He began piano lessons at age five, and was said to show “remarkable gifts” though plagued by “abnormal sensitivity.”<ref>Grove Dictionary of Music</ref> He was entered in the School of Jurisprudence at [[St. Petersburg]] when ten; and spent the next 13 years in non-musical study and as a civil servant; before deciding that his course in life would be music and took up studies at the [[St. Petersburg]] Conservatory under Anton Rubenstein. His music was slow to gain acceptance amongst both the conservative musical establishment and the nationalist group of composers (“the Five”) but his First [[Symphony]] found favor with the public, and the ''Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture'', written (and reworked more than once) at the suggestion of Balakirev, was a success. | He began piano lessons at age five, and was said to show “remarkable gifts” though plagued by “abnormal sensitivity.”<ref>Grove Dictionary of Music</ref> He was entered in the School of Jurisprudence at [[St. Petersburg]] when ten; and spent the next 13 years in non-musical study and as a civil servant; before deciding that his course in life would be music and took up studies at the [[St. Petersburg]] Conservatory under Anton Rubenstein. His music was slow to gain acceptance amongst both the conservative musical establishment and the nationalist group of composers (“the Five”) but his First [[Symphony]] found favor with the public, and the ''Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture'', written (and reworked more than once) at the suggestion of Balakirev, was a success. |