in october 1856, when he was 17 years old, he met the 22-year-old alexander borodin. they were both working in a military hospital in saint petersburg. the two men were soon good friends. he also met alexander dargomyzhsky who was then the most important russian composer after mikhail glinka. dargomyzhsky liked mussorgsky's piano playing, and mussorgsky often went to musical parties at dargomyzhsky’s home. here he met many other important russian musicians: the critic vladimir stasov and the composers césar cui and mily balakirev. he had a very special relationship with balakirev who was like a teacher to him and gave him a lot of advice and encouragement, introducing him to a lot of music he did not yet know. in 1858 mussorgsky decided to give up his job and spend all his time on music.