Alexander Borodin
Alexander Borodin (1833-87), Russian composer. He trained as a doctor and was assistant professor of chemistry at St Petersburg medical academy; he later founded a school of medicine for women. All his musical composition was done in his spare time, as relaxation. His music has a typically Russian character. His best-known works are the unfinished opera Prince Igor, which contains the Tolovtsian Dances’, and the symphonic sketch In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880).