Search results
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov passed away on June 21, 1908, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire and captivate music lovers around the world.
classicalclips.com/composers/nikolai-rimsky-korsakov/Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Biography, Facts, Videos, and Works ...
People also ask
What happened to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov?
Who is Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov?
What caused a fire at Rimsky-Korsakov's estate?
How did Rimsky-Korsakov contribute to Russian music?
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (18 March 1844 – 21 June 1908) was a Russian composer, a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration.
- Overview
- Early life and naval career
- Teacher, conductor, and editor
- Legacy
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, (born March 6 [March 18, New Style], 1844, Tikhvin, near Novgorod, Russia—died June 8 [June 21], 1908, Lyubensk), Russian composer, teacher, and editor who was at his best in descriptive orchestrations suggesting a mood or a place.
Rimsky-Korsakov was the product of many influences. His father was a government official of liberal views, and his mother was well educated and could play the piano. His uncle was an admiral in the Russian navy, and his elder brother was a marine officer. From them Rimsky-Korsakov acquired his interest in music and his abiding love for the sea. When he was 12 years old the family moved to St. Petersburg, where he entered the naval academy. At age 15 he began taking piano lessons and learned the rudiments of composition. In 1861 he met the composer Mily Balakirev, a man of great musical culture, and under the older man’s guidance he began to compose a symphony.
In 1862 he graduated from the naval academy. Soon afterward he sailed on the clipper ship Almaz on a long voyage, the vessel anchoring in New York City; Baltimore, Maryland; and Washington, D.C., at the height of the American Civil War. Since Russia was politically sympathetic toward the North, the sailors were cordially welcomed there. Subsequent ports of call were Brazil (where he was promoted to the rank of midshipman), Spain, Italy, France, England, and Norway. The ship returned to its home port of Kronstadt (Kronshtadt) in May 1865. For young Rimsky-Korsakov the voyage confirmed a fascination with the sea. Aquatic scenes abound in his operas and symphonic works: the ocean in Scheherazade (1888), Sadko (1898), and The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1900), and the lake in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia (1907).
So high was Rimsky-Korsakov’s reputation that in 1871, when he was still a very young man, he was engaged to teach composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In his autobiographical Chronicle of My Musical Life (1972, originally published in Russian, 1909) he frankly admitted his lack of qualifications for this important position; he himself had never taken a systematic academic course in musical theory, even though he had profited from Balakirev’s desultory instruction and by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s professional advice. Eager to complete his own musical education, he undertook in 1873 an ambitious program of study, concentrating mainly on counterpoint and the fugue. He ended his studies in 1875 by sending 10 fugues to Tchaikovsky, who declared them impeccable.
In 1873 he left the naval service and assumed charge of military bands as inspector and conductor. Although he lacked brilliance as an orchestral leader, he attained excellent results in training inexperienced instrumentalists. His first professional appearance on the podium took place in St. Petersburg on March 2, 1874, when he conducted the first performance of his Symphony No. 3. In the same year he was appointed director of the Free Music School in St. Petersburg, a post that he held until 1881. He served as conductor of concerts at the court chapel from 1883 to 1894 and was chief conductor of the Russian symphony concerts between 1886 and 1900. In 1889 he led concerts of Russian music at the Paris World Exposition, and in the spring of 1907 he conducted in Paris two Russian historic concerts in connection with Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.
Students save 67%! Learn more about our special academic rate today.
Learn More
A strict disciplinarian in artistic matters, Rimsky-Korsakov was also a severe critic of his own music. He made constant revisions of his early compositions, in which he found technical imperfections. As a result, double dates, indicating early and revised versions, frequently occur in his catalog of works. He was at his best and most typical in his descriptive works. With two exceptions (Servilia [1902] and Mozart and Salieri [1898]), the subjects of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas are taken from Russian or other Slavic fairy tales, literature, and history. These include Snow Maiden (1882), Sadko, The Tsar’s Bride (1899), The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia, and Le Coq d’or (1909). Although these operas are part of the regular repertory in Russian opera houses, they are rarely heard abroad; only Le Coq d’or enjoys occasional production in western Europe and the United States.
Of the composer’s orchestral works, the best known are Capriccio espagnol (1887), the symphonic suite Scheherazade, and Russian Easter Festival (1888) overture. “The Flight of the Bumble Bee” from The Tale of Tsar Saltan and the “Song of India” from Sadko are perennial favourites in a variety of arrangements.
- Wealthy family background. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was fortunate enough to have been born into a wealthy family that awarded him the education required to succeed.
- He did not think he could be a musician. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov had an inherent desire to play music, but he did not think he could pull it off as a career.
- Finished Alexander Borodin’s work. Rimsky-Korsakov took on the responsibility of completing Alexander Borodin’s work, who was a close friend and member of the Mighty Five Group.
- The Mighty Five. The Mighty Five were also referred to as Moguchaya Kuchka in Russian, which was a group of 5 Russian composers in mid 19th century. The Mighty Five was made up of Mily Balakirev, who was the leader of the group, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, who was probably the most prolific composer of then all, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Aleksandr Borodin and César Cui.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov passed away on June 21, 1908, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire and captivate music lovers around the world. His life and work stand as a testament to the power of passion, dedication, and continuous learning, reminding us all of the magic that music can create.
Jul 4, 2022 · This weekend, a fire broke out in the estate and memorial museum of 19th-century composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Over half of the exhibits have been destroyed in the blaze, which has devastated more than 1,000 artefacts.
- Sophia Alexandra Hall
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) composed his comic opera May Night in 1878-9, at a time when he was fascinated in the stories for the supernatural and the fantastic. It was also at this time that he had been appointed to a teaching role at the St Petersburg Conservatory – a role he thought himself ill prepared for.
Mar 23, 2021 · Sadly, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov had ceased writing his Chronicle by the time he came to teach Igor Stravinsky but there is every indication that he regarded the young Igor as a star pupil.
