Russian composer; member of the "Mighty Handful" (other members were: Balakirev, Cui, Moussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov). These composers sought to write true Russian music and tried to generate a national school of Russian music. Borodin was an odd-man-out in this group. Originally trained as a doctor, he was appointed to a chair in chemistry at only 31 and acted as vice-chancellor for many years.

His private life was fairly chaotic; in his disorderly household he looked after his ailing wife and supported poor relatives as well as numerous cats. Composition was nothing more than an occasional sideline. The few works he tricked out of himself and put down on paper simply had to be squeezed into his hectic schedule. Notwithstanding these circumstances we find his symphonies e.g., amongst the most outstanding Russian examples of the genre. Nobody less than Franz Liszt was one of the first to recognise the merits of his First Symphony, which took Borodin five years to write! His Second used up seven years of the composer's time. This caused his friends to present him with a tortoise-shaped ashtray.

His output includes 3 symphonies, a piano quintet, 2 string quartets, songs, the opera Prince Igor and more.