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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Browse piano sheets by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov on Zen Virtual Piano. Rimsky-Korsakov later recalled that thoughts of becoming a musician and composer gradually left him altogether, that distant lands began to allure him, and that naval service never pleased him much. With little outside musical stimulus, the young midshipman's hunger to learn was dulled, and he wrote to Balakirev that, two years into his time at sea, his musical lessons had been neglected for months. A midshipman writing that his lessons had slipped for months is not the usual picture of a future teacher of composers. He was born in Tikhvin, 200 kilometers east of Saint Petersburg, into a Russian noble family, and although he began composing by the age of 10, he preferred literature to music. At 27, in 1871, he became Professor of Practical Composition and Instrumentation at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and leader of its Orchestra Class. A preference for literature in childhood and a professor's chair at 27 mark a distance traveled quickly, with a sailor's years in between, and the two years at sea may have been the longest stretch of the way. He moved into Voin's former apartment in late 1871 and invited Mussorgsky to share it; they agreed that Mussorgsky would have the piano in the mornings while Rimsky-Korsakov copied or orchestrated. Through much of his life, composing and teaching ran alongside a military career: he was first an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and later the civilian Inspector of Naval Bands. A flat shared with Mussorgsky and a post over naval bands both seem to have fed the orchestration he became known for. Flight of the Bumblebee is an orchestral interlude he wrote for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900, and it is recognizable for its frantic pace when played up to tempo, with nearly uninterrupted runs of chromatic sixteenth notes. His textbook approach to orchestration, backed by over 300 examples from his own music, set a new standard for books on the subject, and he did much to shape what classical audiences think of as the Russian style. An interlude known for speed and a textbook known for method are two quite different legacies from the same composer, and neither seems to leave much room for the other.

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Who was Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov?

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a composer born in Tikhvin who served as a naval officer and Inspector of Naval Bands and became a professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871.

What is Flight of the Bumblebee?

It is an orchestral interlude he wrote for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900, known for its frantic pace and runs of chromatic sixteenth notes.

What did Rimsky-Korsakov do in the navy?

He began as an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and later served as the civilian Inspector of Naval Bands, which expanded his knowledge of woodwind and brass playing.

Who shared an apartment with Rimsky-Korsakov?

Mussorgsky took the piano in the mornings while Rimsky-Korsakov copied or orchestrated, an arrangement that began in late 1871 when he invited Mussorgsky to be his roommate.