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Portrait of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1898 byValentin Serov
(detail)
Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (Russian: -; IPA: [nklaj
ndrejvt rimskj korskf]; 18 March [O.S. 6March] 1844[a 1] 21 June
[O.S. 8 June] 1908) was a Russian composer, and a memberof the
group of composers known as The Five.[a 2] He was a master of
orchestration. Hisbest-known orchestral compositionsCapriccio
Espagnol, the Russian Easter FestivalOverture, and the symphonic
suite Scheherazadeare staples of the classical musicrepertoire,
along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas.
Scheherazade isan example of his frequent use of fairy tale and
folk subjects.
Rimsky-Korsakov believed, as did fellow composer Mily Balakirev
and critic VladimirStasov, in developing a nationalistic style of
classical music. This style employedRussian folk song and lore
along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elementsin a
practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed traditional
Westerncompositional methods. However, Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated
Western musicaltechniques after he became a professor of musical
composition, harmony andorchestration at the Saint Petersburg
Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorousthree-year program of
self-education and became a master of Western methods,incorporating
them alongside the influences of Mikhail Glinka and fellow members
ofThe Five. His techniques of composition and orchestration were
further enriched by hisexposure to the works of Richard Wagner.
For much of his life, Rimsky-Korsakov combined his composition
and teaching with acareer in the Russian militaryat first as an
officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, then as the civilian
Inspector of Naval Bands. He wrotethat he developed a passion for
the ocean in childhood from reading books and hearing of his older
brother's exploits in the navy. This loveof the sea might have
influenced him to write two of his best-known orchestral works, the
musical tableau Sadko (not to be confused withhis later opera of
the same name) and Scheherazade. Through his service as Inspector
of Naval Bands, Rimsky-Korsakov expanded hisknowledge of woodwind
and brass playing, which enhanced his abilities in orchestration.
He passed this knowledge to his students, andalso posthumously
through a textbook on orchestration that was completed by his
son-in-law, Maximilian Steinberg.
Rimsky-Korsakov left a considerable body of original Russian
nationalist compositions. He prepared works by The Five for
performance,which brought them into the active classical repertoire
(although there is controversy over his editing of the works of
Modest Mussorgsky),and shaped a generation of younger composers and
musicians during his decades as an educator. Rimsky-Korsakov is
therefore considered"the main architect" of what the classical
music public considers the Russian style of composition.[1] His
influence on younger composerswas especially important, as he
served as a transitional figure between the autodidactism which
exemplified Glinka and The Five andprofessionally trained composers
which would become the norm in Russia by the closing years of the
19th century. While Rimsky-Korsakov's style was based on those of
Glinka, Balakirev, Hector Berlioz, and Franz Liszt, he "transmitted
this style directly to twogenerations of Russian composers" and
influenced non-Russian composers including Maurice Ravel, Claude
Debussy, Paul Dukas andOttorino Respighi.[2]
Contents1 Biography
1.1 Early years1.2 Mentored by Balakirev; time with The Five1.3
Professorship, marriage, inspector of bands1.4 Backlash and May
Night1.5 Belyayev circle1.6 Increased contact with Tchaikovsky1.7
Increasing conservatism; second creative drought1.8 1905
Revolution1.9 Death
2 Legacy2.1 Compositions
2.1.1 Operas
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Rimsky-Korsakov's birthplace in Tikhvin
Rimsky-Korsakov as a naval cadet
2.1.2 Orchestral works2.1.3 Smaller-scale works
2.2 Transitional figure2.3 Students2.4 Editing the work of The
Five
3 Folklore and pantheism4 Publications5 Commemoration6
References7 Further reading8 External links
BiographyEarly years
Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tikhvin, 200 kilometres (120 mi)
east of SaintPetersburg, into an aristocratic family with a long
line of military and navalservicehis older brother Voin, 22 years
his senior, became a well-known navigatorand explorer.[3]
Rimsky-Korsakov later recalled that his mother played the piano
a little, and his fathercould play a few songs on the piano by
ear.[4] It is said that Rimsky-Korsakov inheritedhis mother's
tendency to play too slowly.[5] Beginning at six, he took piano
lessons fromlocal teachers and showed a talent for aural skills,[6]
but he showed a lack of interest,playing, as he later wrote,
"badly, carelessly, ... poor at keeping time."[7]
Although he started composing by age 10, Rimsky-Korsakov
preferred literature over music.[8] He later wrote that from his
reading, andtales of his brother's exploits, he developed a poetic
love for the sea "without ever having seen it."[9] This love, and
prompting from Voin,encouraged the 12-year-old to join the Imperial
Russian Navy.[8] He studied at the School for Mathematical and
Navigational Sciences inSaint Petersburg and, at 18, took his final
examination in April 1862.[6]
While at school, Rimsky-Korsakov took piano lessons from a man
named Ulikh.[10] These lessonswere sanctioned by Voin, who now
served as director of the school,[3] because they would help
theyouth to develop social skills and overcome his shyness.[8]
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that, while"indifferent" to lessons, he
developed a love for music, fostered by visits to the opera and,
later,orchestral concerts.[11] Ulikh perceived that he had serious
musical talent and recommendedanother teacher, Feodor A. Kanille
(Thodore Canill).[12] Beginning in the autumn of
1859,Rimsky-Korsakov took lessons in piano and composition from
Kanille, whom he later credited asthe inspiration for devoting his
life to musical composition.[13] Through Kanille, he was exposedto
a great deal of new music, including Mikhail Glinka and Robert
Schumann.[8] Despite Rimsky-Korsakov's now liking his music
lessons, Voin cancelled them when Rimsky-Korsakov was 17, ashe felt
they no longer served a practical need.[8] Kanille told
Rimsky-Korsakov to continuecoming to him every Sunday,[13] not for
formal lessons but to play duets and discuss music.[14] InNovember
1861, Kanille introduced the 18-year-old Rimsky-Korsakov to Mily
Balakirev.Balakirev in turn introduced him to Csar Cui and Modest
Mussorgsky; all three were known ascomposers, despite only being in
their 20s.[15] Rimsky-Korsakov later wrote, "With what delight
Ilistened to real business discussions [Rimsky-Korsakov's emphasis]
of instrumentation, partwriting, etc! And besides, how much talking
there was about current musical matters! All at once Ihad been
plunged into a new world, unknown to me, formerly only heard of in
the society of mydilettante friends. That was truly a strong
impression."[16]
Balakirev encouraged Rimsky-Korsakov to compose and taught him
the rudiments when he was not at sea.[8] Balakirev also prompted
himto enrich himself in history, literature and criticism.[17] When
he showed Balakirev the beginning of a symphony in E-flat minor
that he hadwritten, Balakirev insisted he continue working on it
despite his lack of formal musical training.[18] By the time
Rimsky-Korsakov sailedon a two-year-and-eight-month cruise aboard
the clipper Almaz in late 1862, he had completed and orchestrated
three movements of the
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The Russian military clipper Almaz in New YorkHarbor in 1863.
Rimsky-Korsakov served as amidshipman on this ship and later wrote
about thiscruise.
Mily Balakirev encouraged Rimsky-Korsakov to continue
composing.
symphony.[19][a 3] He composed the slow movement during a stop
in England andmailed the score to Balakirev before going back to
sea.[20] At first, his work on thesymphony kept Rimsky-Korsakov
occupied during his cruise.[8] He purchased scores atevery port of
call, along with a piano on which to play them, and filled his idle
hoursstudying Berlioz's Treatise on Instrumentation.[8] He found
time to read the works ofHomer, William Shakespeare, Friedrich
Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; hesaw London, Niagara
Falls, and Rio de Janeiro during his stops in port.[8]
Eventually,the lack of outside musical stimuli dulled the young
midshipman's hunger to learn. Hewrote to Balakirev that after two
years at sea he had neglected his musical lessons formonths.[8]
"Thoughts of becoming a musician and composer gradually left
mealtogether," he later recalled; "distant lands began to allure
me, somehow, although,properly speaking, naval service never
pleased me much and hardly suited my characterat all."[21]
Mentored by Balakirev; time with The Five
Once back in Saint Petersburg in May 1865, Rimsky-Korsakov's
onshore duties consisted of a couple of hours of clerical duty each
day,[8]but he recalled that his desire to compose "had been stifled
... I did not concern myself with music at all."[22] He wrote that
contact withBalakirev in September 1865 encouraged him "to get
accustomed to music and later to plunge into it".[23] At
Balakirev's suggestion, hewrote a trio to the scherzo of the E-flat
minor symphony, which it had lacked up to that point, and
reorchestrated the entire symphony.[24]Its first performance came
in December of that year under Balakirev's direction in Saint
Petersburg.[24][25] A second performance followedin March 1866
under the direction of Konstantin Lyadov (father of composer
Anatoly Lyadov).[25]
Correspondence between Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev clearly
shows that some ideas for the symphony originated with
Balakirev.[8]Balakirev seldom stopped at merely correcting a piece
of music, and would often recompose it at the piano.[8]
Rimsky-Korsakov recalled,
A pupil like myself had to submit to Balakirev a proposed
composition in its embryo, say, even the first four or eight
bars.Balakirev would immediately make corrections, indicating how
to recast such an embryo; he would criticize it, wouldpraise and
extol the first two bars, but would censure the next two, ridicule
them, and try hard to make the author disgustedwith them. Vivacity
of composition and fertility were not at all in favor, frequent
recasting was demanded, and thecomposition was extended over a long
space of time under the cold control of self-criticism.[26]
Rimsky-Korsakov recalled that "Balakirev had no difficulty in
getting along with me. At hissuggestion I most readily rewrote the
symphonic movements composed by me and brought themto completion
with the help of his advice and improvisations".[27] Though
Rimsky-Korsakov laterfound Balakirev's influence stifling, and
broke free from it,[28] this did not stop him in his memoirsfrom
extolling the older composer's talents as a critic and
improviser.[26] Under Balakirev'smentoring, Rimsky-Korsakov turned
to other compositions. He began a symphony in B minor, butfelt it
too closely followed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and abandoned it.
He completed anOverture on Three Russian Themes, based on
Balakirev's folksong overtures, as well as a Fantasiaon Serbian
Themes that was performed at a concert given for the delegates of
the SlavonicCongress in 1867.[8] In his review of this concert,
nationalist critic Vladimir Stasov coined thephrase Moguchaya
kuchka for the Balakirev circle (Moguchaya kuchka is usually
translated as"The Mighty Handful" or "The Five").[8]
Rimsky-Korsakov also composed the initial versions ofSadko and
Antar, which cemented his reputation as a writer of orchestral
works.[25]
Rimsky-Korsakov socialized and discussed music with the other
members of The Five; theycritiqued one another's works in progress
and collaborated on new pieces.[8] He became friendswith Alexander
Borodin, whose music "astonished" him.[29] He spent an increasing
amount oftime with Mussorgsky.[8] Balakirev and Mussorgsky played
piano four-hand music, Mussorgskywould sing, and they frequently
discussed other composers' works, with preferred tastes running
"toward Glinka, Schumann andBeethoven's late quartets".[30]
Mendelssohn was not thought of highly, Mozart and Haydn "were
considered out of date and nave", and J.S.Bach merely mathematical
and unfeeling.[30] Berlioz "was highly esteemed", Liszt "crippled
and perverted from a musical point of view ...even a caricature",
and Wagner discussed little.[30] Rimsky-Korsakov "listened to these
opinions with avidity and absorbed the tastes ofBalakirev, Cui and
Mussorgsky without reasoning or examination". Often, the musical
works in question "were played before me only infragments, and I
had no idea of the whole work". This, he wrote, did not stop him
from accepting these judgments at face value and
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Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where Rimsky-Korsakov taught from
1871 to 1906
repeating them "as if I were thoroughly convinced of their
truth".[30]
Rimsky-Korsakov became especially appreciated within The Five,
and among those who visited the circle, for his talents as
anorchestrator.[25] He was asked by Balakirev to orchestrate a
Schubert march for a concert in May 1868, by Cui to orchestrate the
openingchorus of his opera William Ratcliff and by Alexander
Dargomyzhsky, whose works were greatly appreciated by The Five and
who wasclose to death, to orchestrate his opera The Stone
Guest.[25]
In the fall of 1871, Rimsky-Korsakov moved into Voin's former
apartment, and invited Mussorgsky to be his roommate. The
workingarrangement they agreed upon was that Mussorgsky used the
piano in the mornings while Rimsky-Korsakov worked on copying
ororchestration. When Mussorgsky left for his civil service job at
noon, Rimsky-Korsakov then used the piano. Time in the evenings
wasallotted by mutual agreement.[25] "That autumn and winter the
two of us accomplished a good deal", Rimsky-Korsakov wrote,
"withconstant exchange of ideas and plans. Mussorgsky composed and
orchestrated the Polish act of Boris Godunov and the folk scene
'NearKromy.' I orchestrated and finished my Maid of Pskov."[31]
Professorship, marriage, inspector of bandsIn 1871, the
27-year-old Rimsky-Korsakov became Professor of Practical
Composition and Instrumentation (orchestration) at the
SaintPetersburg Conservatory,[32] as well as leader of the
Orchestra Class.[25] He retained his position in active naval
service, and taught hisclasses in uniform (military officers in
Russia were required to wear their uniforms every day, as they were
considered to be always onduty).[33]
Rimsky-Korsakov explained in his memoirs that Mikhal Azanchevsky
had taken overthat year as director of the Conservatory,[25] and
wanting new blood to freshen upteaching in those subjects,[34] had
offered to pay generously for Rimsky-Korsakov'sservices.[35]
Biographer Mikhail Zetlin suggests that Azanchevsky's motives might
havebeen twofold. First, Rimsky-Korsakov was the member of the Five
least criticized by itsopponents, and inviting him to teach at the
Conservatory may have been considered asafe way to show that all
serious musicians were welcome there.[36] Second, the offermay have
been calculated to expose him to an academic climate in which he
wouldwrite in a more conservative, Western-based style.[37]
Balakirev had opposed academictraining in music with tremendous
vigor,[38] but encouraged him to accept the post toconvince others
to join the nationalist musical cause.[39]
Rimsky-Korsakov's reputation at this time was as a master of
orchestration, based onSadko and Antar.[40] However, he had written
these works mainly by intuition.[40] His
knowledge of musical theory was elemental; he had never written
any counterpoint, could not harmonize a simple chorale, nor knew
thenames or intervals of musical chords.[40] He had never conducted
an orchestra, and had been discouraged from doing so by the navy,
whichdid not approve of his appearing on the podium in uniform.[41]
Aware of his technical shortcomings,[42] Rimsky-Korsakov consulted
PyotrIlyich Tchaikovsky,[43] with whom he and the others in The
Five had been in occasional contact.[44] Tchaikovsky, unlike The
Five, hadreceived academic training in composition at the Saint
Petersburg Conservatory,[45] and was serving as Professor of Music
Theory at theMoscow Conservatory.[46] Tchaikovsky advised him to
study.[47]
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that while teaching at the Conservatory he
soon became "possibly its very best pupil
[Rimsky-Korsakov'semphasis], judging by the quantity and value of
the information it gave me!"[48] To prepare himself, and to stay at
least one step ahead ofhis students, he took a three-year
sabbatical from composing original works, and assiduously studied
at home while he lectured at theConservatory. He taught himself
from textbooks,[49] and followed a strict regimen of composing
contrapuntal exercises, fugues, choralesand a cappella
choruses.[32]
Rimsky-Korsakov eventually became an excellent teacher and a
fervent believer in academic training.[48][50][51] He revised
everything hehad composed prior to 1874, even acclaimed works such
as Sadko and Antar, in a search for perfection that would remain
with himthroughout the rest of his life.[32] Assigned to rehearse
the Orchestra Class, he mastered the art of conducting.[32] Dealing
with orchestraltextures as a conductor, and making suitable
arrangements of musical works for the Orchestra Class, led to an
increased interest in the art oforchestration, an area into which
he would further indulge his studies as Inspector of Navy
Bands.[32] The score of his Third Symphony,written just after he
had completed his three-year program of self-improvement, reflects
his hands-on experience with the orchestra.[32]
Professorship brought Rimsky-Korsakov financial security,[52]
which encouraged him to settle down and to start a family.[52] In
December1871 he proposed to Nadezhda Purgold, with whom he had
developed a close relationship over weekly gatherings of The Five
at thePurgold household.[53] They married in July 1872, with
Mussorgsky serving as best man.[52] The Rimsky-Korsakovs had
seven
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Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova, nePurgold, wife of the composer
Portrait of Rimsky-Korsakov by IlyaRepin
children.[54] One of their sons, Andrei, became a musicologist,
married the composer YuliyaVeysberg and wrote a multi-volume study
of his father's life and work.[55]
Nadezhda became a musical as well as domestic partner with her
husband, much as ClaraSchumann had been with her own husband
Robert.[52] She was beautiful, capable, strong-willed,and far
better trained musically than her husband at the time they
married[56]she had attendedthe Saint Petersburg Conservatory in the
mid-1860s, studying piano with Anton Gerke (one ofwhose private
students was Mussorgsky)[57] and music theory with Nikolai Zaremba,
who alsotaught Tchaikovsky.[58] Nadezhda proved a fine and most
demanding critic of her husband's work;her influence over him in
musical matters was strong enough for Balakirev and Stasov to
wonderwhether she was leading him astray from their musical
preferences.[32] Musicologist Lyle Neffwrote that while Nadezhda
gave up her own compositional career when she married
Rimsky-Korsakov, she "had a considerable influence on the creation
of [Rimsky-Korsakov's] first threeoperas. She travelled with her
husband, attended rehearsals and arranged compositions by him
andothers"[58] for piano four hands, which she played with her
husband.[32] "Her last years werededicated to issuing her husband's
posthumous literary and musical legacy, maintaining standardsfor
performance of his works ... and preparing material for a museum in
his name."[58]
In the spring of 1873, the navy created the post of Inspector of
Naval Bands and appointedRimsky-Korsakov. While this kept him on
the navy payroll and listed on the roster of theChancellery of the
Navy Department, it allowed him to resign his commission.[49][59]
AsInspector, he visited naval bands throughout Russia, supervised
the bandmasters and theirappointments, reviewed the bands'
repertoire, and inspected the quality of their instruments. Hewrote
a study program for a complement of music students who held navy
fellowships at theConservatory, and acted as an intermediary
between the Conservatory and the navy. The post ofBand Inspector
came with a promotion to Collegiate Assessor, a civilian rank. "I
parted withdelight with both my military status and my officer's
uniform", he later wrote. "Henceforth I was amusician officially
and incontestably."[60]
Rimsky-Korsakov applied himself with zeal to his duties,[49] and
indulged in a long-standingdesire to familiarize himself with the
construction and playing technique of orchestral
instruments.[60][61] These studies prompted him to write a textbook
on orchestration.[60] He used the privilegesof rank to exercise and
expand upon his knowledge. He discussed arrangements of musical
worksfor military band with bandmasters, encouraged and reviewed
their efforts, held concerts at whichhe could hear these pieces,
and orchestrated original works, and works by other composers,
formilitary bands.[62]
In March 1884, an Imperial Order abolished the navy office of
Inspector of Bands, and Rimsky-Korsakov was relieved of his
duties.[49] He worked under Balakirev in the Court Chapel as a
deputy until 1894,[63] which allowed him to study Russian
Orthodox church music. He also taught classes at the Chapel, and
wrote histextbook on harmony for use there and at the
Conservatory.[64]
Backlash and May NightRimsky-Korsakov's studies and his change
in attitude regarding music education brought him the scorn of his
fellow nationalists, whothought he was throwing away his Russian
heritage to compose fugues and sonatas.[51] After he strove "to
crowd in as much counterpointas possible" into his Third
Symphony,[65] he wrote chamber works adhering strictly to classical
models, including a string sextet, a stringquartet in F minor and a
quintet for flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano. About the
quartet and the symphony, Tchaikovsky wrote to hispatroness,
Nadezhda von Meck, that they "were filled with a host of clever
things but ... [were] imbued with a dryly pedantic
character".[66]Borodin commented that when he heard the symphony,
he kept "feeling that this is the work of a German Herr Professor
who has put onhis glasses and is about to write Eine grosse
Symphonie in C".[67]
According to Rimsky-Korsakov, the other members of The Five
showed little enthusiasm for the symphony, and less still for the
quartet.[68]Nor was his public debut as a conductor, at an 1874
charity concert where he led the orchestra in the new symphony,
considered favorablyby his compatriots.[49] He later wrote that
"they began, indeed, to look down upon me as one on the downward
path".[68] Worse still toRimsky-Korsakov was the faint praise given
by Anton Rubinstein, a composer opposed to the nationalists' music
and philosophy. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that after Rubinstein heard
the quartet, he commented that now Rimsky-Korsakov "might amount to
something" as acomposer.[68] He wrote that Tchaikovsky continued to
support him morally, telling him that he fully applauded what
Rimsky-Korsakov was
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Portrait of Mikhail Glinka by Ilya Repin. Rimsky-Korsakov
credited his editing of Glinka's scoreswith leading him back toward
modern music.
doing and admired both his artistic modesty and his strength of
character.[69] Privately, Tchaikovsky confided to Nadezhda von
Meck,"Apparently [Rimsky-Korsakov] is now passing through this
crisis, and how it will end will be difficult to predict. Either a
great master willcome out of him, or he will finally become bogged
down in contrapuntal tricks".[66]
Two projects helped Rimsky-Korsakov focus on less academic
music-making. The firstwas the creation of two folk song
collections in 1874. Rimsky-Korsakov transcribed 40Russian songs
for voice and piano from performances by folk singer Tvorty
Filippov,[70][71] who approached him at Balakirev's suggestion.[72]
This collection was followedby a second containing 100 songs,
supplied by friends and servants, or taken from rareand
out-of-print collections.[71][73] Rimsky-Korsakov later credited
this work as a greatinfluence on him as a composer;[74] it also
supplied a vast amount of musical materialfrom which he could draw
for future projects, either by direct quotation or as models
forcomposing fakeloric passages.[71] The second project was the
editing of orchestralscores by pioneer Russian composer Mikhail
Glinka (18041857) in collaboration withBalakirev and Anatoly
Lyadov.[49] Glinka's sister, Lyudmila Ivanovna Shestakova,wanted to
preserve her brother's musical legacy in print, and paid the costs
of the projectfrom her own pocket.[75] No similar project had been
attempted before in Russianmusic,[71] and guidelines for scholarly
musical editing had to be established andagreed.[71] While
Balakirev favored making changes in Glinka's music to "correct"
whathe saw as compositional flaws, Rimsky-Korsakov favored a less
intrusive approach.[71]Eventually, Rimsky-Korsakov prevailed.[71]
"Work on Glinka's scores was an
unexpected schooling for me", he later wrote. "Even before this
I had known and worshipped his operas; but as editor of the scores
in printI had to go through Glinka's style and instrumentation to
their last little note ... And this was a beneficent discipline for
me, leading me as itdid to the path of modern music, after my
vicissitudes with counterpoint and strict style".[76]
In the summer of 1877, Rimsky-Korsakov thought increasingly
about the short story May Night by Nikolai Gogol. The story had
long beena favorite of his, and his wife Nadezhda had encouraged
him to write an opera based on it from the day of their betrothal,
when they hadread it together.[77] While musical ideas for such a
work predated 1877, now they came with greater persistence. By
winter May Night tookan increasing amount of his attention; in
February 1878 he started writing in earnest, and he finished the
opera by early November.[71]
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that May Night was of great importance
because, despite the opera's containing a good deal of contrapuntal
music,he nevertheless "cast off the shackles of counterpoint
[emphasis Rimsky-Korsakov]".[78] He wrote the opera in a folk-like
melodic idiom,and scored it in a transparent manner much in the
style of Glinka.[49] Nevertheless, despite the ease of writing this
opera and the next, TheSnow Maiden,[79] from time to time he
suffered from creative paralysis between 1881 and 1888.[80] He kept
busy during this time byediting Mussorgsky's works and completing
Borodin's Prince Igor (Mussorgsky died in 1881, Borodin in
1887).[80]
Belyayev circle
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that he became acquainted with budding
music patron Mitrofan Belyayev (M. P. Belaieff) in Moscow in
1882.[81]Belyayev was one of a growing coterie of Russian
nouveau-riche industrialists who became patrons of the arts in mid-
to late-19th centuryRussia; their number included railway magnate
Savva Mamontov and textile manufacturer Pavel Tretyakov.[82]
Belyayev, Mamontov andTretyakov "wanted to contribute conspicuously
to public life".[83] They had worked their way into wealth, and
being Slavophiles in theirnational outlook believed in the greater
glory of Russia.[84] Because of this belief, they were more likely
than the aristocracy to supportnative talent, and were more
inclined to support nationalist artists over cosmopolitan ones.[84]
This preference paralleled a general upsurgein nationalism and
Russophilia that became prevalent in mainstream Russian art and
society.[85]
By the winter of 1883 Rimsky-Korsakov had become a regular
visitor to the weekly "quartet Fridays" ("Les Vendredis") held at
Belyayev'shome in Saint Petersburg.[86] Belyayev, who had already
taken a keen interest in the musical future of the teenage
Alexander Glazunov,rented a hall and hired an orchestra in 1884 to
play Glazunov's First Symphony plus an orchestral suite Glazunov
had just composed. Thisconcert and a rehearsal the previous year
gave Rimsky-Korsakov the idea of offering concerts featuring
Russian compositions, a prospect towhich Belyayev was amenable. The
Russian Symphony Concerts were inaugurated during the 188687
season, with Rimsky-Korsakovsharing conducting duties with Anatoly
Lyadov.[87] He finished his revision of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald
Mountain and conducted it atthe opening concert.[88] The concerts
also coaxed him out of his creative drought; he wrote Scheherazade,
Capriccio Espagnol and theRussian Easter Overture specifically for
them.[80] He noted that these three works "show a considerable
falling off in the use ofcontrapuntal devices ... [replaced] by a
strong and virtuoso development of every kind of figuration which
sustains the technical interest ofmy compositions."[89]
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Portrait by Ilya Repin of M. P.Belyayev, founder of the
RussianSymphony Concerts
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky by NikolayKuznetsov, 1893
Rimsky-Korsakov was asked for advice and guidance not just on
the Russian Symphony Concerts,but on other projects through which
Belyayev aided Russian composers. "By force of matterspurely
musical I turned out to be the head of the Belyayev circle", he
wrote. "As the headBelyayev, too, considered me, consulting me
about everything and referring everyone to me aschief".[90] In 1884
Belyayev set up an annual Glinka prize, and in 1885 he founded his
own musicpublishing firm, through which he published works by
Borodin, Glazunov, Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov at his own expense.
To select which composers to assist with money, publication
orperformances from the many who now appealed for help, Belyayev
set up an advisory councilmade up of Glazunov, Lyadov and
Rimsky-Korsakov. They would look through the compositionsand
appeals submitted and suggest which composers were deserving of
patronage and publicattention.[91]
The group of composers who now congregated with Glazunov, Lyadov
and Rimsky-Korsakovbecame known as the Belyayev circle, named after
their financial benefactor. These composerswere nationalistic in
their musical outlook, as The Five before them had been. Like The
Five, theybelieved in a uniquely Russian style of classical music
that utilized folk music and exotic melodic,harmonic and rhythmic
elements, as exemplified by the music of Balakirev, Borodin and
Rimsky-Korsakov. Unlike The Five, these composers also believed in
the necessity of an academic,Western-based background in
compositionwhich Rimsky-Korsakov had instilled in his years atthe
Saint Petersburg Conservatory.[92] Compared to the "revolutionary"
composers in Balakirev'scircle, Rimsky-Korsakov found those in the
Belyayev circle to be "progressive ... attaching as itdid great
importance to technical perfection, but ... also broke new paths,
though more securely,even if less speedily ..."[93]
Increased contact with TchaikovskyIn November 1887, Tchaikovsky
arrived in Saint Petersburg in time to hear several of the
RussianSymphony Concerts. One of them included the first complete
performance of his First Symphony,subtitled Winter Daydreams, in
its final version.[94] Another concert featured the premiere
ofRimsky-Korsakov's Third Symphony in its revised version.[94]
Rimsky-Korsakov andTchaikovsky corresponded considerably before the
visit and spent a lot of time together, alongwith Glazunov and
Lyadov.[95] Though Tchaikovsky had been a regular visitor to the
Rimsky-Korsakov home since 1876,[96] and had at one point offered
to arrange Rimsky-Korsakov'sappointment as director of the Moscow
Conservatory,[96] this was the beginning of closer relationsbetween
the two. Within a couple of years, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote,
Tchaikovsky's visits becamemore frequent.[97]
During these visits and especially in public, Rimsky-Korsakov
wore a mask of geniality. Privately,he found the situation
emotionally complex, and confessed his fears to his friend, the
Moscowcritic Semyon Kruglikov.[98] Memories persisted of the
tension between Tchaikovsky and TheFive over the differences in
their musical philosophiestension acute enough for
Tchaikovsky'sbrother Modest to liken their relations at that time
to "those between two friendly neighboringstates ... cautiously
prepared to meet on common ground, but jealously guarding their
separateinterests".[99] Rimsky-Korsakov observed, not without
annoyance, how Tchaikovsky becameincreasingly popular among
Rimsky-Korsakov's followers.[100] This personal jealousy
wascompounded by a professional one, as Tchaikovsky's music became
increasingly popular among the composers of the Belyayev circle,
andremained on the whole more famous than his own.[101] Even so,
when Tchaikovsky attended Rimsky-Korsakov's nameday party in
May1893, Rimsky-Korsakov asked Tchaikovsky personally if he would
conduct four concerts of the Russian Musical Society in
SaintPetersburg the following season. After hesitation, Tchaikovsky
agreed.[102] While his sudden death in late 1893 prevented him
fromfulfilling this commitment in its entirety, the list of works
he had planned to conduct included Rimsky-Korsakov's Third
Symphony.[103]
Increasing conservatism; second creative droughtIn March 1889,
Angelo Neumann's traveling "Richard Wagner Theater" visited Saint
Petersburg, giving four cycles of Der Ring desNibelungen there
under the direction of Karl Muck.[104] The Five had ignored
Wagner's music, but The Ring impressed Rimsky-Korsakov:[105] he was
astonished with Wagner's mastery of orchestration. He attended the
rehearsals with Glazunov, and followed thescore. After hearing
these performances, Rimsky-Korsakov devoted himself almost
exclusively to composing operas for the rest of hiscreative life.
Wagner's use of the orchestra influenced Rimsky-Korsakov's
orchestration,[104] beginning with the arrangement of the
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Ilya Repin, 17 October 1905
polonaise from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov that he made for
concert use in 1889.[106]
Toward music more adventurous than Wagner's, especially that of
Richard Strauss and later Claude Debussy, Rimsky-Korsakov's
mindremained closed. He would fume for days afterwards when he
heard pianist Felix Blumenfeld play Debussy's Estampes and write in
hisdiary about them, "Poor and skimpy to the nth degree; there is
no technique, even less imagination."[107] This was part of an
increasingmusical conservatism on his part (his "musical
conscience," as he put it), under which he now scrutinized his
music and that of others', aswell.[108] Compositions by his former
compatriots in The Five were not immune. While working on his first
revision of Mussorgsky's BorisGodunov, in 1895 he would tell his
amanuensis, Vasily Yastrebtsev, "It's incredible that I ever could
have liked this music and yet it seemsthere was such a time."[109]
By 1901 he would write of growing "indignant at all [of Wagner's]
blunders of the ear"this about the samemusic which caught his
attention in 1889.[110]
In 1892 Rimsky-Korsakov suffered a second creative drought,[80]
brought on by bouts of depression and alarming physical
symptoms.Rushes of blood to the head, confusion, memory loss and
unpleasant obsessions[111] led to a medical diagnosis of
neurasthenia.[111] Crisesin the Rimsky-Korsakov household may have
been a factorthe serious illnesses of his wife and one of his sons
from diphtheria in 1890,the deaths of his mother and youngest
child, as well as the onset of the prolonged, ultimately fatal
illness of his second youngest child.[111]He resigned from the
Russian Symphony Concerts and the Court Chapel[111] and considered
giving up composition permanently.[80] Aftermaking third versions
of the musical tableau Sadko and the opera The Maid of Pskov, he
closed his musical account with the past; he hadleft none of his
major works before May Night in their original form.[104]
Another death brought about a creative renewal.[111] The passing
of Tchaikovsky presented a twofold opportunityto write for
theImperial Theaters and to compose an opera based on Nikolai
Gogol's short story Christmas Eve, a work on which Tchaikovsky had
basedhis opera Vakula the Smith. The success of Rimsky-Korsakov's
Christmas Eve encouraged him to complete an opera approximately
every18 months between 1893 and 1908a total of 11 during this
period.[80] He also started and abandoned another draft of his
treatise onorchestration,[64] but made a third attempt and almost
finished it in the last four years of his life.[64] (His son-in-law
Maximilian Steinbergcompleted the book in 1912.[64])
Rimsky-Korsakov's scientific treatment of orchestration,
illustrated with more than 300 examples from hiswork, set a new
standard for texts of its kind.[64]
1905 RevolutionIn 1905, demonstrations took place in the St.
Petersburg Conservatory as part of the 1905 Revolution; these,
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote, weretriggered by similar disturbances at St.
Petersburg State University, in which students demanded political
reforms and the establishment ofa constitutional monarchy in
Russia.[112] "I was chosen a member of the committee for adjusting
differences with agitated pupils", herecalled; however, almost as
soon as the committee had been formed, "[a]ll sorts of measures
were recommended to expel the ringleaders,to quarter the police in
the Conservatory, to close the Conservatory entirely".[112]
A lifelong liberal politically,[113] Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that
he feltsomeone had to protect the rights of the students to
demonstrate,especially as disputes and wrangling between students
and authoritieswere becoming increasingly violent.[112] In an open
letter, he sidedwith the students against what he saw as
unwarranted interference byConservatory leadership and the Russian
Musical Society.[112] Asecond letter, this time signed by a number
of faculty includingRimsky-Korsakov, demanded the resignation of
the head of theConservatory.[114] Partly as a result of these two
letters he wrote,approximately 100 Conservatory students were
expelled and he wasremoved from his professorship.[114] Just before
the dismissal wasenacted, Rimsky-Korsakov received a letter from
one of the membersof the school directorate, suggesting that he
take up the directorship inthe interest of calming student unrest.
"Probably the member of theDirectorate held a minority opinion, but
signed the resolution
nevertheless," he wrote. "I sent a negative reply."[115] Partly
in defiance of his dismissal, Rimsky-Korsakov continued teaching
his studentsfrom his home.[116]
Not long after Rimsky-Korsakov's dismissal, a student production
of his opera Kashchey the Deathless was followed not with
thescheduled concert but with a political demonstration,[117] which
led to a police ban on Rimsky-Korsakov's work.[117] Due in part
towidespread press coverage of these events,[118] an immediate wave
of outrage against the ban arose throughout Russia and abroad;
liberalsand intellectuals deluged the composer's residence with
letters of sympathy,[119] and even peasants who had not heard a
note of Rimsky-
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Rimsky-Korsakov's grave at Tikhvin Cemetery inthe Alexander
Nevsky Monastery
Portrait of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov by ValentinSerov (1898)
Korsakov's music sent small monetary donations.[113] Several
faculty members of the St. Petersburg Conservatory resigned in
protest,including Glazunov and Lyadov.[120] Eventually, over 300
students walked out of the Conservatory in solidarity with
Rimsky-Korsakov.[121] By December he had been reinstated under a
new director, Glazunov;[118] Rimsky-Korsakov retired from the
Conservatoryin 1906.[122] The political controversy continued with
his opera The Golden Cockerel.[121] Its implied criticism of
monarchy, Russianimperialism and the Russo-Japanese War gave it
little chance of passing the censors.[121] The premiere was delayed
until 1909, afterRimsky-Korsakov's death,[121] and even then it was
performed in an adapted version.[121]
In April 1907, Rimsky-Korsakov conducted a pair of concerts in
Paris, hosted byimpresario Sergei Diaghilev, which featured music
of the Russian nationalist school.The concerts were hugely
successful in popularizing Russian classical music of thiskind in
Europe, Rimsky-Korsakov's in particular.[118] The following year,
his operaSadko was produced at the Paris Opra and The Snow Maiden
at the Opra-Comique.[118] He also had the opportunity to hear more
recent music by Europeancomposers. He hissed unabashedly when he
heard Richard Strauss's opera Salome, andtold Diaghilev after
hearing Claude Debussy's opera Pellas et Mlisande, "Don't makeme
listen to all these horrors or I shall end up liking them!"[118]
Hearing these works ledhim to appreciate his place in the world of
classical music. He admitted that he was a"convinced kuchkist"
(after kuchka, the shortened Russian term for The Five) and thathis
works belonged to an era that musical trends had left
behind.[118]
Death
Beginning around 1890, Rimsky-Korsakov suffered from
angina.[111] While thisailment initially wore him down gradually,
the stresses concurrent with the 1905Revolution and its aftermath
greatly accelerated its progress. After December 1907, hisillness
became severe, and he could not work.[123] In 1908 he died at his
Lubensk estatenear Luga (modern day Plyussky District of Pskov
Oblast), and was interred in TikhvinCemetery at the Alexander
Nevsky Monastery in Saint Petersburg, next to Borodin,Glinka,
Mussorgsky and Stasov.[118]
LegacyCompositionsRimsky-Korsakov followed the musical ideals
espoused by The Five. He employedOrthodox liturgical themes in the
Russian Easter Festival Overture, folk song inCapriccio Espagnol
and orientalism in Scheherazade, possibly his best
knownwork.[1][124] He proved a prolific composer but also a
perpetually self-critical one. Herevised every orchestral work up
to and including his Third Symphonysome, likeAntar and Sadko, more
than once.[125] These revisions range from minor changes oftempo,
phrasing and instrumental detail to wholesale transposition and
completerecomposition.[126]
Rimsky-Korsakov was open about the influences in his music,
telling VasilyYastrebtsev, "Study Liszt and Balakirev more closely,
and you'll see that a great deal inme is not mine".[127] He
followed Balakirev in his use of the whole tone scale,treatment of
folk songs and musical orientalism and Liszt for
harmonicadventurousness.[1] (The violin melody used to portray
Scheherazade is very closelyrelated to its counterpart in
Balakirev's symphonic poem Tamara, while the RussianEaster
Overtures follows the design and plan of Balakirev's Second
Overture onRussian Themes.)[1][124] Nevertheless, while he took
Glinka and Liszt as his harmonicmodels, his use of whole tone and
octatonic scales do demonstrate his originality. He developed both
these compositional devices for the"fantastic" sections of his
operas, which depicted magical or supernatural characters and
events.[108]
Rimsky-Korsakov maintained an interest in harmonic experiments
and continued exploring new idioms throughout his career. However,
hetempered this interest with an abhorrence of excess and kept his
tendency to experiment under constant control.[108] The more
radical hisharmonies became, the more he attempted to control them
with strict rulesapplying his "musical conscience", as he called
it. In this
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Music samplesFlight of the Bumblebee
Flight of the Bumblebee performed by US ArmyBand
The Flight of the Bumblebee
Arrangement for two pianos by Russel Warner,performed by Neal
and Nancy O'Doan
The Song of the Indian Guest
1929 recording of transcription for violin andpiano, featuring
violinist Va Phoda
Problems playing these files? See media help.
sense, he was both a progressive and a conservative
composer.[108] The whole tone and octatonic scales were both
considered adventurousin the Western classical tradition, and
Rimsky-Korsakov's use of them made his harmonies seem radical.
Conversely, his care about how orwhen in a composition he used
these scales made him seem conservative compared with later
composers like Igor Stravinsky, though theywere often building on
Rimsky-Korsakov's work.[128]
Operas
While Rimsky-Korsakov is best known in the West for his
orchestralworks, his operas are more complex, offering a wider
variety oforchestral effects than in his instrumental works and
fine vocalwriting.[117] Excerpts and suites from them have proved
as popular in theWest as the purely orchestral works. The
best-known of these excerpts isprobably "The Flight of the
Bumblebee" from The Tale of Tsar Saltan,which has often been heard
by itself in orchestral programs, and incountless arrangements and
transcriptions, most famously in a pianoversion made by Russian
composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Otherselections familiar to listeners
in the West are "Dance of the Tumblers"from The Snow Maiden,
"Procession of the Nobles" from Mlada, and"Song of the Indian
Guest" (or, less accurately, "Song of India") fromSadko, as well as
suites from The Golden Cockerel and The Legend of theInvisible City
of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya.[129]
The Operas fall into three categories:
Historical drama: The Maid of Pskov, and its prologue
TheNoblewoman Vera Sheloga, Mozart and Salieri, The Tsar'sBride,
Pan Voyevoda, ServilyaFolk operas: May Night, Christmas EveFairy
tales and legends: The Snow Maiden, Mlada, Sadko, Kashchey the
Deathless, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Legend of theInvisible City
of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya, The Golden Cockerel
Of this range Rimsky-Korsakov wrote in 1902, "In every new work
of mine I am trying to do something that is new for me. On the
onehand, I am pushed on by the thought that in this way, [my music]
will retain freshness and interest, but at the same time I am
prompted bymy pride to think that many facets, devices, moods and
styles, if not all, should be within my reach."[113]
American music critic and journalist Harold C. Schonberg wrote
that the operas "open up a delightful new world, the world of the
RussianEast, the world of supernaturalism and the exotic, the world
of Slavic pantheism and vanished races. Genuine poetry suffuses
them, andthey are scored with brilliance and resource."[129]
According to some critics Rimsky-Korsakov's music in these works
lacks dramaticpower, a seemingly fatal flaw in an operatic
composer.[130] This may have been conscious, as he repeatedly
stated in his writing that he feltoperas were first and foremost
musical works rather than mainly dramatic ones. Ironically, the
operas succeed dramatically in most cases bybeing deliberately
non-theatrical.[130]
Orchestral works
The purely orchestral works fall into two categories. The
best-known ones in the West, and perhaps the finest in overall
quality, are mainlyprogrammatic in naturein other words, the
musical content and how it is handled in the piece is determined by
the plot or characters in astory, the action in a painting or
events reported through another non-musical source.[1] The second
category of works are more academic,such as his First and Third
Symphonies and his Sinfonietta. In these, Rimsky-Korsakov still
employed folk themes but subjected them toabstract rules of musical
composition.[1]
Program music came naturally to Rimsky-Korsakov. To him, "even a
folk theme has a program of sorts."[1] He composed the majority
ofhis orchestral works in this genre at two periods of his careerat
the beginning, with Sadko and Antar (also known as his
SecondSymphony, Op. 9), and in the 1880s, with Scheherezade,
Capriccio Espagnol and the Russian Easter Overture. Despite the gap
betweenthese two periods, the composer's overall approach and the
way he used his musical themes remained consistent. Both Antar
andScheherezade use a robust "Russian" theme to portray the male
progagonists (the title character in Antar; the sultan in
Scheherezade) and amore sinuous "Eastern" theme for the female ones
(the peri Gul-Nazar in Antar and the title character in
Scheherezade).[131]
Where Rimsky-Korsakov changed between these two sets of works
was in orchestration. While his pieces were always celebrated for
their
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Opening themes of the Sultan and Scheherazade
imaginative use of instrumental forces, the sparser textures of
Sadko and Antar palecompared to the luxuriance of the more popular
works of the 1880s.[1] While a principleof highlighting "primary
hues" of instrumental color remained in place, it wasaugmented in
the later works by a sophisticated cachet of orchestral effects,[1]
somegleaned from other composers including Wagner, but many
invented by himself.[1] As aresult, these works resemble brightly
colored mosaics, striking in their own right andoften scored with a
juxtaposition of pure orchestral groups.[117] The final tutti
ofScheherazade is a prime example of this scoring. The theme is
assigned to trombonesplaying in unison, and is accompanied by a
combination of string patterns. Meanwhile,another pattern
alternates with chromatic scales in the woodwinds and a third
pattern of
rhythms is played by percussion.[132]
Rimsky-Korsakov's non-program music, though well-crafted, does
not rise to the same level of inspiration as his programmatic
works; heneeded fantasy to bring out the best in him.[1] The First
Symphony follows the outlines of Schumann's Fourth extremely
closely, and isslighter in its thematic material than his later
compositions. The Third Symphony and Sinfonietta each contain a
series of variations onless-than-the-best music that can lead to
tedium.[1]
Smaller-scale works
Rimsky-Korsakov composed dozens of art songs, arrangements of
folk songs, chamber and piano music. While the piano music
isrelatively unimportant, many of the art songs possess a delicate
beauty. While they yield in overy lyricism to Tchaikovsky
andRachmaninoff, otherwise they reserve their place in the standard
repertory of Russian singers.[1]
Rimsky-Korsakov also wrote a body of choral works, both secular
and for Russian Orthodox Church service. The latter include
settings ofportions of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (despite
his staunch atheism).[133][134][135]
Transitional figureCritic Vladimir Stasov, who along with
Balakirev had founded The Five, wrote in 1882, "Beginning with
Glinka, all the best Russianmusicians have been very skeptical of
book learning and have never approached it with the servility and
the superstitious reverence withwhich it is approached to this day
in many parts of Europe."[136] This statement was not true for
Glinka, who studied Western music theoryassiduously with Siegfried
Dehn in Berlin before he composed his opera A Life for the
Tsar[137] However, it was true for Balakirev, who"opposed
academicism with tremendous vigor,"[38] and it was true initially
for Rimsky-Korsakov, who had been imbued by Balakirev andStasov
with the same attitude.[138]
One point Stasov omitted purposely, which would have disproved
his statement completely, was that at the time he wrote it,
Rimsky-Korsakov had been pouring his "book learning" into students
at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory for over a decade.[139]
Beginning withhis three years of self-imposed study,
Rimsky-Korsakov had drawn closer to Tchaikovsky and further away
from the rest of The Five, whilethe rest of The Five had drawn back
from him and Stasov had branded him a "renegade."[139] Taruskin
writes, "The older he became, thegreater was the irony with which
Rimsky-Korsakov looked back on his kuchkist days."[140] When the
young Semyon Kruglikov wasconsidering a future in composition,
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the future critic,
About a talent for composition ... I can say nothing as yet. You
have tried your powers too little.... Yes, one can study onone's
own. Sometimes one needs advice, but one must study ... All of us,
that is, I myself and Borodin, and Balakirev, andespecially Cui and
Mussorgsky, did disdain these things. I consider myself lucky that
I bethought myself in time andforced myself to work. As for
Balakirev, owing to his insufficient technique he writes little;
Borodin, with difficulty; Cui,carelessly; and Mussorgsky, sloppily
and often incoherently."[141]
Taruskin points out this statement, which Rimsky-Korsakov wrote
while Borodin and Mussorgsky were still alive, as proof of
hisestrangement from the rest of The Five and an indication of the
kind of teacher he eventually became.[142] By the time he
instructed Liadovand Glazunov, "their training hardly differed from
[Tchaikovsky's]. An ideal of the strictest professionalism was
instilled in them from thebeginning."[142] By the time Borodin died
in 1887, the era of autodidactism for Russian composers had
effectively ended. Every Russianwho aspired to write classical
music attended a conservatory and received the same formal
education.[143] "There was no more 'Moscow,'no 'St. Petersburg.' "
Taruskin writes; "at last all Russia was one. Moreover, by
century's end, the theory and composition faculties ofRubinstein's
Conservatory were entirely in the hands of representatives of the
New Russian School. Viewed against the background ofStasov's
predictions, there could scarcely be any greater irony."[144]
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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov by EmilWiesel
StudentsRimsky-Korsakov taught theory and composition to 250
students over his 35-year tenure at theSaint Petersburg
Conservatory, "enough to people a whole 'school' of composers."
This does notinclude pupils at the two other schools where he
taught, including Glazunov, or those he taughtprivately at his
home, such as Igor Stravinsky.[145] Apart from Glazunov and
Stravinsky,students who later found fame included Anatoly Lyadov,
Alexander Spendiaryan, SergeiProkofiev, Ottorino Respighi, Witold
Maliszewski, Mykola Lysenko, Artur Kapp, and KonstantyGorski. Other
students included the music critic and musicologist Alexander
Ossovsky, and thecomposer Lazare Saminsky.[146]
Rimsky-Korsakov felt talented students needed little formal
dictated instruction. His teachingmethod included distinct steps:
show the students everything needed in harmony andcounterpoint;
direct them in understanding the forms of composition; give them a
year or two ofsystematic study in the development of technique,
exercises in free composition andorchestration; instill a good
knowledge of the piano. Once these were properly completed,studies
would be over.[147] He carried this attitude into his conservatory
classes. ConductorNikolai Malko remembered that Rimsky-Korsakov
began the first class of the term by saying, "Iwill speak, and you
will listen. Then I will speak less, and you will start to work.
And finally Iwill not speak at all, and you will work."[148] Malko
added that his class followed exactly thispattern. "Rimsky-Korsakov
explained everything so clearly and simply that all we had to do
wasto do our work well."[148]
Editing the work of The FiveRimsky-Korsakov's editing of works
by The Five is significant. It was a practical extension ofthe
collaborative atmosphere of The Five during the 1860s and 1870s,
when they heard eachother's compositions in progress and worked on
them together, and was an effort to save worksthat would otherwise
either have languished unheard or become lost entirely. This
workincluded the completion of Alexander Borodin's opera Prince
Igor, which Rimsky-Korsakovundertook with the help of Glazunov
after Borodin's death,[80] and the orchestration of passagesfrom
Csar Cui's William Ratcliff for its first production in 1869.[25]
He also completely orchestrated the opera The Stone Guest
byAlexander Dargomyzhsky three timesin 186970, 1892 and 1902.[32]
While not a member of The Five himself, Dargomyzhsky wasclosely
associated with the group and shared their musical
philosophy.[25]
Musicologist Francis Maes wrote that while Rimsky-Korsakov's
efforts are laudable, they are also controversial. It was generally
assumedthat with Prince Igor, Rimsky-Korsakov edited and
orchestrated the existing fragments of the opera while Glazunov
composed and addedmissing parts, including most of the third act
and the overture.[149][150] This was exactly what Rimsky-Korsakov
stated in his memoirs.[151]However, both Maes and Richard Taruskin
cite an analysis of Borodin's manuscripts by musicologist Pavel
Lamm, which showed thatRimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov discarded
nearly 20 percent of Borodin's score.[152] According to Maes, the
result is more a collaborativeeffort by all three composers than a
true representation of Borodin's intent.[153] Lamm stated that
because of the extremely chaotic state ofBorodin's manuscripts, a
modern alternative to Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov's edition would
be extremely difficult to complete.[153]
More debatable, according to Maes, is Rimsky-Korsakov's editing
of Mussorgsky's works. After Mussorgsky's death in 1881,
Rimsky-Korsakov revised and completed several of Mussorgsky's works
for publication and performance, helping to spread Mussorgsky's
worksthroughout Russia and to the West. However Maes, in reviewing
Mussorgsky's scores, wrote that Rimsky-Korsakov allowed his
"musicalconscience" to dictate his editing, and he changed or
removed what he considered musical over-experimentation or poor
form.[110] Becauseof this, Rimsky-Korsakov has been accused of
pedantry in "correcting", among other things, matters of harmony.
Rimsky-Korsakov mayhave foreseen questions over his efforts when he
wrote,
If Mussorgsky's compositions are destined to live unfaded for
fifty years after their author's death (when all his works
willbecome the property of any and every publisher), such an
archeologically accurate edition will always be possible, as
themanuscripts went to the Public Library on leaving me. For the
present, though, there was need of an edition forperformances, for
practical artistic purposes, for making his colossal talent known,
and not for the mere studying of hispersonality and artistic
sins.[154]
Maes stated that time proved Rimsky-Korsakov correct when it
came to posterity's re-evaluation of Mussorgsky's work.
Mussorgsky'smusical style, once considered unpolished, is now
admired for its originality. While Rimsky-Korsakov's arrangement of
Night on Bald
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Fyodor Chaliapin was a powerfulexponent of the
Rimsky-Korsakovversion of Boris Godunov, whichlaunched the work in
the world's operahouses, but has since fallen out offavor. Portrait
by Aleksandr Golovin.
Mountain is still the version generally performed,
Rimsky-Korsakov's other revisions, like hisversion of Boris
Godunov, have been replaced by Mussorgsky's original.[155]
Folklore and pantheismRimsky-Korsakov may have saved the most
personal side of his creativity for his approach toRussian
folklore.[156] Folklorism as practiced by Balakirev and the other
members of The Fivehad been based largely on the protyazhnaya dance
song.[156] Protyazhnaya literally meant"drawn-out song", or
melismatically elaborated lyric song.[157] The characteristics of
this songexhibit extreme rhythmic flexibility, an asymmetrical
phrase structure and tonal ambiguity.[157]After composing May
Night, however, Rimsky-Korsakov was increasingly drawn to
"calendarsongs", which were written for specific ritual
occasions.[156] The ties to folk culture was whatinterested him
most in folk music, even in his days with The Five; these songs
formed a part ofrural customs, echoed old Slavic paganism, and the
pantheistic world of folk rites.[156] Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that
his interest in these songs was heightened by his study of them
whilecompiling his folk song collections.[158] He wrote that he
"was captivated by the poetic side of thecult of sun-worship, and
sought its survivals and echoes in both the tunes and the words of
thesongs. The pictures of the ancient pagan period and spirit
loomed before me, as it then seemed,with great clarity, luring me
on with the charm of antiquity. These occupations subsequently had
agreat influence in the direction of my own activity as a
composer".[74]
Rimsky-Korsakov's interest in pantheism was whetted by the
folkloristic studies of AlexanderAfanasyev.[156] That author's
standard work, The Poetic Outlook on Nature by the Slavs,
becameRimsky-Korsakov's pantheistic bible.[156] The composer first
applied Afanasyev's ideas in MayNight, in which he helped fill out
Gogol's story by using folk dances and calendar songs.[156] He
went further down this path in The Snow Maiden,[156] where he
made extensive use of seasonal calendar songs and khorovodi
(ceremonialdances) in the folk tradition.[159]
Musicologists and Slavicists have long recognized that
Rimsky-Korsakov was a pantheistic and ecumenical artist whose
folklore-inspiredoperas take up such issues as the relationship
between paganism and Christianity and the seventeenth-century
schism in the OrthodoxChurch.[160] At heart he held pantheistic
beliefs, often mistaken for a form of atheism, which had its most
visible manifestation in his deepreverence of folk culture,
especially pantheistic rites.[161][162]
PublicationsRimsky-Korsakov's autobiography and his books on
harmony and orchestration have been translated into English and
published. Twobooks he started in 1892 but left unfinished were a
comprehensive text on Russian music and a manuscript, now lost, on
an unknownsubject.[163]
My Musical Life. [ literally, Chronicle of My Musical Life.]
Trans. from the 5th rev.Russian ed. by Judah A. Joffe; ed. with an
introduction by Carl Van Vechten. London: Ernst Eulenburg Ltd,
1974.Practical Manual of Harmony. [ .] First published, in Russian,
in 1885. First English editionpublished by Carl Fischer in 1930,
trans. from the 12th Russian ed. by Joseph Achron. Current English
ed. by Nicholas Hopkins,New York, New York: C. Fischer,
2005.Principles of Orchestration. [ .] Begun in 1873 and completed
posthumously by Maximilian Steinberg in1912, first published, in
Russian, in 1922 ed. by Maximilian Steinberg. English trans. by
Edward Agate; New York: DoverPublications, 1964 ("unabridged and
corrected republication of the work first published by Edition
russe de musique in 1922").
CommemorationThere are several biographical museums in the
places connected with his life: namely, his memorial house in
Tikhvin in the presentLeningrad oblast to the east of Saint
Petersburg, and his memorial museum apartment in downtown Saint
Petersburg in Zagorodniyprospect, the latter being a branch of
St.Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music
(http://theatremuseum.ru/eng/index_eng.html). Thecomposer's name
has been given to a street in central Saint Petersburg - prrospekt
Rimskogo-Korsakova in Vladimirsky Municipal Okrug.Most importantly
for the country's musical culture, his name was given to the
renowned highest music teaching institution of the city -Nikolay
Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg Conservatory, the oldest one in
Russia.
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ReferencesFootnotes
Russia was using old style dates in the 19th century, and
information sources used in the article sometimes report dates as
old style rather thannew style. Dates in the article are taken
verbatim from the source and are in the same style as the source
from which they come.
1.
The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty
Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint
Petersburg, Russia, in theyears 18561870: Mily Balakirev (the
leader), Csar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and
Alexander Borodin.
2.
This is not the first symphony by a Russian: Anton Rubinstein
composed his first symphony in 1850 (Figes, 391).3.
Notes
Frolova-Walker, New Grove (2001), 21:409.1. Abraham, New Grove
(1980), 16:34.2. Taruskin, Music, 166.3. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 4.4. Abraham, A Short Biography, 15.5. Abraham, New
Grove (1980), 16:27.6. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 5.7.
Frolova-Walker, New Grove (2001), 21:400.8. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 8.9. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 11.10.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 1113.11. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 15.12. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 16.13.
Calvocoressi and Abraham, Masters of Russian Music, 342.14.
Abraham, New Grove (1980), 2:28; Rimsky-Korsakov, MyMusical Life,
18.
15.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 1920.16. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 38.17. Abraham, A Short Biography, 2325.18.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life; 22.19. Abraham, New Grove (1980),
2:28; Rimsky-Korsakov, MyMusical Life, 42.
20.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 48.21. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 55.22. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 56.23.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 5859.24. Abraham, New Grove
(1980), 16:28.25. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 29.26.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 30.27. Maes, 44.28.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 57.29. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 21.30. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 123.31.
Frolova-Walker, New Grove (2001), 21:401.32. Figes, 18.33.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 116.34. Maes, 48.35. Zetlin,
194.36. Zetlin, 1945.37. Maes, 39.38. Maes, 169170.39. Zetlin,
195.40. Zetlin, 1956.41. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 117.42.
Brown, Crisis Years, 228229; Maes, 48.43. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 75.44. Brown, Early Years, 5483.45. Brown, Early
Years, 8889.46. Brown, Crisis Years, 228229.47. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 119.48. Abraham, New Grove (1980), 16:29.49. Maes,
170.50.
Schonberg, 363.51. Abraham, New Grove (1980), 16:2852.
Schonberg, 362; Zetlin, 1646.53. "Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov,
continued" (http://symphonyinc.org/node/152). symphonyinc.org.
Retrieved 6 September 2011.
54.
McAllister and Rayskin, New Grove (2001), 21:423424.55. Abraham,
New Grove (1980)16:2829.56. Zetlin, 164.57. Neff, New Grove (2001),
21:423.58. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical life, 135136.59.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 136.60. Leonard, 148.61.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 141142.62. Frolova-Walker, New
Grove (2001), 8:404; Rimsky-Korsakov, MyMusical Life, 335
63.
Leonard, 149.64. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 133.65. As
quoted in Brown, Crisis Years, 229.66. Zetlin, 3034.67.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 151.68. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 157 ft. 30.69. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life,
164.70. Frolova-Walker, New Grove (2001), 21:402.71.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 163.72. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 164165.73. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 166.74.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 172.75. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 175.76. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 188189.77.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 208.78. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 235.79. Maes, 171.80. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical
Life, 261.81. Figes, 195197; Maes, 173174, 196197.82. Taruskin,
49.83. Taruskin, Stravinsky, 42.84. Taruskin, Stravinsky, 44.85.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 269.86. Abraham, New Grove
(1980), 16:2930; Zetlin, 313.87. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life,
281.88. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 296.89. Rimsky-Korsakov,
My Musical Life, 288.90. Maes, 173.91. Maes, 192.92.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 286287.93. Brown, Final Years,
91.94. Brown, Final Years, 90.95. Taruskin, Stravinsky, 31.96.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 308.97. Taruskin, Stravinsky,
39.98. As quoted in Holden, 64.99. Poznansky, Quest, 564; Taruskin,
Stravinsky, 39.100. Holden, 316; Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life,
309; Taruskin,101.
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Stravinsky, 39.Brown, Final Years, 465.102. Brown, Final Years,
474.103. Abraham, New Grove (1980), 16:30.104. Maes, 176177.105.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 298.106. As quoted in Taruskin,
Stravinsky, 55.107. Maes, 180.108. As quoted in Taruskin,
Stravinsky, 40.109. Maes, 181.110. Abraham, New Grove, 16:31.111.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 411.112. Frolova-Walker, New
Grove (2001), 21:405.113. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life,
412.114. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 478.115. Taruskin,
Stravinsky, 1:386.116. Abraham, New Grove (1980), 16:32.117.
Frolova-Walker, New Grove (2001), 21:406.118. Leonard, 167.119.
Frolova-Walker, New Grove (2001), 405406.120. Maes, 178.121.
Taruskin, Stravinsky, 73.122. Rimsky-Korsakov, Preface xxiii.123.
Maes, 175176.124. Abraham, Slavonic, 197.125. Abraham, Slavonic,
197198.126. Yastrebtsev, 37.127. Maes, 180, 195.128. Schonberg,
364.129. Abraham, New Grove (1980), 16:33.130. Maes, 82, 175.131.
Abraham, New Grove (1980), 16:3233.132. Abraham, The New Grove
Russian Masters 2, 27.133. Abraham, Studies in Russian Music,
288134. Morrison, 116117, 168169.135.
As quoted in Taruskin, Stravinsky, 24.136. Maes, 19.137. Maes,
389.138. Taruskin, Stravinsky, 29.139. Taruskin, Stravinsky,
32.140. As quoted in Taruskin, Stravinsky, 33.141. Taruskin,
Stravinsky, 34.142. Taruskin, Stravinsky, 4041.143. Taruskin,
Stravinsky, 41.144. Taruskin, Stravinsky, 1:163.145. Schonberg,
365.146. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 34.147. Malko, 49.148.
Maes, 182.149. Taruskin, Music, 185.150. Rimsky-Korsakov, My
Musical Life, 283.151. Maes, 182183.152. Maes, 183.153.
Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 249.154. Maes, 115.155. Maes,
187.156. Maes, 65.157. Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life,
165166.158. Maes, 188.159.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/900592?uid=3737976&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104418534011
160.
Morrison, Simon (July 13, 2003), "MUSIC; In an Invisible City,
aMansion of Musical History"
(http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/13/arts/music-in-an-invisible-city-a-mansion-of-musical-history.html),
New York Times, retrieved 28 October 2014
161.
Wilken, Robert Louis (August 2005), "The Church's Way
ofSpeaking"
(http://www.firstthings.com/article/2005/08/the-churchs-way-of-speaking),
First Things
162.
Leonard, 150.163.
Sources In English:
Abraham, Gerald, "Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay Andreyevich". In The
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: Macmillan,
1980)20 vols., ed. Stanley Sadie. ISBN 0-333-23111-2.Abraham,
Gerald, Studies in Russian Music (London: William Reeves/The New
Temple Press, 1936). ISBN n/a.Abraham, Gerald. Rimsky-Korsakov: a
Short Biography (London: Duckworth, 1945; rpt. New York: AMS Press,
1976. Later ed.: Rimsky-Korsakov. London: Duckworth, 1949).Abraham,
Gerald, Slavonic and Romantic Music: Essays and Studies (London:
Faber & Faber, 1968). ISBN 0-571-08450-8.Abraham, Gerald,
"Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay Andreyevich". In The New Grove Russian
Masters 2 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company,1986). ISBN
0-393-30103-6.Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Early Years, 18401874
(New York, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1978). ISBN
0-393-07535-4.Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Crisis Years,
18741878, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983). ISBN
0-393-01707-9.Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Final Years, 18851893,
(New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1991). ISBN
0-393-03099-7.Calvocoressi, M.D. and Gerald Abraham, Masters of
Russian Music (New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1944). ISBN
n/a.Figes, Orlando, Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
(New York: Metropolitan Books, 2002). ISBN 0-8050-5783-8
(hc.).Frolova-Walker, Marina, "Rimsky-Korsakov. Russian family of
musicians. (1) Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov". In The New
GroveDictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition (London:
Macmillan, 2001) 29 vols., ed. Stanley Sadie. ISBN
1-56159-239-0.Holden, Anthony, Tchaikovsky: A Biography (New York:
Random House, 1995). ISBN 0-679-42006-1.Leonard, Richard Anthony, A
History of Russian Music (New York: Macmillan, 1957). Library of
Congress Card Catalog Number 57-7295.McAllister, Rita and Iosef
Genrikhovich Rayskin, "Rimsky-Korsakov. Russian family of
musicians. (3) Andrey Nikolayevich Rimsky-Korsakov".In The New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition (London:
Macmillan, 2001) 29 vols., ed. Stanley Sadie.
ISBN1-56159-239-0.Maes, Francis, tr. Pomerans, Arnold J. and Erica
Pomerans, A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar
(Berkeley, Los Angelesand London: University of California Press,
2002). ISBN 0-520-21815-9.Morrison, Simon, Russian Opera and the
Symbolist Movement (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 2002). ISBN0-520-22943-6.Neff, Lyle,
"Rimsky-Korsakov. Russian family of musicians. (2) Nadezhda
Nikolayevna Rimskaya Korsakova [ne Purgold]". In The New
GroveDictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition (London:
Macmillan, 2001) 29 vols., ed. Stanley Sadie. ISBN
1-56159-239-0.Poznansky, Alexander Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the
Inner Man (Lime Tree, 1993). ISBN 0-413-45721-4.Rimsky-Korsakov,
Nikolai, Letoppis Moyey Muzykalnoy Zhizni (St. Petersburg, 1909),
published in English as My Musical Life (New York:
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Wikimedia Commons has media relatedto Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov.
Knopf, 1925, 3rd ed. 1942). ISBN n/a.Schonberg, Harold C. Lives
of the Great Composers (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 3rd
ed. 1997). ISBN 0-393-03857-2.Taruskin, Richard, Stravinsky and the
Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works Through Mavra, Volume
1 (Oxford and New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1996). ISBN
0-19-816250-2.Taruskin, Richard, On Russian Music (Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 2009). ISBN
0-520-24979-8.Yastrebtsev, Vasily Vasilievich, Reminiscences of
Rimsky-Korsakov (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985), ed.
and trans. Florence Jonas.ISBN 0-231-05260-X.Zetlin, Mikhail, tr.
and ed. George Panin, The Five (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Press, 1959, 1975). ISBN 0-8371-6797-3.
In Russian:
Malko, N.A., Vospominaniia. Stat'i. Pisma [Reminiscences.
Articles. Letters] (Leningrad, 1972)
Further readingNelson, John: The Significance of Rimsky-Korsakov
in the Development of a Russian National Identity. Diss. Studia
musicologicaUniversitatis Helsingiensis, 25. University of
Helsinki, 2013. ISSN 0787-4294
(https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0787-4294)
ISBN 978-952-10-9390-6. Abstract.
(http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:%20978-952-10-9391-3)
External linksFilms
Great Russian Composers: Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakov
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1156180/) at the Internet Movie
Database (2004)- (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045089/) at the
Internet MovieDatabase (Soviet biographical film from 1952)Song of
Scheherazade (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039852/) at the Internet
Movie Database
ScoresFree scores by Rimsky-Korsakov at the International Music
Score Library ProjectFree scores by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in the
Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
(http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=Rimsky-KorsakovN)
at the Mutopia Project
OtherThe Rimsky-Korsakov Home Page
(http://sites.google.com/site/rimskyhome/)Works by Nikolay
Rimsky-Korsakov
(https://www.gutenberg.org/author/Rimsky-Korsakov,+Nikolay) at
Project GutenbergWorks by or about Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
(https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28subject%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20Nikolai%20Andreyevich%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20Nikolai%20A%2E%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20N%2E%20A%2E%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Nikolai%20Andreyevich%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Nikolai%20A%2E%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22N%2E%20A%2E%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20Nikolai%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Nikolai%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Nikolai%20Andreyevich%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Nikolai%20A%2E%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22N%2E%20A%2E%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22N%2E%20Andreyevich%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20Nikolai%20Andreyevich%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20Nikolai%20A%2E%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20N%2E%20A%2E%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20N%2E%20Andreyevich%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Nikolai%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20Nikolai%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Nikolai%20Andreyevich%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Nikolai%20A%2E%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20title%3A%22N%2E%20A%2E%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Nikolai%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Nikolai%20Andreyevich%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Nikolai%20A%2E%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20description%3A%22N%2E%20A%2E%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20Nikolai%20Andreyevich%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20Nikolai%20A%2E%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Nikolai%20Rimsky-Korsakov%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Rimsky-Korsakov%2C%20Nikolai%22%29%20OR%20%28%221844-1908%22%20AND%20Rimsky-Korsakov%29)
at Internet ArchivePrinciples of Orchestration at Project Gutenberg
full, searchable text with music images, mp3 files, and MusicXML
filesPrinciples of Orchestration
(http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=77) full
text with "interactive scores."Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006253/) at the Internet Movie
Database
Retrieved from
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