Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tikhvin, Russia, on March 18, 1844. Trained for a naval career, he was graduated from the Naval School in St. Petersburg in 1862, after which he embarked on a two-and-a-half-year cruise as naval officer. From earliest boyhood he had been passionately interested in music, especially the folk operas of Glinka and Russian ecclesiastical music. When he was seventeen, he was encouraged by Balakirev to essay composition. After returning to Russia in 1864, Rimsky-Korsakov associated himself with the national Russian school then being realized by Balakirev and Mussorgsky among others, and completed his first symphony, introduced in St. Petersburg in 1865. He plunged more deeply into musical activity after that by completing several ambitious works of national character, including the Antar Symphony and an opera, The Maid of Pskov. In 1873 he was relieved by the government of all his naval duties and allowed to devote himself completely to music. At that time the special post of Inspector of Military Orchestras was created for him. He soon distinguished himself as a conductor of the Free Music Society in St. Petersburg and as professor of composition and orchestration at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He did not neglect composition, producing many significant operas and orchestral works. In his music he remained faithful to national ideals by filling his music with melodies patterned after Russian folk songs, harmonies derived from the modes of Russian church music, and rhythms simulating those of Russian folk dances. To all his writing he brought an extraordinary technical skill in structure, orchestration and harmony. He died of a heart attack in Liubensk, Russia, on June 21, 1908.
The exotic personality and harmonic and instrumental brilliance of Eastern music are often encountered in Rimsky-Korsakov. They are found in two extremely popular excerpts from his opera Le Coq d’or (The Golden Cockerel): “Bridal Procession” and “Hymn to the Sun.”
Le Coq d’or is a fantasy-opera, introduced in Moscow on October 7, 1909; the libretto, by Vladimir Bielsky, is based on a tale by Pushkin. A golden cockerel with the talent of prophecy is presented to King Dodon by his astrologer. In time the cockerel accurately prophesies the doom of both the astrologer and the King.
The oriental, languorous “Hymn to the Sun” (“Salut à toi soleil”) appears in the second act, a salute by the beautiful Queen of Shemaka. After the Queen has captured the love of King Dodon with this song, they marry. There are many transcriptions of this beautiful melody, including one for violin and piano by Kreisler and for cello and piano by Julius Klengel.
The third act of this opera opens with the brilliant music of the “Bridal Procession.” The royal entourage passes with pomp and ceremony through the city accompanied by the cheers of the surrounding crowds.
In the vital “Dance of the Tumblers” or “Dance of the Buffoons” for orchestra, Rimsky-Korsakov skilfully employs folk rhythms. This dance comes from the composer’s folk opera, The Snow Maiden (Snegourochka). The third act opens with a gay Arcadian festival celebrated by the Berendey peasants during which this gay and exciting folk dance is performed.
The pictorial, realistic “Flight of the Bumble Bee” is an excerpt from still another of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas, The Legend of Tsar Saltan. This is an orchestral interlude in the third act describing tonally, and with remarkable realism, the buzzing course of a bee. This piece retains its vivid pictorialism even in transcriptions, notably that for solo piano by Rachmaninoff, and for violin and piano by Arthur Hartmann.
The “Hindu Chant” or “The Song of India” is also an operatic excerpt, this time from Sadko. It appears at the close of the second tableau of the second act. Sadko is the host to three merchants from foreign lands. He invites each to tell him about his homeland, one of whom is a Hindu who proceeds in an Oriental melody to speak of the magic and mystery of India.
The Russian Easter Overture (La Grand pâque russe), for orchestra, op. 36 (1888) was one of the fruits of the composer’s lifelong fascination for Russian church music. The principal thematic material of the overture comes from a collection of canticles known as the Obikhod from the Russian Orthodox Church. Two of these canticles are heard in the solemn introduction, a section which the composer said represented the “Holy Sepulcher that had shone with ineffable light at the moment of the Resurrection.” The first is given loudly by strings and clarinets, the second quietly by violins and violas accompanied by woodwind, harps, and pizzicato basses. A brief cadenza for solo violin is the transition to the main body of the overture where the two canticles from the introduction are amplified and developed. A brilliant coda leads to the conclusion of the work where the second of the two melodies is given for the last time by trombones and strings.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s most famous work for orchestra is the symphonic suite, Scheherazade, op. 35 (1888). Nowhere is his remarkable gift at pictorial writing, at translating a literary program into tones, more in evidence than here. This music describes episodes from the Arabian Nights in four movements which are unified by the recurrence of two musical motives. The first is that of the Sultan, a forceful, majestic statement for unison brass, woodwinds and strings; the second is a tender melody in triplets for strings depicting the lovely Scheherazade. The Sultan theme opens the first movement, entitled “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship.” After quiet chords for the brass, the Scheherazade melody is heard in solo violin accompanied by harp arpeggios. The music later becomes highly dramatic as Sinbad’s ship, represented by a flute solo, is buffeted about by an angry sea, the latter portrayed by rapid arpeggio figures. The poignant Scheherazade motive in solo violin introduces the second movement, “The Tale of the Kalendar.” The tale is spun in a haunting song for bassoon, dramatically contrasted by a dynamic rhythmic section for full orchestra. The third movement, “The Young Prince and the Princess” is a tender love dialogue between violins and clarinets. After a recall of the Scheherazade melody there appears the finale: “The Festival at Bagdad; The Sea, The Ship Founders on the Rock.” A brief recall of the Sinbad theme brings on an electrifying picture of a festival in Bagdad. The gay proceedings, however, are interrupted by a grim shipwreck scene, vividly depicted by the exciting music. This dramatic episode passes, and the suite ends with a final statement of the Scheherazade theme.
The Spanish Caprice (Capriccio espagnol), for orchestra, op. 34 (1887) is one of the composer’s rare attempts at exploiting the folk music of a country other than his own. There are five parts. The first is a morning song, or “Alborada,” in which two main subjects of Spanish identity are given by the full orchestra. This is followed by “Variations.” A Spanish melody is here subjected to five brief variations. In the third part, the Alborada music returns in a changed tonality and orchestration. The fourth movement is entitled “Scene and Gypsy Dance” and consists of five cadenzas. The Capriccio ends with “Fandango asturiano,” in which a dance melody for trombones is succeeded by a contrasting subject in the woodwinds. A last recall of the main Alborada theme of the first movement brings the work to its conclusion.