Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

**Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov**, was a Russian composer. He was born near Novgorod, 18 March 1844, and died in Lybensk, near Saint Petersburg, 21 June 1908. His best-known orchestral compositions—*Capriccio Espagnol*, the *Russian Easter Festival Overture*, and *The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son, the Famous and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess Swan,* are his best-known works.

## Early years

Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tikhvin, east of Saint Petersburg, into a Russian noble family. Several people from his family had careers in the Russian army and navy. The Rimsky-Korsakov family had a long line of military and naval service. Nikolai's older brother Voin, 22 years his senior, became a well-known navigator and explorer and had a powerful influence on Nikolai's life.

When he was young he showed a great interest in music. He sang every tune he heard and knew, without looking, the names of the notes that he heard being played on the piano. When he was six he started piano lessons.

While at school, Rimsky-Korsakov took piano lessons from a man named Ulikh. Voin, now director of the school, sanctioned these lessons because he hoped they would help Nikolai develop social skills and overcome his shyness. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that, while "indifferent" to lessons, he developed a love for music, fostered by visits to the opera and, later, orchestral concerts.

## Career and musical work

Rimsky-Korsakov now worked about two or three hours a day for the navy. He spent the rest of the time composing or visiting friends. He met several composers who were already becoming famous: Borodin, Balakirev, Cui and Mussorgsky. In November 1887, Tchaikovsky arrived in Saint Petersburg in time to hear several of the Russian Symphony Concerts.

He wrote three symphonies and *The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son, the Famous and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess Swan,* but in 1897 he stopped composing for several years. He spent his time inspecting naval bands and studied in great detail how musical instruments worked. The concerts also coaxed him out of his creative drought; he wrote *Flight of the Bumblebee**, Capriccio Espagnol* and the *Russian Easter Overture* specifically for them. Rimsky-Korsakov had by now become really interested in Russian folktunes and fairy tales. His next opera was *Snow Maiden*. Then his friend Mussorgsky died, leaving lots of compositions unfinished. Rimsky-Korsakov spent a lot of time preparing them for publication. He made changes to some of Mussorgsky’s harmonies so

that it suited his Romantic tastes. Rimsky-Korsakov asked Tchaikovsky and his new friend Igor Stravinsky personally if they would conduct four symphonies in Saint Petersburg the following season.

Nowadays many people think that Mussorgsky’s versions are better and that Rimsky-Korsakov had not understood properly what Mussorgsky had been trying to do. He also completed and orchestrated Borodin’s opera *Prince Igor* after Borodin died. He composed two very popular orchestral works he wrote: *Capriccio Espagnol* and *Flight of the Bumblebee*. While Tchaikovsky’s sudden death in late 1893 prevented him from fulfilling this commitment in its entirety, the list of works he had planned to conduct included Rimsky-Korsakov's Third Symphony.

## Later years

He became even more interested in opera after Maurice Ravel conducted his best-known work, *Boléro* four times in Saint Petersburg. However, he also had lots of worries, particularly about the health of some members of his family. He started to become depressed and worried about losing his ability to compose. He became more relaxed after he moved to a new home in the country. Beginning around 1890, Rimsky-Korsakov suffered from angina. While this ailment initially wore him down gradually, the stresses concurrent with the 1905 Revolution and its aftermath greatly accelerated its progress. After December 1907, his illness became severe, and he could not work. In 1908, he died at his Lubensk estate near Luga (modern day Plyussky District of Pskov Oblast), and was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Saint Petersburg, next to Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Cui, Mussorgsky and Balakirev.