Terrible (XVI century) Gedey “from  The hordes came with their Tatars to Rus’.” At baptism, that is, during the transition from the Mohammedan faith to the Orthodox faith, he received the name Nikolai. He served Rus’ faithfully. It is known that Luka Stepanovich’s great-grandmother was the princess of Imereti (Georgia).   

      Luka Stepanovich  fell in love  a young girl, Avdotya Konstantinovna Antonova. She was 35 years younger than him. Her father was a simple man, defended his homeland as a simple soldier.

      October 31, 1833 Luka Stepanovich and Avdotya had a son. They named him Alexander. He lived with this name all his life. But he could not inherit his surname and patronymic from his father. A too unequal marriage in those days could not take place officially. Such were the times then, such were the morals. Domostroy reigned. There were still almost thirty years left before the abolition of serfdom.

     Be that as it may, a person should not live without a surname. It was decided to give Alexander the patronymic and surname of Porfiry Ionovich Borodin, who worked for Gedianov as a valet (in other words, a room servant). He was a serf. For Sasha, this was a complete stranger. To hide the truth about the boy’s origins from people, he was asked to name his  real mother aunt.

      In those distant years, an unfree, serf person could not study not only in higher educational institutions, but even in a gymnasium. When Sasha turned eight years old, Luka Stepanovich gave him his freedom and freed him from serfdom. But  for admission  To enter a university, institute or state gymnasium, one also needed to belong to at least the middle class. And my mother had to ask for a monetary reward to enroll her son in the third (lowest) merchant guild.

      Sasha’s childhood was relatively uneventful. Class problems and belonging to the lower strata of civil society worried him little.

     From childhood he lived in the city, in its stone, lifeless labyrinths. I was deprived of the opportunity to communicate with wildlife and listen to village songs. He remembers well his first acquaintance with the “magical, bewitching music” of an old shabby organ. And let it creak, cough, and its melody was drowned out by the noise of the street: the clatter of horse hooves, the shouts of merchants walking, the sound of a hammer from the neighboring yard…

      Sometimes the wind carried the melodies of a brass band to Sasha’s yard. Military marches sounded. Semenovsky parade ground was located nearby. The soldiers honed their marching steps to the precise rhythm of the march.

     Remembering his childhood, the already adult Alexander Porfiryevich said: “Oh music! She always penetrated me to the bone!”

     Mom felt that her son was very different from other children. He especially stood out for his phenomenal memory and interest in music.

     There was a piano in Sasha’s house. The boy tried to select and play the marches he liked. Mom sometimes played the seven-string guitar. Occasionally, the songs of the maids could be heard from the maiden’s room of the manor’s house.

     Sasha grew up as a thin, sickly boy. The ignorant neighbors frightened my mother: “He won’t live long. Probably consumptive.” These terrible words forced the mother to take care of her son with renewed vigor and protect him. She didn’t want to believe these predictions. She did everything for Sasha. I dreamed of giving him the best education. He learned French and German early and became interested in watercolor painting and clay modeling. Music lessons began.

      In the gymnasium where Alexander entered, in addition to general education subjects, music was taught. Even before entering the gymnasium, he received primary musical knowledge. He played the piano and flute.  Moreover, together with his friend, he performed the symphonies of Beethoven and Haydn four hands. And yet, it is correct to consider that the first professional teacher  for Sasha it was the German Porman, a music teacher at the gymnasium.

     At the age of nine, Alexander composed the polka “Helen”.  Four years later he wrote his first significant work: a concerto for flute and piano. Then he learned to play the cello. He demonstrated an amazing penchant for fantasy. Isn’t it from here?  ability, having never been to hot countries,  years later, compose a musical picture “In Central Asia” with the measured tread of camels, the quiet rustle of the desert, the drawn-out song of a caravan driver.

      Very early, at the age of ten, he became interested in chemistry. Believe it or not, Borodin’s choice of this future profession was influenced by the festive explosions of pyrotechnics he saw as a child. Sasha looked at the beautiful fireworks differently than everyone else. He saw not so much the beauty in the night sky, but the mystery hidden in this beauty. Like a real scientist, he asked himself, why does it turn out so beautifully, how does it work, and what does it consist of?

     When Alexander turned 16, he had to decide where to go to study. None of my friends and relatives advocated for a musical career. Music was treated as a frivolous activity. They didn’t consider it a profession. Sasha at that time also did not plan to become a professional musician.

      The choice fell on the Medical-Surgical Academy. With a new document confirming his “belonging” to the merchants of the third guild, he entered the academy. He studied natural sciences: chemistry, zoology, botany, crystallography, physics, physiology, anatomy, medicine. During practical classes in anatomy, he received fatal blood poisoning through a tiny wound on his finger! Only a miracle helped save him – the timely, highly qualified help of Professor Besser, an employee of the academy, who happened to be nearby.

      Borodin loved to study. Through chemistry and physics, he communicated with nature and unraveled its secrets.

      He did not forget music, although he assessed his abilities too modestly. He considered himself an amateur in music and believed that he was playing “dirty.” In his free time from studying, he improved as a musician. I learned to compose music. Mastered playing the cello.

     Like Leonardo da Vinci, who was an artist and scientist, just like the poet and scientist Goethe, Borodin sought to combine his passion for science with his love of music. He saw creativity and beauty both there and there. Conquering  peaks in art and science, his ardent mind received true pleasure and was rewarded with new discoveries, new horizons of knowledge.

     Borodin jokingly called himself a “Sunday musician,” meaning he was busy first with study, and then with work, and lack of time for his favorite music. And among musicians the nickname “Alchemist” stuck to him.

      Sometimes during chemical experiments, he put everything aside. He was lost in thought, reproducing in his imagination the melody that suddenly visited him. I wrote down a successful musical phrase on some piece of paper. In his writing, he was helped by his excellent imagination and memory. The works were born in his head. He knew how to hear the orchestra in his imagination.

     You will probably be interested in knowing the secret of Alexander’s ability to do so many useful and necessary things that three people are not always able to do. First of all, he knew how to value time like no one else. He was extremely collected, focused on the main thing. He clearly planned his work and his time.

      And at the same time, he loved and knew how to joke and laugh. He was cheerful, cheerful, energetic. He fantasized about jokes. By the way, he became famous for composing satirical songs (for example, “Arrogance” and others). Borodin’s love for song was no coincidence. His work was characterized by folk song intonations.

     By nature, Alexander was open,  a friendly person. Pride and arrogance were alien to him. Helped everyone without fail. He reacted calmly and restrainedly to problems that arose. He was gentle with people. In everyday life he was unpretentious, indifferent to excessive comfort. Could sleep in any conditions. I often forgot about food.

     As an adult, he remained faithful to both science and music. Subsequently, over the years, passion for music began to slightly dominate.

     Alexander Porfiryevich never had much free time. He not only did not suffer from this (as it might seem to lovers of entertainment), on the contrary, he found great satisfaction and the joy of creativity in fruitful, intensive work. Of course, sometimes, especially closer to old age, he began to have doubts and sad thoughts about whether he had done the right thing by not focusing on one thing. He was always afraid of “being last.”  Life itself gave the answer to his doubts.

     He made many world-class discoveries in chemistry and medicine. Encyclopedias of countries around the world and special reference books contain information about his outstanding contribution to science. And his musical works live on the most prestigious stages, delight music connoisseurs, and inspire new generations of musicians.    

      most significant  Borodin’s work was the opera “Prince Igor”.  He was advised to write this epic Russian work by composer Mily Balakirev, the inspirer and organizer of a creative group of famous musicians of that time, called “The Mighty Handful. This opera was based on the plot of the poem “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”

      Borodin worked on the work for eighteen years, but never managed to complete it. When he passed away, Alexander Porfiryevich’s faithful friends, composers N.A. Rimsky – Korsakov and A.K. Glazunov completed the opera. The world heard this masterpiece not only thanks to Borodin’s talent, but also thanks to his wonderful character. No one would have helped to finalize the opera if he had not been a friendly, sociable person, always ready to help a friend. Selfish people, as a rule, are not helped.

      All his life he felt like a happy man, because he lived two  wonderful lives: musician and scientist. He never complained about fate, thanks to which he was born and lived with someone else’s surname, and died in someone else’s carnival costume at a masquerade during the celebration of Maslenitsa.

       A man with an unbending will, but with a very sensitive, vulnerable soul, he showed by his personal example that each of us is capable of working miracles.