Borodin. Great chemist and musician
Among Russian scientists of the 19th century there is a very unusual and remarkable figure - Alexander Borodin (1833 - 1887). A person with unusually diverse gifts (chemist, composer and conductor, teacher, public figure, writer). But, most importantly, all his life he strived not to give up any of its sides, no matter how much they tried to persuade him to choose a specialization.
We will focus on its two most famous sides: the chemist and the musician. Majority educated people the second half of the 19th century, who had a diverse range of interests, were associated with the works of the famous Russian chemist A.P. Borodin with wonderful music written by composer A.P. Borodin. For them it was two different people. However, for those who knew A.P. closely. Borodin, the fact that all his achievements both as a musician and as a chemist coincided in time was striking. The ideas developed by Borodin in relation to one area flowed into another and activated work in it. He understood this better than others and, apparently, this was the main reason for his reluctance to give up any of the aspects of his talent. Thanks to interaction different sides Borodin created the foundations of organofluorine chemistry, the “Heroic” Symphony, and “Prince Igor”. And it is unknown which of these achievements was initiating.
He developed an interest in chemistry very early. His childhood friend M. Shchiglev recalled that “not only his own room, but almost the entire apartment was filled with jars, retorts and all sorts of chemical drugs. Jars with various crystalline solutions stood on the windows everywhere.” As a student, Nikolai Zinin became his teacher. Nikolai Nikolaevich highly appreciated the abilities of Borodin the chemist and considered him as his successor, but at the same time he did not approve of his passion for music. Borodin improved his scientific education abroad. The “Heidelberg Circle” was formed there, which included D. Mendeleev, I. Sechenov, E. Junge, A. Maikov, S. Eshevsky and others. As a chemist A.P. Borodin worked during the formation of the Russian chemical school. He was an associate of the “suitcase master” Dmitry Mendeleev and Alexander Butlerov. Main area scientific research Borodin was an organofluorine synthesis. He synthesized benzoyl fluoride. This substance subsequently made it possible to create freon, widely used in refrigerators, and fluoroplastic, a plastic used very widely, in particular, in the construction of artificial heart valves, which prolong the lives of many people. In addition, he carried out a number of studies, the results of which we still use today.
Having lived only 54 years, Borodin published more than 40 works, many of which in themselves could glorify him. outstanding person. He was among the initiators and founders of the Russian Chemical Society, worked in the Society of Russian Doctors, in the Society for the Preservation of Public Health, etc. His musical talent developed in parallel with his chemical one. With the same childhood friend - Misha Shchiglev - all the symphonies of L. van Beethoven, J. Haydn, F. Mendelssohn were played four hands. At the same time, as a child, he took up musical composition. His first serious recognition in this field was an invitation to join the “Mighty Handful”, an association of musicians (except Borodin - this is Mily Balakirev, Caesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov), who played significant role in the formation of Russian classical musical tradition(its “St. Petersburg” branch). For Borodin, joining the “Mighty Handful” allowed him to reach that level of professionalism, thanks to which his gift was embodied in the musical masterpieces he created. However, like Zinin, Mily Balakirev repeatedly suggested that Borodin focus on musical composition, leaving chemistry (Balakirev himself refused to develop his mathematical abilities).
It was to Borodin that the outstanding art critic Vladimir Stasov, who well understood the main motives of his work as a composer, proposed the idea of \u200b\u200bwriting an opera based on the plot of such a work as “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The concept of the opera perfectly corresponded to the peculiarities of the composer's creativity and penchant for epic images. And Borodin took up this task. In this note we will touch on only one aspect of its writing. What an achievement the opera “Prince Igor” became, vital role played by the fact that it was written by a person who organically combined the qualities of an outstanding scientist and outstanding musician. Writing its libretto (and Borodin wrote it himself) and musical numbers was preceded by a lot of research work. Alexander Porfirievich studies many sources related to the Lay and that era. These are chronicles, historical stories, studies about the “Word”. But he understood that in order for the opera to acquire the character of a genuine narrative, all this must be embodied in its musical structure. Authenticity had to come through in the music. And he takes up the study of old tunes, looking for in them what allowed him to create the melodic characteristics he needed. The most characteristic in this regard is the number called “Polovtsian Dances”. To create it, Alexander Borodin had to do more than just write melodies with oriental flavor. He needed to get as close as possible to musical material already disappeared people. He studies a large amount of musical material, actually conducts musical " archaeological excavations" And based on their results, he synthesizes (such as benzoyl fluoride or other substances created by him) melodies that characterize the life of the Polovtsian camp in the opera. The success of this research is evidenced by the fact that “Polovtsian Dances” became not only musical characteristic in the opera “Prince Igor”, but also that they acquired the status of an independent work. "Polovtsian dances" are performed and symphony orchestras, And ballet companies. A number of outstanding choreographers staged this number and how separate work and as part of an opera, which enhanced it as a work. Such careful work on the opera required a lot of time, and Alexander Porfiryevich was still conducting chemical research and working in social scientific organizations.
There is one more point characteristic of such outstanding figures. His research and composer activity(not to mention public) provided little means of subsistence. And Borodin also had to “earn extra money” by translating articles from chemistry journals, most of which were of very low quality. Such a load led to Borodin’s death at the age of 54. The opera “Prince Igor”, which took 18 years to write, was not finished. And only thanks to his friends from the “Mighty Handful”, who knew well the musical material being prepared (a number of numbers of the opera being written had already been performed at concerts of the Russian Musical Society) and who carefully sorted out his rough recordings, it was possible to complete it.
Russian media believed the fake news that James Hetfield from Metallica became a doctor of astrophysics. However, for some worldwide famous musicians actually have an advanced degree.
Online publications picked up the news that the leader of the cult band Metallica, James Hetfield, received a doctorate in astrophysics.
The media referred to a 7-month-old article in the Nevada County Scooper that the musician in his old age became interested in science and made a breakthrough in the field of “improving light refactoring and the influence of gravity on space telescope Hubble".
Even those who are far from the topic and did not notice the catch in this almost meaningless set of words doubted the honesty of the authors. In particular, the source quotes the musician in which he states that he does not have enough money to support his family, so he decided to take up extra work. Many saw this as an obvious fake, but the media one after another republished the news without even bothering to think about what was written.
However, in the world of music there are indeed people who have scientific degrees and have achieved success in other fields. Here are 5 of the most famous ones.
1. Brian May, Queen Guitarist
The author of many hits graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the prestigious Imperial College London. Brian had almost completed his PhD thesis on infrared astronomical research and had two scientific publications in astronomy when Queen's success forced him to abort scientific career.
However, he later returned to research activities and completed what he started with a degree from the University of Hertfordshire. On April 14, 2008, the musician was appointed rector of Liverpool John Moores University and held this position until March 2013. IN this moment Brian continues musical career V Queen and continues scientific activity in the field of theoretical physics and mathematics.
2. Bruce Dickinson, vocalist of Iron Maiden:
Dickinson's interests are truly large-scale. Bruce loves fencing. He has competed internationally (once being a member of the England Youth Olympic Team) and is the founder of the fencing equipment company Duellist.
Bruce's greatest passion is flying Boeing 757 jets as part of his job as a co-pilot for UK charter line Astraeus.
In an interview, he said that he received a degree in English literature, graduated from a correspondence university, and over the past few years have taken courses in criminology and legal law. In addition, Bruce is a writer, film scriptwriter and radio presenter.
3. Dexter Holland, lead singer of The Offspring
Holland holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Molecular Biology from the University of Southern California. In addition, Dexter has a pilot's license, and since April 2009 he has been a licensed instructor. The musician flew around the earth alone in ten days.
4. Kanye West
American rapper Kanye West received academic degree Doctor of Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago - one of the most authoritative specialized educational institutions in the USA (the title of Doctor in American system education approximately corresponds to the Russian degree of candidate of sciences). True, for the most part, the cap and gown turned out to be pure luck.
Kanye once studied at the University of Chicago, where he studied English and where his late mother taught, but abandoned classes due to his passion for rap music. I never received the “crust”. But I always wanted to listen to several lectures at the Art Institute, which I mentioned several times in interviews.
“When I once lectured at Oxford, I thought it would be easier if I could call myself a Doctor of Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago,” West once remarked, either jokingly or seriously. After which a member of the academic council of the Art Institute, Lisa Wainrine, actually proposed awarding the musician a doctorate. “I thought, wow, this is fantastic! Here is the main figure in modern culture, and he deserves this title!” she explained. Many university students thought this award just a farce, but the job was done.
5. Vladi, “Casta”
Vladislav Leshkevich, better known as Vladi from the rap group “Casta,” defended his dissertation on the topic “Market institutionalization of the post-crisis economy: options and tools for localizing uncertainty” in 2006 and became a candidate of economic sciences. Vladi has one too musical education- He graduated from a music school with a degree in guitar.
, .Category: , October 02, 2015 - 12:26, Tags ,
Today, less than half of university graduates manage to work in their profession. Some made their choice unconsciously, others did not meet their expectations regarding their chosen specialty, and the third decides to turn 90 degrees and devote his life to music. Exactly last category came under our close attention.
Style Insider decided to fantasize about the topic: what would you do today? successful musicians, if they started working in their profession. Who knows, perhaps, having acquired musical geniuses, the world has lost outstanding geneticists, astrophysicists or mathematicians.
What would you do: count stars and planets
In between writing "We Will Rock You" and "The Show Must Go On" May was pursuing a doctorate in astrophysics, doing astronomical research in the infrared, and producing two scientific publications on astronomy. Having graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Imperial College London, he was already completing his dissertation, but due to the popularity of Queen, his scientific career had to be interrupted. And only 37 years later, in 2007, May finally finished what he started.
What would you do: sit over a microscope
As surprising as it may sound, the author of “Why Don’t You Get a Job” and “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy),” Dexter Holland, received a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in molecular biology from the University of Southern California. He was prevented from obtaining a doctorate in molecular biology by the success of The Offspring.
What would you do: work as an art teacher or in English
Back in 1988, Thom Yorke decided to put his band On a Friday on hiatus to complete his bachelor's degree. fine arts and English from the University of Exeter. Soon after Tom and his bandmates completed their college commitments, they renamed themselves Radiohead, received a recording contract, and sold 30 million albums worldwide.
What would you do: count and measure
Dan is known as an electronic musician and Polaris Prize winner, but if you think there's some careful thinking behind his compositions, you're absolutely right. He received a PhD in mathematics from Imperial College in the UK, so when he wasn't writing music, he was writing about "superconvergent modular Siegel forms from a cohomological point of view."
What would you do: about the same as Dexter Holland
It is Mira who sings songs in Bulgarian in the English electro-pop group Ladytron. However, in addition to this, she is also fluent in the language of molecular genetics. While working as a research geneticist, she received her PhD from Oxford University.
On November 12, 1833, the famous Russian chemist, physician and composer Alexander Borodin was born. A boy who was considered a serf by right of birth and could not receive higher education, managed to become a professor, academician and founding member of the Russian Chemical Society.
Serf from his own father
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was born from an extramarital affair between a 62-year-old prince and a 25-year-old soldier's daughter. The boy's father, Luka Stepanovich Gedianov, came from an aristocratic Georgian family, so he could not recognize the child. The newborn was recorded as the son of Porfiry Ivanovich Borodin (Gedianov’s serf servant) and his wife, Tatyana Grigorievna - so the boy received someone else’s surname and patronymic.
Until the age of 8, the child was formally a serf of his own father, but before his death the prince still gave him his freedom and even bought a four-story house for Avdotya Konstantinova Antonova, the mother of his “illegitimate” son. There a young woman, who by that time had already been married to someone else, lived with her son - however, she had to introduce the boy to everyone she knew as a nephew.
The child grew up calm, flexible and very inquisitive.
A. P. Borodin. Portrait by Ilya Repin (1888) Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Study, study and study again
Since the son of a serf did not have the right to enter the gymnasium, the boy was educated at home. Even then it became clear that Sasha was interested in music - at the age of 9 he wrote the polka Helen, mastered the flute, piano, and later cello.
When he was about ten, the child became interested in chemistry. Some time later, Alexander was enrolled in the Novotorzhskoe third guild of merchants - this is how he received the legal right to graduate from high school and enter higher education. educational institution. Having passed the exams, the young man became a volunteer student at the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg.
The student was most interested in chemistry. In his third year, Borodin turned to his teacher, Professor Zinin (organic chemist and academician St. Petersburg Academy Sciences) with a request to study in an academic laboratory. All this time, the student studied music in parallel with his studies.
Medicine or music?
After graduation, the young doctor worked as a resident at the Second Military Land Hospital (where he met officer Mussorgsky, who was undergoing treatment), defended his doctoral dissertation, improved his knowledge at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and participated in international congress chemists in Karlsruhe together with Professor Zinenko and his friend Mendeleev... But music still occupied Borodin. In his apartment in Heidelberg (a German city where the young specialist lived and studied at one time) there was a piano, and the scientist often played for his guests.
And in 1861, the chemist met Ekaterina Protopopova, a young pianist who came to Europe for treatment. But soon the girl’s health deteriorated even more (she suffered from a chronic bronchopulmonary disease), and doctors advised her to go to Italy - the scientist accompanied her as a groom.
Founders of the Russian Chemical Society. 1868. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
"Prince Igor" and benzoyl fluoride
In his homeland, where the scientist and musician returned with his future wife, Borodin simultaneously built a scientific and musical career. There wasn’t enough money, so he had to work a lot, but he also found time for creativity. Borodin joined the circle of Miliya Balakirev (later it received the name " Mighty bunch") and the Belyaevsky circle.
Borodin is the author of more than 40 works on chemistry and many musical works, the most famous of which is the opera “Prince Igor”. Above last essay the musician worked for 18 years, but never had time to finish it - after Borodin’s death, his work was completed by two other composers: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. The opera had great success(it was staged in 1890 on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater) and is still considered one of the masterpieces of Russian opera.
But Borodin became famous not only for his “Prince Igor” - he is called the founder of Russian epic symphonism.
In chemistry famous composer also made several discoveries: for example, he invented a method for producing bromine-substituted hydrocarbons by the action of bromine on silver salts of acids (the so-called Borodin-Hunsdiecker reaction) and obtained an organofluorine compound (benzoyl fluoride).
Despite the fact that the figure devoted a significant part of his life to chemistry (he was even one of the founders of the Russian Chemical Society), music still brought him the greatest fame. Now the State Quartet bears the name of Borodin, as well as several music schools and streets in different cities Russia.
The scientist and composer himself said: “We owe everything we don’t have only to ourselves.”