String Quartet No. 2 in D Major

• Borodin composed his String Quartet No. 2 in D Major in 1881.¹
• This quartet is dedicated to Borodin’s wife Yekaterina Protopova, a pianist with whom he had a long and loving marriage. The quartet evokes their first months together, when they fell in love.²
• Nocturne: Listen for: the lyrical main theme is taken by the cello, the instrument Borodin himself played.³
• According to Mily Balakirev, it wasn’t just the famous “Mighty Handful” composers who advised Borodin’s composing at their group meetings – so did Yekateria Borodina.

“I might add that Borodin’s wife, Yekaterina Sergeyevna, also took part in our colloquies. She was an excellent musician and a very competent pianist. Her sympathetic personality brought a special heartfelt quality to our discussions, the memory of which will always be precious to me.”

From Balakirev’s Memoir (1887)⁴

1. Robert W. Oldani, “Borodin, Aleksandr Porfir′yevich,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 5, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040687.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Quoted in Richard Taruskin, “Borodin’s Orchestral Works: A Documentary Chronicle,” liner notes to Alexander Borodin: 3 Symphonies etc., Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Naame Järvi, Deutsche Grammophon 435 757-2, CD, 1992.