In 1859, he completed his course of study and took a post as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice, but he continued to pursue musical studies. He resigned from his post in 1863 and became a full-time student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. It was during this period that he made his debut as a conductor and composed The Storm, his only student composition to be heard with any frequency today. In it, he already exhibited stylistic elements prominent in his later works, including the influence of Russian folk-melody, a command of Western compositional techniques and a flair for brilliant orchestration. Even before his graduation in 1865, he was offered a position as teacher of harmony at what was to become the Moscow Conservatory. In 1866, he moved to Moscow.