As a child, César Cui studied the piano and began composing small pieces at age fourteen.
Cui served as an officer in the Russian Imperial Army, achieving the rank of Engineer-General. Through his avocation of music composition and criticism, he became a member of the Mighty Five.
Cui met Balakirev in 1856.
Both Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov served on the opera selection committee at the Marinsky Theatre. Both men left their positions in 1883 to protest the rejection of Modest Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina.
This section presents a sampling of César Cui's work as a music critic and as a composer. Click here for an extended list of Cui's works.
Cui contributed almost 800 articles from 1864 to 1918 to Russian and European publications, covering topics such as recitals and concerts, personalities, and new publications of music.
As a music critic Cui championed the work of the fellow members of the Mighty Five.
Click here to read more about Cui's body of work as a music critic and military writer.
Cui's work does not follow the Russian nationalistic style of his Mighty Five contemporaries. He does source the writings of Pushkin in his opera, however, and much of his vocal composition relies on Russian textx.
Art songs make up the majority of Cui's compositions, including vocal duets and songs for children.
Click here to listen to a performance of Cui's Kaleidoscope, Op. 50, a work for violin and piano.
"César Cui." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 3 June 2017. Web. 3 Jul. 2017., Link
"List of compositions by César Cui." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 June 2016. Web. 3 Jul. 2017., Link
"List of literary works by César Cui." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 6 Jul. 2015. Web. 3 Jul. 2017., Link
