The son of a Napoleanic French officer living in Russia and a Lithuanian woman, César Antonovich Cui (1835-1918) became part of the Moguchaya Kuchka (Mighty Heap) of Russian composers. Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov were known as the "babocumuri" in mnemonic acronym. He was largely self-taught but ended up writing operas and choral, orchestral, chamber, solo vocal, and piano works.- Category ID : 24229