Who was César Cui?
Q: Who was César Cui?
A: César Cui was a Russian composer who was part of the "Moguchaya Kuchka" ("Mighty Handful"), a group which included Mily Balakirev, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin.
Q: Where did he come from?
A: His father came from France and his mother from Lithuania.
Q: What was his main job?
A: His main job was as an expert on military fortifications. He became a professor in this subject and wrote important textbooks about military defences. He became a general.
Q: How did he feel about other Russian composers?
A: He liked his friends from the Moguchaya Kuchka, but was often very critical of music by other Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. This may have been because he was jealous of their success.
Q: What type of music did he find difficult to compose?
A: He did not find orchestration easy. Balakirev helped him a lot with the orchestration of some of his compositions.
Q: What type of music did he excel at writing?
A: He was best when writing songs and short piano pieces. He liked to write music that sounded Far Eastern in character. Cellists like to play a short piece he wrote called "Orientale".
