Nikolai Rimski-Korsakow

Short biography Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was born on 18 March 1844 in Tikhvin, Novgorod region, Russia. He initially trained for a naval career and studied at the St. Petersburg Naval Academy, receiving only informal music lessons in his early years. His compositional development was profoundly shaped by his association with the group of Russian nationalist composers known as "The Mighty Handful" (Moguchaya Kuchka), and he later received more systematic theoretical grounding largely through self-study. In 1871 he was appointed professor of composition and orchestration at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, a position he held for most of the rest of his life. He died on 21 June 1908 at Lyubensk, near St. Petersburg.

Historical placement Rimsky-Korsakov belongs to the Romantic era and is one of the central figures of the Russian nationalist school of composition. His music is distinguished by vivid orchestral color, modal harmonies, and the extensive use of Russian folk melody and Oriental exoticism. He made a lasting contribution to music history above all through his mastery of orchestration, codified in his influential treatise *Principles of Orchestration*, and through his fifteen operas drawn largely from Russian folklore and history.

Personal connections Mily Balakirev served as Rimsky-Korsakov's early mentor and the guiding force who encouraged him to compose and brought him into the circle of The Mighty Handful. Alexander Borodin, César Cui, and Modest Mussorgsky were fellow members of The Mighty Handful, with whom Rimsky-Korsakov shared close artistic collaboration throughout the 1860s and 1870s. He completed and orchestrated Mussorgsky's opera *Khovanshchina* and prepared a revised edition of *Boris Godunov* after Mussorgsky's death. Alexander Glazunov was among his most prominent students at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Igor Stravinsky studied privately with Rimsky-Korsakov from around 1905 until the teacher's death, making him one of the composer's last and most celebrated pupils.

Important works

Sadko – Symphonic poem, Op. 5 (1867, rev. 1869/1892)
Symphony No. 2 "Antar" – Symphony (later re-designated symphonic suite), Op. 9 (1868, rev. 1875/1897)
The Snow Maiden (Snegurochka) – Opera (1881)
Capriccio Espagnol – Orchestral work, Op. 34 (1887)
Scheherazade – Orchestral suite, Op. 35 (1888)
Russian Easter Festival Overture – Concert overture, Op. 36 (1888)
The Night Before Christmas (Noch' pered Rozhdestvom) – Opera (1895)
Sadko – Opera (1898)
The Tale of Tsar Saltan (Skazka o Tsare Saltane) – Opera (1900)
The Golden Cockerel (Zolotoy petushok) – Opera (1907)