16 Facts About Alexander Borodin

1.

Alexander Borodin was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as "The Five", a group dedicated to producing a uniquely Russian kind of classical music.

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2.

Doctor and chemist by profession and training, Alexander Borodin made important early contributions to organic chemistry.

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3.

Alexander Borodin was a promoter of education in Russia and founded the School of Medicine for Women in Saint Petersburg, where he taught until 1885.

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4.

Alexander Borodin was born in Saint Petersburg as an illegitimate son of a 62-year-old Georgian nobleman, Luka Stepanovich Gedevanishvili, and a married 25-year-old Russian woman, Evdokia Konstantinovna Antonova.

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5.

Alexander Borodin began taking lessons in composition from Mily Balakirev during 1862.

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6.

Alexander Borodin married Ekaterina Protopopova, a pianist, during 1863, with whom he adopted several daughters.

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7.

Alexander Borodin suffered poor health, having overcome cholera and several minor heart failures.

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8.

Alexander Borodin died suddenly during a ball at the Academy, and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Saint Petersburg.

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9.

Between 1859 and 1862 Alexander Borodin had a postdoctoral position at Heidelberg University.

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10.

Alexander Borodin worked in the laboratory of Emil Erlenmeyer working on benzene derivatives.

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11.

Alexander Borodin worked on self-condensation of small aldehydes in a process now known as the aldol reaction, the discovery of which is jointly credited to Borodin and Charles Adolphe Wurtz.

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12.

Alexander Borodin investigated the condensation of valerian aldehyde and oenanth aldehyde, which was reported by von Richter during 1869.

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13.

Alexander Borodin published his last full article during 1875 on reactions of amides and his last publication concerned a method for the identification of urea in animal urine.

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14.

Alexander Borodin based the thematic structure and instrumental texture of his pieces on those of Felix Mendelssohn.

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15.

Alexander Borodin's music is noted for its strong lyricism and rich harmonies.

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16.

In 1954, Alexander Borodin was posthumously awarded a Tony Award for this show.

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