The Mighty Handful

The Mighty Handful (Moguchaya Kuchka / ??????? ????? in Russian), also known as The Five in English-speaking countries, was a label applied in 1867 by the critic Vladimir Stasov to a loose collection of Russian classical composers brought together under the leadership of Mily Balakirev with the aim of producing a specifically Russian music rather than imitating older European music.

Related Topics:
Vladimir Stasov - Russia - Classical - Composer - Mily Balakirev

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The other members of The Five were César Cui, Alexander Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Before them, Mikhail Glinka had gone some way towards producing a distinctly Russian kind of music, writing operas on Russian subjects, but The Mighty Handful represented the first concentrated attempt to develop such a music.

Related Topics:
César Cui - Alexander Borodin - Modest Mussorgsky - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Mikhail Glinka

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They influenced and taught many of the great Russian composers who were to follow, including Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Related Topics:
Sergei Prokofiev - Igor Stravinsky - Dmitri Shostakovich

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The name of Les Six, an even looser collection of French-speaking composers, is derived from 'The Five'.

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