Although he had a keen interest in music, Borodin's scientific research and teaching duties as an adjunct professor of Chemistry in the Medico-Surgical Academy at
St. Petersburg since 1874 interrupted his composition of the Second
Symphony. As a result, this symphony took several years to complete. Immediately after the successful premiere of his first symphony in E conducted by
Mily Balakirev at the Imperial Russian Music concert in 1869, Borodin began writing the Second Symphony in B minor. That summer, he left off work on the piece in order to work on
Prince Igor (Knyaz Igor), an opera based on a 12th-century epic "the Story of Igor's Army," suggested by his friend and first biographer
Vladimir Stasov. Borodin suddenly decided to abandon
Prince Igor in March 1870, criticizing his own inability to write a libretto that would satisfy both musical and scenic requirement. He told his wife, "There is scarcely any drama or scenic movement… Anyhow, opera seems to me an unnatural thing… besides I am by nature a lyricist and symphonist; I am attracted by the symphonic forms." Soon after setting
Prince Igor aside, Borodin returned to the B minor Symphony, assuring Stasov that the "materials" created for the opera would be used in the newly revived symphony. According to Stasov in an article contributed to the "Vestnik Evropi" in 1883, Borodin told him more than once that in the first movement he wished to depict a gathering of Russian warrior-heroes, in the slow movement the figure of a bayan—a type of Russian
accordion, and in the finale a scene of heroes feasting to the sound of guslis—an ancient plucked instrument. Borodin's work on the symphony was again interrupted when the Director of the Imperial Theatres, Stephan Gedenov, asked him to collaborate on an extravagant opera-ballet
Mlada with other members of
Vladimir Stasov's "mighty little heap," namely
Cesar Cui,
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, and
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In his usual fashion of composing, Borodin borrowed heavily from earlier works, in this case
Prince Igor. The show was ultimately cancelled because of production costs, and Borodin once again turned to the B minor Symphony. The following academic year (1873–74), more and more irritated that he was not receiving support or recognition for his scientific work, he published his last paper on aldehydes and turned to teaching; it was at this time that he became director of the Medical-Surgical Academy's laboratory facilities. Meanwhile, he also took up
Prince Igor again and worked on orchestrating the final three movements of the symphony, although this work was not ultimately completed until 1875. under the baton of
Eduard Nápravník. The work was popular, but according to Rimsky-Korsakov, only enjoyed "moderate success" because Borodin had written the brass part too thickly. Borodin's relationship with
Liszt also had influenced his symphonic writing. Later in 1877, Borodin traveled to Germany in order to enroll some of his chemistry pupils in Jena University. While in Germany, Borodin visited Liszt in
Weimar where the two played through both of Borodin's symphonies in four-hand piano arrangements. Liszt had been an admirer of Borodin's music and he arranged performances of Borodin's symphonies, making them the first Russian symphonies to be received abroad. Regarding Borodin's attempt to revise his score, Liszt said, From another source, ==Instrumentation==