RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Nicolai

Bio

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 –1908) was a Russian composer, and 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, "Moscalski" style of classical music. 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. His love of the sea might have influenced him to write two of his best-known orchestral works. Rimsky-Korsakov left a considerable body of original Russian nationalist compositions. He is considered "the main architect" of what the classical music public considers the Russian style of composition.