Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov studied the piano during his childhood. He served in the Russian Imperial Navy.
Rimksy-Korsakov met Mily Balakirev through his former music teacher in 1861. Balakirev introduced Rimsky-Korsakov to César Cui and Modest Mussorgsky.
Balakirev taught Rimsky-Korsakov while he was not at sea with the Navy.
After being assigned to on-shore duty, Rimsky-Korsakov became more involved with the other members of the Mighty Five; the group collaborated on music and critiqued each others' work. Rimsky-Korsakov was valued among the group members for his talent as an orchestrator.
For a time, starting in 1871, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov roomed together in the apartment of Rimsky-Korsakov's brother.
From 1873 to 1884, Rimsky-Korsakov accepted the civilian post of Inspector of Naval Bands. In this role he traveled through Russia and supervised bandmasters, reviewed their repertoire, and evaluated their instruments.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
By The original uploader was Ivan Velikii at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, Link
This section presents a sampling of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's compositions. Click here for an extended list of Rimsky-Korsakov's works.
Capriccio Espagnol is the first of three tone poems for which Rimsky-Kosakov is best known. The work is based on Spanish or Asturian traditional folk themes.
The tone poem is a five-movement orchestral suite.
Click here to listen to a performance of Capriccio Espagnol.
Rimksky-Korsakov tells the tale of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights in his tone poem Scheherazade. In this tale, a sultan convinced that all women are false, plans to kill each of his wives after their wedding night. Scheherazade saves her life by entertaining the sultan with stories for a thousand and one nights, after which the sultan gives up his vow to kill her.
Click here to listen to a performance of Scheherazade.
The third of Rimsky-Kosakov's tone poems, Russian Easter Festival Overture, builds on themes from the Russian Orthodox liturgy that would hae been familiar to his audience.
Rimsky-Kosakov dedicated the work to the memory of Alexander Borodin and Modest Mussogsky, fellow members of the Mighty Five.
Click here to listen to a performance of the Russian Easter Festival Overture.
"Capriccio Espagnol." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 11 Jan. 2017. Web. 4 Jul. 2017., Link
"List of compositions by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 Feb. 2017. Web. 3 Jul. 2017., Link
"Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 June 2017. Web. 3 Jul. 2017., Link
"Russian Easter Festival Overture." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 Jan. 2017. Web. 4 Jul. 2017., Link
"Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov)." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 Jun. 2017. Web. 4 Jul. 2017., Link