The Belyayev circle was a society of Russian musicians, based in St. Petersburg, founded by timber merchant and philantrophist Mitrofan Belyayev in the 1880s, and whose members included Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov and Anatoly Lyadov. The circle was initially an outgrowth of the weekly "quartet Fridays" ("Les Vendredis") held at Belyayev's home and stemmed also from Belyayev's keen interest in the musical future of the teenage Glazunov,^[1] who had been one of Rimsky-Korsakov's composition students.

The musical scene in St. Petersburg came to be dominated by this group of young composers, headed by Rimsky-Korsakov since he had taught many of them at the Conservatory there. Composers who wished to be part of this circle and who desired Belyayev's patronage had to write in a musical style approved by Glazunov, Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov. Because of this, Rimsky-Korsakov's style became the preferred academic style—one that young composers had to follow if they hoped to have any sort of career. Those who opposed the Belyayev circle did not fail to notice this bias, As noted in a review by Alfred Nurok:^[2]

Mr. Beliaev's Maecenas activities bear a very special imprint. His undeniably lavish patronage of Russian music of the newest vareity does not, unfortunately, so much facilitate the development of the tqalents of gifted but as yet unrecognized composers, as it encourages young people who have successfully completed their conservatory course to cultivate productivity come what may, touching little upon the question of their creative abilities. Mr. Beliaev encourages industry above all, and under his aegis musical composition has assumed the character of a workers' collective (artel), or even a crafts industry.^[3]

The Belayev circle ran counter in its philosophy to the artistic movement and magazine Mir iskusstva (Russian: «Мир иску́сства», World of Art), which in itself would considerably influence European art during the first decade of the 20th century. This group, founded in 1898, included Alexandre Benois, Konstantin Somov, Dmitry Filosofov, Léon Bakst, and Eugene Lansere. From 1909, many of the miriskusniki (i.e., members of the movement) also contributed to the Ballets Russes company operating in Paris.

[edit] Comparison to The Five

In comparing Balakirev's circle of composers to the Belyayev circle, Rimsky-Korsakov writes,

The similarity, indicating that Byelayev's circle was a continuation of Balakirev's circle ... consisted in the advanced ideas, the progressivism, common to the two of them. But Balakirev's circle correspond to the period of storm and stress in the evolution in Russian music; Byelayev's circle represented the period of calm, onward march. Balakirev's circle was revolutionary; Byelayev's, on the other hand, was progressive.... Balakirev's circle was exclusive and intolerant; Byelayev's was more indulgent and eclectic. Balakirev's circle did not want to study, but broke paths forward, relying upon its powers, succeeding therein and learning; Byelayev's circle studied, attaching as it did great importance to technical perfection, but it also broke new paths, though more securely, even if less speedily...."^[4]

The characterizartion of composers in the Belyayev circle being progressive may be misleading. Rimsky-Korsakov continued to experiment, in combination with academic systemization. Academicism predominated with the other belyayev composers, however, with their falling back on cliches and mannerisms taken from the works of Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev.^[5]

The Belyayev circle was apparently also more tolerant of Western influences, as personified by the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, than their predecessors under Balakirev. Again, Rimsky-Korsakov writes,

At this time there begins to be noticeable a considerable cooling off and even somewhat inimical attitude toward the memory of the "mighty koochka" of Balakirev's period. On the contrary a worship of Tchaikovsky and a tendency toward eclecticism grow even stronger. Nor could one help noticing the predilection (that sprang up then in our circle) for Italian-French music of the time of wig and farthingale, music introduced by Tchaikovsky in his Pikovaya Dama (Queen of Spades) and Yolanta. By this time quite and accretion of new elements and young blood had accumulated in Byelayev's circle. New times, new birds, new songs.^[6]

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Maes, Francis, tr. Pomerans, Arnold J. and Erica Pomerans, A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2002). ISBN 0-520-21815-9.
• Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai, Letoppis Moyey Muzykalnoy Zhizni (St. Petersburg, 1909), published in English as My Musical Life (New York: Knopf, 1925, 3rd ed. 1942). ISBN n/a.