Other of his works that are complete are
spotty, commingled dross and gold. He was a curiously uneven workman.
There appear to have been whole regions of his personality that remained
unsensitized. Part of him seems to have gone out toward a new free
Russian music; part of him seems to have been satisfied with the style
of the Italian operas in vogue in Russia during his youth. He who in the
dances from "Prince Igor" wrote some of the most pungent, supple, wild
of music could also write airs sweetly Italian and conventional. The
most free and ruddy and brave of his pages are juxtaposed with some of
the most soft and timid. In his opera a recitative of clear, passionate
accent serves to introduce a pretty cavatina; "Prince Igor's"
magnificent scene, so original and contained and vigorous, is followed
by a cloying duet worthy of a Tchaikowsky opera. The adagio of the
B-minor Symphony, lovely as it is, has not quite the solidity and weight
of the other movements. The happy, popular and brilliantly original
themes and ideas of the first quartet are organized with a distinct
unskilfulness, while the artistic value of the second is seriously
damaged by the cheapness of its cavatina. His workmanship continually
reminds one that Borodin was unable to devote himself entirely to
composition; that he could come to his writing table only at intervals,
only in hours of recreation; and that the government of the Tsar left
him to support himself by instructing in chemistry in the College of
Medicine and Surgery in Moscow, and kept him always something of an
amateur.
Pages:
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164