Stasov’s father was an architect. Stasov graduated from the School of Jurisprudence in 1843. In 1847 he began his career as a music critic. He gave a lot of support to Glinka who was trying to compose music that reflected Russian nationalism. In 1856 a group of five composers often got together to discuss ideas about music. Stasov called this group Moguchaya kuchka (“The Mighty Handful”). The oldest one of the group was Balakirev who was like a leader and teacher to the others. The other four were Mussorgsky, Cui, Borodin and Rimsky Korsakov. They had ideas about music which were very different from those of Anton Rubinstein, the composer who had founded the Petersburg Conservatory. Rubinstein thought that Russian composers such as Glinka were all amateurs and that music should be taught like it was in Germany. Stasov and Balakirev were very angry about his views. They started a Free Music School as a rival to the Conservatory. They wanted music to reflect Russian folk singing, dancing and the tolling of Russian church bells.