A long-necked chordophone with a triangular body and three strings. The soundboard is usually constructed from four strips of Russian spruce or silver fir and the slightly arched belly of seven pieces of maple. The instrument has a small soundhole, a fretted neck and strings of gut or steel. The balalaika is related to the dömbra, a variant of the long-necked lute played by peoples of Central Asia. The earliest mention in literature appeared in 1688 and Peter the Great used balalaikas in his grand orchestral procession of 1715. The instrument may have been a new arrival or a natural development of the 17th-century domra. The skomorokhis (minstrels) gave it a primary role in accompanying dance.
A public performance in 1886 began the balalaika's elevation from a peasant’s instrument to one of artistic stature. The success of the balalaika is attributed to Vasily Vasil'yevich Andreyev (1861–1918) who, assisted by the instrument makers V. Ivanov, F. Paserbsky and S. Nalimov, produced a metal-fretted chromatic version in a family of sizes: prime (e'–e'–a'), second (a'–a'–d'), alto (e'–e'–a), bass (E–A–d) and double bass (E'–A'–D). Piccolo and descant sizes were developed but discarded. Andreyev's Society of Lovers of Balalaika Playing gave its first public performance in Russia in 1888 and in 1889 the Society performed at the Paris Exposition Universelle. The sound so impressed composers of art music that they began to include balalaikas in their orchestration. Tchaikovsky eulogized: ‘How lovely is the balalaika. How striking the effect it makes in the orchestra. Timbrally – this is an indispensable instrument’.
By 1896 Andreyev had reorganized his instrumentalists as the Grand Russian Orchestra, which between 1909 and 1912 toured Europe and America (1910–11). Balalaika orchestras were soon formed in Britain (the first was the Royal Balalaika Orchestra, formed at royal request by the balalaika player Prince Tschagadaeff), and the USA (formed largely by Russian emigrants and their descendants). The St Louis Russian Balalaika Orchestra was founded in 1911 by Lewis Spindler and balalaika orchestras were formed in New York City in 1912 by A. Ivanoff and A. Kirilloff. The Balalaika and Domra Society was founded in 1961 and in 1974 John Garvey organized a student balalaika orchestra at the University of Illinois. Many film soundtracks incorporated the instrument and Charlie Chaplin, an afficionado, often performed on the violin or mandolin alongside it. The resurgence of balalaika music, after the McCarthyite suppression of all things Russian in the 1950s, came with the success of the motion picture Dr Zhivago in 1969.
A. Rose: ‘The Balalaïka’, PMA, xxvii (1900–01), 73–84
F.V. Sokolov: Russkaya narodnaya balalaïka (Moscow, 1962)
K. Vertkov, G. Blagodatov and E. Yazovitskaya: Atlas of Musical Instruments of the Peoples Inhabiting the USSR (Moscow, 1963/R)
M. Kiszko: ‘The Balalaika: a Reappraisal’, GSJ, xlviii (1995), 130–55
MARTIN KISZKO