Mily Balakirev (1836-1910)

Balakirev was the leader of the "Moguchaya Kuchka". He was the only one who had met Glinka personally, and he sought to continue in the nationalistic direction that Glinka had been going. Although Glinka's nationalistic ideas consisted mostly of including folk material in serious music, Balakirev took a passionate political approach to establishing Nationalism as the dominant musical style in Russia. His orchestral pieces outline a fascinating development, first departing from Glinka's Kamarinskaya and ending in a style which, especially harmonically, is an antithesis of Western European developments. More on Balakirev's influence on the Kuchka later.