Balalayka
Alfred Cottin
A Balalayka is a Russian folk song. It was not composed by a Russian but by the Spanish musician Alfred Cottin in the nineteenth century.
Alfred Cottin(1863 -1923) lived and worked in Paris. He was a student of the Catalan Jaime Bosch and had a musical school in Paris. Many pieces of his moderate oeuvre were dedicated to his students.
Cottin was a friend of Francisco Tarrega, the one the latter dedicated his world-famous Recuerdos de la Alhambra to: "Hommage à l'eminent artiste Alfred Cottin".
It was not surprising that a Spanish composer tried to compose in the Russian style. In those days, musical forms from abroad, like the Polish Mazurka, were popular amongst the Romantic composers.