An important Russian composer, Alexander Borodin belonged to the Group of Five together with the leading Russian nationalist composers of the late 19th century. The group followed the musical ideas of Glinka, their forerunner. Borodin, before becoming a musician, won worldwide reputation as a professor of chemistry. Borodin's output was not large, and many of his works remained unfinished and were later completed by his friends Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and others.