Prince Igor is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the early Russian epic The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts the campaign of the 12th-century prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the invading Cuman ("Polovtsian") tribes in 1185. He also incorporated material drawn from two medieval Kievan chronicles. The opera was left unfinished upon the composer's death in 1887 and was edited and completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. It was first performed in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1890.
Title page of the published score. The text reads: "Prince Igor, opera in 4 acts with a prologue, words and music by A.P. Borodin, subject adapted from The Lay of Igor's Host."
Alexander Borodin
Vladimir Stasov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian-Russian extraction. He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as "The Five", a group dedicated to producing a "uniquely Russian" kind of classical music. Borodin is known best for his symphonies, his two string quartets, the symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia and his opera Prince Igor.
Borodin, c. 1865
Borodin at the age of 14
Portrait of Borodin by Ilya Repin, 1888
Tomb of Borodin in Tikhvin Cemetery. The musical notation in the background shows themes from "Gliding Dance of the Maidens" from Polovtsian Dances; "Song of the Dark Forest"; and the "Scherzo" theme from Symphony No. 3.