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. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his fifteen operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects. He was the husband of the composer Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova.
Rimsky-Korsakov believed in developing a nationalistic style of classical music, employing Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewing traditional Western compositional methods. Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony, and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous three-year program of self-education and became a master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside the influences of Mikhail Glinka and fellow members of The Five. Rimsky-Korsakov's techniques of composition and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure to the works of Richard Wagner.
For much of his life, Rimsky-Korsakov combined his composition and teaching with a career in the Russian armed forces—first as an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, then as the civilian Inspector of Naval Bands. He wrote that he developed a passion for the ocean in childhood from reading books and hearing of his older brother's exploits in the navy. This love of the sea may have influenced him to write two of his best-known orchestral works, the musical tableau Sadko (not to be confused with his later opera of the same name) and Scheherazade. As Inspector of Naval Bands, Rimsky-Korsakov expanded his knowledge of woodwind and brass playing, which enhanced his abilities in orchestration. He passed this knowledge to his students, and also 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". His influence on younger composers was especially important, as he served as a transitional figure between the autodidactism exemplified by Glinka and The Five, and professionally trained composers, who became 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, Franz Liszt and, for a brief period, Wagner, he "transmitted this style directly to two generations of Russian composers" and influenced non-Russian composers including Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Paul Dukas, and Ottorino Respighi.Abraham, New Grove (1980), 16:34.
Biography
Early years
Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tikhvin, east of Saint Petersburg, into a Russian noble family. Tikhvin was a town of Novgorod Governorate at that time.
Throughout history, members of the family served in Russian government and took various positions as governors and war generals. Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov was famously a lover of Catherine the Great.Tatiana Rimskaya-Korsakova (2008). N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. From the Family Letters – Saint Petersburg: Compositor, 247 pages, pp. 8–9 The Korsakov family from Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary at WikisourceThe Rimsky-Korsakov family from Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary at Wikisource By a Tsar's decree on 15 May 1677, 18 representatives of the Korsakov family acquired the right to be called the Rimsky-Korsakov family (the Russian adjective 'Rimsky' means 'Roman') since the family "had a beginning within the Roman borders", i.e. Czech lands, which used to be a part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1390, Wenceslaus Korsak moved to the Grand Prince Vasily I of Moscow from the Duchy of Lithuania.
The father of the composer, Andrei Petrovich Rimsky-Korsakov, was one of the six illegitimate sons of Avdotya Yakovlevna, daughter of an Orthodox priest from Pskov, and lieutenant general Peter Voinovich Rimsky-Korsakov, who had to officially adopt his own children as he was unable to marry their mother because of her lower social status. Using his friendship with Aleksey Arakcheyev, he granted them all the privileges of the noble family.Tatiana Rimskaya-Korsakova (1995). Childhood and Youth of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. From the Family Letters. – Saint Petersburg: Compositor, 278 pages, pp. 9–10; Andrei went on to serve in the Interior Ministry of the Russian Empire, as vice-governor of Novgorod, and in the Volhynian Governorate. The composer's mother, Sofya Vasilievna Rimskaya-Korsakova, was also born as an illegitimate daughter of a peasant serf and Vasily Fedorovich Skaryatin, a wealthy landlord who belonged to a noble Russian family.Skaryatin coat of arms by All-Russian Armorials of Noble Houses of the Russian Empire. Part 6, 23 June 1801 (in Russian) Her father raised her in full comfort, yet under an improvised surname, Vasilieva, and with no legal status. By the time Andrei Petrovich met her, he was already a widower: his first wife, knyazna Ekaterina Meshcherskaya, died just nine months after their marriage. Since Skaryatin found him unsuitable for his daughter, Andrei secretly "stole" his bride from the father's house and brought her to Saint Petersburg, where they married.
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.Taruskin, Music, p. 166. He later recalled that his mother played the piano a little, and his father could play a few songs on the piano by ear.Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 4. Beginning at six, he took piano lessons from local teachers and showed a talent for aural skills,Abraham, New Grove (1980), 16:27. but he showed a lack of interest, playing, as he later wrote, "badly, carelessly, ... poor at keeping time".Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 5.
Although he started composing by age 10, Rimsky-Korsakov preferred literature to music. He later wrote that from his reading, and tales of his brother's exploits, he developed a poetic love for the sea "without ever having seen it".Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 8. This love, with subtle prompting from Voin, encouraged the 12-year-old to join the Imperial Russian Navy. He studied at the School for Mathematical and Navigational Sciences in Saint Petersburg and at 18 took his final examination in April 1862.
While at school, Rimsky-Korsakov took piano lessons from a man named Ulikh.Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 11. 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.Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, pp. 11–13.
Ulikh perceived Rimsky-Korsakov's musical talent and recommended another teacher, Feodor A. Kanille (Théodore Canillé).Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 15. Beginning in late 1859, Rimsky-Korsakov took lessons in piano and composition from Kanille, whom he later credited as the inspiration for devoting his life to composition.Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 16. Through Kanille, he was exposed to a great deal of new music, including Mikhail Glinka and Robert Schumann.Frolova-Walker, New Grove (2001), 21:400. Voin cancelled his brother Nikolai's musical lessons when the latter reached age 17, feeling they no longer served a practical purpose.
Kanille told Rimsky-Korsakov to continue coming to him every Sunday, not for formal lessons but to play duets and discuss music.Calvocoressi and Abraham, Masters of Russian Music, p. 342. In November 1861, Kanille introduced the 18-year-old Nikolai to Mily Balakirev. Balakirev in turn introduced him to César Cui and Modest Mussorgsky; all three were known as composers, despite only being in their 20s.Abraham, New Grove (1980), 2:28; Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 18. Rimsky-Korsakov later wrote, "With what delight I listened to real business discussions [Rimsky-Korsakov's emphasis] of instrumentation, part writing, etc! And besides, how much talking there was about current musical matters! All at once I had been plunged into a new world, unknown to me, formerly only heard of in the society of my dilettante friends. That was truly a strong impression."Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, pp. 19–20.
Balakirev encouraged Rimsky-Korsakov to compose and taught him the rudiments when he was not at sea. Balakirev prompted him to enrich himself in history, literature and criticism.Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 38. When he showed Balakirev the beginning of a symphony in E-flat minor that he had written, Balakirev insisted he continue working on it despite his lack of formal musical training.Abraham, A Short Biography, pp. 23–25.
By the time Rimsky-Korsakov sailed on a two-year-and-eight-month cruise aboard the clipper in late 1862, he had completed and orchestrated three movements of the symphony.Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life; p. 22. He composed the slow movement during a stop in England and mailed the score to Balakirev before going back to sea.Abraham, New Grove (1980), 2:28; Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 42.
At first, his work on the symphony kept Rimsky-Korsakov occupied during his cruise. He purchased scores at every port of call, along with a piano on which to play them, and filled his idle hours studying Berlioz's Treatise on Instrumentation. He found time to read the works of Homer, William Shakespeare, Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; he saw London, Niagara Falls, and Rio de Janeiro during his stops in port. Eventually, the lack of outside musical stimuli dulled the young midshipman's hunger to learn. He wrote to Balakirev that after two years at sea he had neglected his musical lessons for months.
"Thoughts of becoming a musician and composer gradually left me altogether", he later recalled; "distant lands began to allure me, somehow, although, properly speaking, naval service never pleased me much and hardly suited my character at all."Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 48.
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, but he recalled that his desire to compose "had been stifled ... I did not concern myself with music at all."Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 55. He wrote that contact with Balakirev in September 1865 encouraged him "to get accustomed to music and later to plunge into it".Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, p. 56. At Balakirev's suggestion, he wrote a trio to the scherzo of the E-flat minor symphony, which it had lacked up to that point, and reorchestrated the entire symphony.Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, pp. 58–59. Its first performance came in December of that year under Balakirev's direction in Saint Petersburg.Abraham, New Grove (1980), 16:28. A second performance followed in March 1866 under the direction of Konstantin Lyadov (father of composer Anatoly Lyadov).