He was much admired as song singer and he recorded more than 200 Russian songs by Mussorgsky (he was the first to record all his 63 songs), Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glinka, Borodin, Cui, Balakirev as well as traditional songs, mostly with piano accompaniment.
Cui's activities in musical life included also membership on the opera selection committee at the Mariinsky Theatre; this stint ended in 1883, when both he and Rimsky-Korsakov left the committee in protest of its rejection of Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina.
A group that called itself "The Mighty Five", headed by Balakirev (1837–1910) and including Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908), Mussorgsky (1839–81), Borodin (1833–87) and César Cui (1835–1918), proclaimed its purpose to compose and popularize Russian national traditions in classical music.
César Cui's 1895 book Russian Art Song: A Study of Its Development was translated in J.R. Walker’s Classical Essays on the Development of Russian Art Songs (Northfield, MN, 1993).
César Award | Cesar Department | Cesar Romero | Julio César Chávez | César Pelli | César Franck | César | Cesar Chavez | Cesar Montano | César Vallejo | César Gaviria | Cesar | Julio César García | César Aira | César de Missy | César Cui | Cesar Castellani | Augusto César Sandino | Júlio César Soares Espíndola | Julio César Romero | Julio César Green | École César Franck | Cesar Zuiderwijk | César Santin | Cesar River | César Chávez | César Baldaccini | Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy | Don CeSar | Cui Jie |