The pioneers were Michail Glinka (d. 1857), whose orchestral pieces, including 2 unfinished symphonies and some chamber works, began before 1845, and who, though a pupil of Dehn, had the audacity of style to win Berlioz' cordial interest; 'Alexander Dargomyzski (d. 1869), whose orchestral efforts consisted only of fantasias on popular dances and songs; and Prince Yourij Galitzin (d. 1872), notable not as a composer, but for the orchestra that he organized about 1860 for the performance through Europe and America of Russian works.
'Mily Balakirew (d. 1910), born in 1836 and known as pianist from 1855 and as conductor at Prague and St. Petersburg from 1866 (retiring, however, in 1872), produced 3 overtures (Russian 1862, Czech, Spanish), the symphonic poem Tamara and a symphony (1897). He supplied much of the trained information that guided the projectors of the New-Russian movement about 1855—Alexander Borodin (d. 1887), Modest Mussorgski (d. 1881), César Cui and Nicolai Rimski-Korsakow—and his house was their original rendezvous (see sec. 232). The very influential opera-writer and critic Serow (d. 1871), though personally in close contact with the above, was not marked as an orchestral writer (see sec. 205).
Anton Rubinstein (d. 1894), most famous as a pianist (see secs. 202, 205), wrote in all 6 symphonies, beginning in 1854, of which the most famous are the 'Ocean' (1857) and the 'Dramatic' (1875), 3 overtures, a symphonic poem, 3 character-pictures and a suite, besides 5 piano-concertos and a large amount of chamber music. In spite of his critical predilections, his style links him closely with the Liszt movement, but with an instinctive adherence to methods in technical procedure recalling the German romanticists. His use of orchestral resources was lavish and rich, and the exuberance of his imagination often results in passages of beauty and power.
The modern master of Russian orchestral production, Peter Tschaikowski (d. 1893), with his 6 symphonies, 7 symphonic poems, 4 suites, exquisite chamber works, etc., lies outside the period here under consideration.
Brahms became known before 1850. This fact alone would
make reference to him here necessary, though his most effective
work was in the last period of the century. His maturity was
reached early, but the affiliations of his style were not at once
clear. Schumann believed him the opener of 'new paths'—meaning,
however, paths fresh in romantic imagination. At the
same moment Liszt counted him an accession to the ranks of
the New-Germans. And a little later Hanslick and others cited
his works as antidotes to Wagnerian heresies. It was amid incessant
and excited controversy in critical circles that he went
his way, calmly working out his impulses, sturdily holding his
independence, and finally taking his place as one of the foremost
geniuses of the century. His adherence in the main to
the older forms and methods, his love for rhythmic and metric
