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Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

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. 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 15 operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects.

Rimsky-Korsakov believed in developing a nationalistic style of classical music, as did his fellow composer Mily Balakirev and the critic Vladimir Stasov. This style employed Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed 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.

Birth and Death Data: Born March 18, 1844 (Tikhvin), Died June 20, 1908 (Lyubensk)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1902 - 1950

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer, orchestrator, lyricist

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 1-25 of 258 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor B-10808 10-in. 7/19/1911 Song of the shepherd Lehl Alma Gluck Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-12099 10-in. 6/10/1912 Chanson indoue Alma Gluck Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-12973 10-in. 3/8/1913 Romance orientale Alma Gluck Soprano vocal solo, with piano and violin obbligato composer  
Victor C-14260 12-in. 12/31/1913 Liuba's air Alma Gluck Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-14548 10-in. 3/7/1914 Aller au bois Alma Gluck Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-15300 10-in. 10/22/1914 Chanson indoue Lucy Isabelle Marsh Female vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-15897 10-in. 4/15/1915 Slumber song Beatrice Harrison Cello solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-15945 12-in. 4/23/1915 Finale atto 3 Paul Althouse ; Margarethe Arndt-Ober Vocal duet (contralto and tenor), with orchestra orchestrator  
Victor B-16126 10-in. 6/22/1915 Chanson hindoue Florentine Quartet Instrumental quartet, with bells composer  
Victor B-17026 10-in. 1/18/1916 Vostochnyĭ romans (Восточный романс) Nina Dimitrieff Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-17813 10-in. 6/7/1916 A song of India Hans Kindler Cello solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-20025 10-in. 6/7/1917 Chanson indoue Maud Powell Violin solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-20087 10-in. 6/25/1917 Romance orientale Alma Gluck Soprano vocal solo, with violin and orchestra composer  
Victor B-21308 10-in. 12/26/1917 Romance orientale Cherniavsky Trio Instrumental trio composer  
Victor B-21942 10-in. 5/31/1918 Hymne au soleil Mabel Garrison Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-22639 12-in. 3/20/1919 Hymn to the sun Mischa Elman Violin solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-22806 10-in. 4/28/1919 A Hindoo love song Victor Herbert's Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Victor C-22810 12-in. 5/5/1919 Festival in Baghdad Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor B-22869 10-in. 5/22/1919 Chanson indoue Fritz Kreisler Violin solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor BVE-22869 10-in. 12/6/1928 Hindou chant Fritz Kreisler Violin solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-23559 10-in. 12/29/1919 Chanson hindoue Maud Powell Violin solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-24629 12-in. 10/18/1920 Young prince and the young princess Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor C-25133 12-in. 3/31/1921 Hymn to the sun Fritz Kreisler Violin solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-25322 10-in. 5/31/1921 Song of India Paul Whiteman Orchestra Jazz/dance band composer  
Victor BVE-25322 10-in. 8/26/1926 Song of India Paul Whiteman Orchestra Jazz/dance band composer  
(Results 1-25 of 258 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay," accessed March 28, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102531.

Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102531.

"Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 28 March 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102531

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