Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was born into an aristocratic family, in Tikhvin, near Novgorod in 1844. As a child he was a gifted pianist, but his family did not regard music as a suitable career for someone of his social status, and sent him to the School for Mathematical and Navigational Sciences in St. Petersburg to train as a naval officer. During his education he became involved with the thriving musical life of the capital, meeting Mily Balakirev in 1861. Balakirev had an established reputation as a musician and greatly encouraged the young Nikolai in composition. The same period marked the beginning of the group of amateur composers known as "the five" or the "mighty handful". They were Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. They opposed the growing trend of intellectualism in music, exemplified by the work of Richard Wagner, and favoured a return to simpler lyrical forms and the use of folk music. In 1862, Rimsky-Korsakov sailed as a young naval officer on a journey that would last for three years, during which he visited England and the United States. Although separated from his musical peers he did not abandon composition, and completed his first symphony during the voyage. After returning to St. Petersburg in 1865, he revised the symphony following the direction of Balakirev, and it was performed the same year. Rimsky-Korsakov appeared on stage in his naval uniform to acknowledge the applause. The audience was incredulous that a naval officer could have written such a work.
In 1871, Rimsky-Korsakov joined the faculty of the St. Petersburg Conservatory as Professor of Practical Composition. Although he had gained a reputation as a composer he had practically no knowledge of musical theory. In his first years of teaching, he bluffed his way through classes, recalling that "at first none of my pupils could imagine that I knew nothing, and by the time they had learned enough to begin to see through me, I had learned something myself!" With encouragement from Tchaikovsky he began to teach himself harmony, counterpoint, musical form and orchestration. In time he became famous as a music theorist, writing a treatise on orchestration which is still used today. Among his students were Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky. His association with Tchaikovsky and the adoption of a more intellectual approach to music distanced him from "the five", Mussorgsky calling him a soulless traitor.
The sinfonietta on Russian themes is a re-working of a string quartet which he originally completed in 1879. It is a sunny work very characteristic of the composer. The first movement is based on two fairly short melodic ideas. These are presented in many different settings, with varying harmony and orchestral textures. The form is related to classical sonata form with the exposition ending unusually in the sub-dominant key of D minor. The recapitulation of the opening ideas is quite short, but the coda is greatly extended. Overall there is a sense of continuous development throughout the movement that tends to blur the classical outline.
The second movement is a romance based principally upon a beautiful languorous Russian folk tune. It shows the early influence of the five, particularly Borodin, in its use of simple structures and dependence on flowing melody. The folk tune appears three times, each time in the same key of F major. The appearances are separated by more incisive contrasting episodes using 5/8 time. The same folk melody was later used by Stravinsky as part of the dance of the princesses in his ballet the Firebird.
The last movement is similar in construction to the first following the outline of sonata form with the exposition again ending in the sub-dominant key, this time D major. It makes use of three melodic ideas the first and most insistent is a short staccato folk influenced tune introduced on the strings. It is contrasted with a singing legato melody heard at first on the violins and a broader dance like tune heard first on pizzicato strings. The movement is fast throughout bringing the work to an energetic close.
Rimsky-Korsakov's Sinfonietta was performed by the Portobello orchestra on the 19th April 2008, conducted by Anthony Weeden.
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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
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Rimsky Korsakov also revised a lot of Mussorgsky's music, including the Night on Bald Mountain. Mussorgsky's work was in various stages of completion due to his alcoholism and disorganization, but, in its original form, is far more original and powerful than what Rimsky did. Mussorgsky was rough-edged but very authentic and had an extreme dedication to creating a music that was true to Russia, instead of being secondary to Europe. Both Tchaikovsky and Rimsky were far more polished and sophisticated in the European manner, but not as original as Mussorgsky. Boris Gudonov is probably greater than anything either one of them composed.
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@xumeng12 said:
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was born into an aristocratic family, in Tikhvin, near Novgorod in 1844. As a child he was a gifted pianist, but his family did not regard music as a suitable career for someone of his social status, and sent him to the School for Mathematical and Navigational Sciences in St. Petersburg to train as a naval officer. During his education he became involved with the thriving musical life of the capital, meeting Mily Balakirev in 1861. Balakirev had an established reputation as a musician and greatly encouraged the young Nikolai in composition. The same period marked the beginning of the group of amateur composers known as "the five" or the "mighty handful". They were Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. They opposed the growing trend of intellectualism in music, exemplified by the work of Richard Wagner, and favoured a return to simpler lyrical forms and the use of folk music. In 1862, Rimsky-Korsakov sailed as a young naval officer on a journey that would last for three years, during which he visited England and the United States. Although separated from his musical peers he did not abandon composition, and completed his first symphony during the voyage. After returning to St. Petersburg in 1865, he revised the symphony following the direction of Balakirev, and it was performed the same year. Rimsky-Korsakov appeared on stage in his naval uniform to acknowledge the applause. The audience was incredulous that a naval officer could have written such a work. In 1871, Rimsky-Korsakov joined the faculty of the St. Petersburg Conservatory as Professor of Practical Composition. Although he had gained a reputation as a composer he had practically no knowledge of musical theory. In his first years of teaching, he bluffed his way through classes, recalling that "at first none of my pupils could imagine that I knew nothing, and by the time they had learned enough to begin to see through me, I had learned something myself!" With encouragement from Tchaikovsky he began to teach himself harmony, counterpoint, musical form and orchestration. In time he became famous as a music theorist, writing a treatise on orchestration which is still used today. Among his students were Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky. His association with Tchaikovsky and the adoption of a more intellectual approach to music distanced him from "the five", Mussorgsky calling him a soulless traitor. The sinfonietta on Russian themes is a re-working of a string quartet which he originally completed in 1879. It is a sunny work very characteristic of the composer. The first movement is based on two fairly short melodic ideas. These are presented in many different settings, with varying harmony and orchestral textures. The form is related to classical sonata form with the exposition ending unusually in the sub-dominant key of D minor. The recapitulation of the opening ideas is quite short, but the coda is greatly extended. Overall there is a sense of continuous development throughout the movement that tends to blur the classical outline. The second movement is a romance based principally upon a beautiful languorous Russian folk tune. It shows the early influence of the five, particularly Borodin, in its use of simple structures and dependence on flowing melody. The folk tune appears three times, each time in the same key of F major. The appearances are separated by more incisive contrasting episodes using 5/8 time. The same folk melody was later used by Stravinsky as part of the dance of the princesses in his ballet the Firebird. The last movement is similar in construction to the first following the outline of sonata form with the exposition again ending in the sub-dominant key, this time D major. It makes use of three melodic ideas the first and most insistent is a short staccato folk influenced tune introduced on the strings. It is contrasted with a singing legato melody heard at first on the violins and a broader dance like tune heard first on pizzicato strings. The movement is fast throughout bringing the work to an energetic close. Rimsky-Korsakov's Sinfonietta was performed by the Portobello orchestra on the 19th April 2008, conducted by Anthony Weeden.Say Professor,
Is any of this stuff gunna be on the mid term exam?
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@William said:
Both Tchaikovsky and Rimsky were far more polished and sophisticated in the European manner, but not as original as Mussorgsky. Boris Gudonov is probably greater than anything either one of them composed.
Huge and bold statement by William, as always, worthy of heated debate (because of Tchaikovsky of course), but for another time - I'm trying to avoid work and am being very successful as always... I'd just like to know what the point of this spontaneous and flimsy biographical sketch was. Did the author post it in an admiring frenzy following an inspired performance of Scheherazade?
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@Errikos said:
I'd just like to know what the point of this spontaneous and flimsy biographical sketch was.
...Hence my previous post.
The OP reminds me of some of my old college professors who would break out into spontaneous lectures leaving us students dumbfounded wondering whether or not we should be taking notes on this stuff.
If I'm not mistaken xumeng12 was the same poster who educated the community with his/her pointless history of the Vienna Symphonic Library lecture and his observations of the city of Vienna.
New to forums are you? If you'd like to engage in a discussion of Korsakov, or any of the so-called "The Five" for that matter, it might be more helpful if you post your thoughts about any works he has composed or share your theories about his compositions instead of posting random biographics cut and pasted from Google searhces. As it stands now, this thread is more about you than poor old Nikolai. But then again maybe that's your point.
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@jasensmith said:
...performed by the Portobello orchestraThey serve the most delightful mushroom hors d'oeuvres at those concerts.
Speaking of mushrooms,
I must have been on powerful shrooms when I said that because I honestly don't remember ever posting it.
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@jasensmith said:
If you'd like to engage in a discussion of Korsakov, or any of the so-called "The Five" for that matter, it might be more helpful if you post your thoughts about any works he has composed or share your theories about his compositions instead of posting random biographics cut and pasted from Google searhcesHe won't. On the other posts he did the same thing - post an isolated snippet of information and then ignore any comment or question.
This leads me to believe he is either an experimental A.I. system in need of further work, or Angelo Clematide attempting to get back at the Forum for dispensing with his dynamic range system.
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Here's a thought I'd welcome feedback on - I've been studying Rimsky-Korsakov scores recently; and his 2nd Symphony, 'Antar' is new to me. My thought - the first and last movements are a seriously important forerunner to Impressionistic Music. They are very untypically romantic era and IMO must have significantly infleunced Debussy and Ravel. I'd even go as far to say that Debussy lifted the climax of the last movement for his climax in the seminal "Apres Midi d'un Faune" which I had thought, up until hearing Antar, was completely original. I've searched around and can't find any sort of analysis that links the two; but it's very clear to my ears. I'd also say that Suite Three in Daphnis and Chloe is infleunced by this movement. If you haven't heard Antar it's definitely worth checking out - and I'd be interested in your thoughts on RK's infleunce on Impressionism. Kevin. PS - I'm re-editing this post to tell you that I put in several paragraphs but this forum seems to ignore them and posts everything in one paragraph - so it's a little unfair on the original poster (whom I know nothing about - I was searching the Web for info on RK and came across the VSL site (I'm a composer but don't own VSL yet hence this is my first post)But just to say - this forum doesn't seem to recognise paragraphs - even this PS is posted in the wrong place!!. Cheers.
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@William said:
This leads me to believe he is either an experimental A.I. system in need of further work, or Angelo Clematide attempting to get back at the Forum for dispensing with his laughable dynamic range system.
(If only Clematide was reading this but unfortunately he is probably not, having sunk some time ago into the tarn outside the House of Usher to swim to the dark caverns unknown even to Poe, where he has rejoined his submarine troglodytic friends. )
I remember in his final gasps, before being cast asunder, Clematide was bragging about his supposed Chinese contacts and how his music, apparently too good for our ears, is so popular in Asian markets, or words to that effect. I didn't notice it before but xumeng is a Chinese name. Coincidence?
You might be on to something there William.
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P Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on