Encyclopedia
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov , also
Nikolay,
Nicolai, and
Rimsky-Korsakoff, was a Russian composer, one of five Russian composers known as
The Five, and was later a teacher of harmony and orchestration. He is particularly noted for a predilection for folk and fairy-tale subjects, and for his extraordinary skill in orchestration, which may have been influenced by his
synesthesia.
Biography
Born at
Tikhvin, near
Novgorod, into an aristocratic family, Rimsky-Korsakov showed musical ability from an early age, but studied at the Russian Imperial Naval College in
Saint Petersburg and subsequently joined the
Russian Navy. It was only when he met
Mily Balakirev in 1861 that he began to concentrate more seriously on music. Balakirev encouraged him to compose and taught him when he was not at sea. He also met the other composers of the group that were to become known as "The Five", or "
The Mighty Handful", through
Mily Balakirev. While in the Navy , Rimsky-Korsakov completed his first symphony , which some have deemed the first such piece to be composed by a Russian, but this is not the case . Before resigning his commission in 1873, Rimsky-Korsakov also completed the first version of his well known orchestral piece
Sadko and the
opera The Maid of Pskov . These three are among several early works which the composer revised later in life.
In 1871, despite being largely group- and self-educated within The Mighty Handful rather than being conservatory-trained, Rimsky-Korsakov became professor of composition and orchestration at the
Saint Petersburg Conservatory. The next year he married Nadezhda Nikolayevna Purgol'd , who was also a pianist and composer. During his first few years at the Conservatory Rimsky-Korsakov assiduously studied harmony and counterpoint in order to make up for the lack of such thorough training during his years with The Mighty Handful.
In 1883 Rimsky-Korsakov worked under Balakirev in the Court Chapel as a deputy. This post gave him the chance to study Russian Orthodox church music. He worked there until 1894. He also became a conductor, leading Russian Symphony Concerts sponsored by Mitrofan Belyayev as well as some programs abroad.
In 1905 Rimsky-Korsakov was removed from his professorship in
Saint Petersburg owing to his expressing some political views the authorities disapproved of. This sparked a series of resignations by his fellow faculty members, and he was eventually reinstated. The political controversy continued with his opera
The Golden Cockerel is a 1834 poem by Alexander Pushkin [i] and an opera [i] in three acts by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov [i] ...
, whose implied criticism of monarchy upset the censors to the point that the premiere was delayed until 1909, after the composer's death.
Towards the end of his life Rimsky-Korsakov suffered from angina. He died in Lyubensk in 1908, and was interred in
Tikhvin Cemetery at the
Aleksandr Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg. His widow Nadezhda spent the rest of her life preserving the composer's legacy.
The Rimsky-Korsakovs had seven children: Mikhail , Sofia , Andrey , Vladimir , Nadezhda , Margarita , and Slavchik . Nadezhda married another Russian composer, Maximilian Steinberg in 1908. Andrey was a musicologist who wrote a multi-volume study of his father's life and work, which included a chapter devoted to his mother Nadezhda. A nephew, Georgy Mikhaylovich Rimsky-Korsakov , was also a composer.
Legacy
In his decades at the Conservatory Rimsky-Korsakov taught many composers who would later find fame, including
Alexander Glazunov,
Sergei Prokofiev, and
Igor Stravinsky.
Rimsky-Korsakov's legacy goes far beyond his compositions and his teaching career. His tireless efforts in editing the works of other members of The Mighty Handful are significant, if controversial. These include the completion of
Alexander Borodin's opera
Prince Igor is an opera [i] in four acts with a prologue by Alexander Borodin [i]. ...
, orchestration of passages from
César Cui's
William Ratcliff for the first production in 1869, and the complete orchestration of
Alexander Dargomyzhsky's swan song,
The Stone Guest. This effort was a practical extension of the fact that Rimsky-Korsakov's early works had been under the intense scrutiny of Balakirev and that the members of
The Mighty Handful during the 1860s and 1870s experienced each other's compositions-in-progress and even collaborated at times.
While the effort for his colleagues is laudable, it is not without its problems for musical reception. In particular, after the death of
Modest Mussorgsky in 1881, Rimsky-Korsakov took on the task of revising and completing several of Mussorgsky's pieces for publication and performance. In some cases these versions helped to spread Mussorgsky's works to the West, but Rimsky-Korsakov has been accused of pedantry for "correcting" matters of harmony, etc., in the process. Rimsky-Korsakov's arrangement of Mussorgsky's
Night on Bald Mountain, is a tone poem [i] by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky [i], a Russia [i]n composer [i] ...
is the version generally performed today. However, critical opinion of Mussorgsky has changed over time so that his style, once considered unpolished, is now valued for its originality. This has caused some of Rimsky-Korsakov's other revisions, such as that of
Boris Godunov, to fall out of favour and be replaced by productions more faithful to Mussorgsky's original manuscripts.
Synesthesia
Rimsky-Korsakov perceived colours with keys as follows :
| Note | Colour |
|---|
| C | white |
| D | yellow |
| Eb | dark bluish-grey |
| E | sparkling sapphire |
| F | green |
| G | rich gold |
| A | rosy coloured |
Overview of compositions
Rimsky-Korsakov was a prolific composer. Like his compatriot
Cui, his greatest efforts were expended on his
operas. There are fifteen operas to his credit, including
Kashchey the Immortal and
The Tale of Tsar Saltan. The subjects of the operas range from historical melodramas like
The Tsar's Bride, to folk operas, such as
May Night, to
fairytales and legends like
Snowmaiden. In their juxtaposed depictions of the real and the fantastic, the operas invoke folk melodies, realistic declamation, lyrical melodies, and artificially constructed harmonies with effective orchestral expression. Most of Rimsky-Korsakov's operas remain in the standard repertoire in
Russia to this day. The best known selections from the operas that are known in the West are "Dance of the Tumblers" from
Snowmaiden, "Procession of the Nobles" from
Mlada, "Song of the Indian Guest" from
Sadko, and "
Flight of the Bumblebee" from
Tsar Saltan, as well as suites from
The Golden Cockerel is a 1834 poem by Alexander Pushkin [i] and an opera [i] in three acts by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov [i] ...
and
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden FevroniyaNevertheless, Rimsky-Korsakov's status in the West has long been based on his
orchestral compositions, most famous among which are
Capriccio Espagnol,
Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite
Scheherazade. In addition, he composed dozens of art songs, arrangements of folk songs, some chamber and
piano music, and a considerable number of choral works, both secular and for
Russian Orthodox Church service, including settings of portions of the
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
Major literary works
- 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 Eulenberg Ltd, 1974.
- Practical Manual of Harmony. [???????????? ??????? ????????.] First published, in Russian, in 1885. First English edition published by Carl Fischer in 1930, trans. from the 12th Russian ed. by Joseph Achron. Current English ed. by Nicholas Hopkins, New York, NY: C. Fischer, 2005.
- Principles of Orchestration. [?????? ???????????.] Begun in 1873 and completed posthumously by Maximilian Steinberg in 1912, first published, in Russian, in 1922 ed. by Maximilian Steinberg. English trans. by Edward Agate; New York: Dover Publications, 1964 .
Bibliographic sources
- Abraham, Gerald. Rimsky-Korsakov: a Short Biography. London: Duckworth, 1945; rpt. New York : AMS Press, 1976. Later ed.: Rimsky-Korsakov. London: Duckworth, 1949.
- Griffiths, Steven. A Critical Study of the Music of Rimsky-Korsakov, 1844-1890. New York: Garland, 1989.
- Rimsky-Korsakov, A.N. ?.?. ???????-????????: ????? ? ?????????? [N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov: Life and Work]. [5 vols.] ??????: ??????????????? ??????????? ????????????, 1930.
- Richard Taruskin. "The Case for Rimsky-Korsakov," Opera News, vol. 56, nos. 16 and 17 , pp. 12–17 and 24-29, respectively.
- Yastrebtsev, Vasily Vasilievich. Reminiscences of Rimsky-Korsakov. Ed. and trans. by Florence Jonas. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985. '
Other media
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