Profile of César Cui

January 18, 1835

Vilnius, Lithuania, Russian Empire

March 24, 1918 in Petrograd, Russia

His full name was César Antonovich Cui, one of the members of "The Mighty Five." He was a composer and music critic for the St. Peterburgskiye vedomosti or St. Petersburg News. He was also a professor at a military academy with a rank of lieutenant general.

He wrote chamber and choral works, operas, piano pieces and songs.

Cui was influenced by the works of Frederic Chopin. His interest in music began as a young boy when he started composing. However, in 1851 he entered an engineering school in St. Petersburg and proceeded to pursue military engineering in 1855. He later became a professor of fortifications at the said academy. His friendship with nationalist composers Mily Balakirev and Aleksandr Dargomyzhsky greatly influenced him as a composer.

His works include: "La Musique en Russie," "The Prisoner of the Caucasus," "The Captain's Daughter" and "Feast in the Time of the Plague."

César Cui was also influenced by the works of notable writers such as the Russian writer Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, German poet Heinrich Heine and French novelist/short story writer Guy de Maupassant.

Cui didn't come from a Russian ancestry; his father, Antoine, was French and his mother, Julia, was Lithuanian. Nevertheless, Cui became a strong supporter of Russian nationalist music.

Listen to samples of Cesar Cui's music from Naxos.