Alexander Borodin on AllMovie

Alexandre Borodin, the son of a prince, was a chemist for whom composing was a second occupation. He was one of several Russian composers in the later half of the 19th century who worked toward emphasizing native tunes, styles, and subjects in their music. This nationalistic character occurs throughout his work, and somewhat predetermines the extent to which it can be used as soundtrack material.

In the Soviet musical comedy Muzykalnaya istoriya (A Musical Story, 1940), a young cab driver aspires to become a singer, and becomes involved in a production of Borodin's Knyaz Igor (Prince Igor), among other works, staged by an amateur opera company. This richly historical work, composed in 1890 and completed and re-orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov, is considered one of the greatest of Russian operas. The libretto describes the resistance in the 12th century led by Prince Igor and his son Vladimir against the invading Polovtsians. They are captured but Igor escapes with his wife, and Vladimir marries the daughter of the Polovtsian leader Khan Konchak. The opera offers many thrilling choruses and dramatic arias, and the famous series of Polovtsian Dances which are often performed in a separate orchestral version (without the additional chorus). Prince Igor has received three productions, starting with the Soviet adventure film based on the opera, Knyaz Igor (1970), followed by a 1981 Russian production, and a 1990 U.K. television film.

Similar to A Musical Story, Borodin's works appear as part of a concert in Alegre ma non troppo (1994), a romantic comedy about a gay aspiring orchestral player, and as the accompaniment (quoted from Borodin's Symphony No. 2 in B Minor) to a dance performance in Isadora (1968) starring Vanessa Redgrave as the exuberant child-of-nature dancer Isadora Duncan who breathed new life into choreography by freeing it from centuries of dogmatic mannerisms, in the meanwhile attracting international attention to her sensational lifestyle and personality.

Although aesthetically controversial, to say the least, director Vincente Minelli's Kismet (1955), with songs and dances based on themes from Borodin's works, nevertheless introduces his music in an altered (some have said watered-down or trivialized) form to an audience that perhaps may seek out the original. The musical itself is beautifully and convincingly performed by the sonorous baritone of Howard Keel as the Poet and Ann Blyth as Marsinah. The modes of the quoted Borodin originals, pure Aeolian and Phrygian with some chromatic alterations, fit well with the fantasy Arabic atmosphere of the musical.

The most popular of the songs from the film was undoubtably the lyrical Stranger in Paradise which quotes the melody of the First Polovtsian Dance from the opera Prince Igor. This tune has received many independent performances and arrangements, and is instantly recognized by many. Perhaps the second most-remembered piece is the exquisite lyricism of And This Is My Beloved from the third movement Notturno (Nocturne) of Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D Major.

Other songs based on Borodin's oeuvre were He's in Love which follows the emphatic upward swoops of the Third Polovtsian Dance; Fate (one possible translation of the Arabic and Turkish word "kismet" that can also mean doom) which uses the dramatically punctuated theme from the first movement of the Symphony No. 2 in B Minor; and Gesticulate which maintains the same wild enthusiasm as the fourth movement theme of the Symphony No. 1 in E Flat Major from which it quotes.