The works of Rimsky-Korsakov are characterized by figurativeness and are characterized by a special purity of lyricism. All of them are connected with the fairy-tale world, with the way of life of the people, with the nature of Russia. The presentation of oriental images in them is also important.

N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. Biography: childhood

The future composer was born in Tikhvin in March 1844. His father came from a noble noble family. Starting with his great-great-grandfather, who was a rear admiral of the fleet, all his ancestors held important positions in the administration or in the army. Nika (as the boy’s family called him) began studying music at the age of six. But boring teachers could not instill in the child a love for the subject.

N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. Biography: departure to St. Petersburg

At the age of twelve, his father brought Nikolai to the northern capital and assigned him to the naval corps as a cadet. His childhood dream came true. The boy worked diligently, but over time it turned out that the local customs and drill were all alien to him. In the same year, cellist Uhlich began teaching him to play the piano. At the age of 16, Nikolai began taking lessons from F. A. Kanille, a famous pianist. Music overshadowed maritime affairs, which was very dissatisfied with Nikolai’s older brother. In addition, the young man joined the Balakirev circle in 1861. Rimsky-Korsakov was very glad that people passionate about music accepted him as an equal. During the same period, Nikolai experienced a bereavement - the death of his father. A year later, Rimsky-Korsakov set off on a voyage around the world. During the trip he wrote only one Andante for the symphony.

Rimsky-Korsakov. Biography: 1865-1882

After returning to his homeland, he greedily makes up for everything he missed during the voyage: reads, plays, communicates, works on the First Symphony and performs it in concert. In 1867 he composed "Sadko" for orchestra. This “musical picture” brought him real recognition. During the same period, love came to Nikolai. He is passionate about Nadezhda Purgold, who, together with her sister Alexandra, performed works written by members of the circle. For the next four years, the composer worked on the opera “The Pskov Woman.” At this time, many exciting events happened: his older brother died, in 1871 Nikolai began teaching at the conservatory, and in the same year Nadezhda Purgold became his bride. Returning from their honeymoon, the couple began learning a new opera. Its premiere took place in 1873. The public approved the work. From 1873 to 1878, Rimsky-Korsakov was busy improving his own technique, as he felt significant gaps in his musical education. The members of the circle did not understand this zeal.

They warned that technically perfect works would be an order of magnitude lower than those written with the soul. And so it happened. The third symphony, performed in 1876, was received rather restrainedly by the public and press. And finally, the long-awaited inspiration came to the composer: very quickly he wrote the opera “May Night”. Immediately after it, Rimsky-Korsakov asked Ostrovsky for permission to use his play “The Snow Maiden” to compose music. The playwright agreed and was shocked by the result.

Rimsky-Korsakov. Biography: 1894-1902

During this period, the composer began working on a second opera based on the plot of Gogol’s works - “The Night Before Christmas”. The next work, “The Tsar’s Bride,” was received ambiguously. But there was no end to the applause when “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” came to life on stage. It was written on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin.

Brief biography of Rimsky-Korsakov: recent years

The combination of composing and teaching activities could not but affect Nikolai Andreevich’s health. However, this did not stop him from writing his most innovative work - the opera “Kashchei the Immortal”. Next came the shock of “Bloody Sunday” in 1905. Students at the meeting demanded that classes be stopped until the fall. Nikolai Andreevich supported them, for which he was fired. Following him, expressing protest in this way, many more professors left the conservatory. Since then, the thought of writing an opera in which tsarism could be exposed has not left Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1906 he began work on The Golden Cockerel. A year later the opera was written. opposed its production, as he was alarmed by the sharpness of the satire on the king. The opera was still performed in 1909, but the composer did not see it. In June 1908 he died.

Russian composer, teacher, musical figure Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov was born on March 18 (March 6, old style) 1844 in Tikhvin.

The composer's father came from an old noble family. His ancestors held prominent positions in the army and administration of Russia, starting with his great-great-grandfather, Rear Admiral of the Fleet under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

In 1862 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Maritime School.

In 1862-1865, Rimsky-Korsakov was on a circumnavigation of the world, during which, in 1864, he was promoted to officer. In 1873 he retired.

In 1873-1884 he was inspector of military bands of the fleet.

While studying at the school, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov continued to study music, first with cellist Ulikh, then with pianist Fyodor Canille.

Acquaintance in 1861 with the composer Miliy Balakirev and his circle “The Mighty Handful”, which included composers Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, later Alexander Borodin, inclined him to more serious pursuits.

During his circumnavigation of the world, he completed Symphony No. 1 in E minor, op. 1, started in St. Petersburg. In 1865 with major success The first Russian symphony was performed by Balakirev in a concert of the Free Music School.

In 1871, on the initiative of the head of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Mikhail Azanchevsky, Rimsky-Korsakov was invited to the position of teacher of instrumentation and practical composition classes.

In 1944 in the city of Tikhvin Leningrad region The House-Museum of N.A. was founded Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1971, the Composer's Memorial Museum-Apartment was opened in Leningrad (St. Petersburg).

The former estates of Vechasha and Lyubensk, where the composer died, became part of the memorial museum-estate of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Pskov State United Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov short biography for children and adults is outlined in this article.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov short biography

Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov- Russian composer, teacher, conductor. His compositions include 15 operas, 3 symphonies, symphonic works, instrumental concertos, cantatas, chamber instrumental, vocal and sacred music.

Was born March 18 (March 6, old style) 1844 in the city of Tikhvin, Novgorod province. The composer's father came from an old noble family.

From the age of six or seven, the boy learned to play the piano; his first attempts at composing began at the age of nine.

In 1862 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Maritime School.

His acquaintance in 1861 with the composer Mily Balakirev and his circle “The Mighty Handful” inclined him to more serious studies.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s communication with Balakirev’s circle was temporarily interrupted by a two-year circumnavigation of the world, which served as a source of various impressions reflected in his work. The most significant works of this period are the symphonic film “Sadko” (1867) and the opera “The Pskov Woman” (based on the drama of the same name by L. Mey, 1872).

In 1871, Rimsky-Korsakov was invited to become a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and held this position for almost four decades.

In 1874-1881, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was the director of the Free Music School and conductor of its concerts.

In 1883-1894 he held the position of assistant manager of the court singing chapel.

In 1905, for speaking out in defense of the rights of students, Rimsky-Korsakov was fired from the conservatory, which led to the resignation of a significant part of the teaching staff in protest. In December 1905, after the conservatory was granted autonomy, he returned to the conservatory at the invitation of the artistic council.

Rimsky-Korsakov combined his diverse musical, conducting and teaching activities with his fruitful work as a composer. He created 15 operas, including “The Pskov Woman” (1872), “May Night” (1879), “The Snow Maiden” (1881), “Sadko” (1896), “The Tsar’s Bride” (1898), “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (1900 ), “Kashchei the Immortal” (1902), “The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh...” (1904), “The Golden Cockerel” (1907). A number of fragments from these operas became hits - “Song of the Indian Guest” from “Sadko” or the orchestral “Flight of the Bumblebee” from “Saltan”.

Rimsky-Korsakov devoted 37 years of his life to teaching. I. Stravinsky, A. Arensky, A. Glazunov, S. Prokofiev and others were educated by him. In addition, Nikolai Andreevich is the author of several textbooks and a large number of articles on musical themes. Rimsky-Korsakov is rightfully recognized as the creator of such a genre as fairy tale opera. While creating his own works, the composer also conveyed to the listener more than one work of his dead comrades.

Nikolai Andreevich died June 21, 1908 from a heart attack that followed a heart attack.

Neither his talent, nor his energy, nor his boundless goodwill towards his students and comrades ever weakened. The glorious life and deeply national activities of such a person should be our pride and joy. ...how many in the entire history of music can one point to such high natures, such great artists and such extraordinary people as Rimsky-Korsakov?
V. Stasov

Almost 10 years after the opening of the first Russian Conservatory in St. Petersburg, in the fall of 1871, a new professor in the class of composition and orchestration appeared within its walls. Despite his youth - he was twenty-eight years old - he had already gained fame as the author of original works for orchestra: Overtures on Russian themes, Fantasies on Serbian themes folk songs, a symphonic painting based on the Russian epic “Sadko” and a suite based on the plot of the oriental fairy tale “Antar”. In addition, many romances were written and work on the historical opera “The Pskov Woman” was in full swing. It could not have occurred to anyone (least of all the director of the conservatory, who invited N. Rimsky-Korsakov) that he became a composer with almost no musical training.

Rimsky-Korsakov was born into a family far from artistic interests. His parents, according to family tradition, prepared the boy for service in the navy (his uncle and older brother were sailors). Although musical abilities came to light very early; there was no one to study seriously in the small provincial town. Piano lessons were given by a neighbor, then by an acquaintance of the governess and a student of this governess. The musical impressions were complemented by folk songs performed by the amateurs of my mother and uncle and cult singing in the Tikhvin Monastery.

In St. Petersburg, where Rimsky-Korsakov came to enroll in the Marine Corps, he goes to the opera house and at concerts, recognizes Glinka’s “Ivan Susanin” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, Beethoven’s symphonies. In St. Petersburg, he finally has a real teacher - an excellent pianist and educated musician F. Canille. He advised the gifted student to compose music himself, introduced him to M. Balakirev, around whom young composers were grouped - M. Mussorgsky, Ts. Cui, and later A. Borodin joined them (Balakirev’s circle went down in history under the name “The Mighty Handful”).

None of the “kuchkists” completed a course of special musical training. The system by which Balakirev prepared them for independent creative activity, was as follows: he immediately proposed a responsible topic, and then, under his leadership, in joint discussions, in parallel with the study of the works of major composers, all the difficulties that arose in the process of composing were resolved.

Balakirev advised seventeen-year-old Rimsky-Korsakov to start with a symphony. Meanwhile, the young composer, who graduated from the Naval Corps, was supposed to set off on a circumnavigation of the world. He returned to music and friends in art only after 3 years. Brilliant talent helped Rimsky-Korsakov quickly master musical form, bright colorful orchestration, and composing techniques, bypassing the basics of school. Having created complex symphonic scores and working on an opera, the composer did not know the very basics of musical science and was not familiar with the necessary terminology. And suddenly an offer to teach at the conservatory!.. “If I had studied even a little, if I knew even a little more than I actually knew, then it would be clear to me that I cannot and do not have the right to take on what was offered to me.” the thing is that to become a professor would be both stupid and dishonest on my part,” recalled Rimsky-Korsakov. But he showed the highest responsibility, not dishonesty, by starting to learn the very basics that he was supposed to teach.

Rimsky-Korsakov's aesthetic views and worldview were formed in the 1860s. under the influence of " Mighty bunch"and its ideologist V. Stasov. At the same time, the national basis, democratic orientation, and the main themes and images of his work were determined. In the next decade, Rimsky-Korsakov’s activities were multifaceted: he taught at the conservatory, was engaged in improving his own compositional technique (writing canons, fugues), held the position of inspector of brass bands of the Naval Department (1873-84) and conducted symphony concerts, replaced as director of the Free Music School Balakirev and prepares for publication (together with Balakirev and Lyadov) the scores of both Glinka’s operas, records and harmonizes folk songs (the first collection was published in 1876, the second in 1882).

An appeal to Russian musical folklore, as well as a detailed study of Glinka’s opera scores in the process of preparing them for publication, helped the composer overcome the speculative nature of some of his compositions, which arose as a result of intensive training in composition techniques. In two operas written after “The Pskov Woman” (1872) - “May Night” (1879) and “The Snow Maiden” (1881) - Rimsky-Korsakov’s love for folk rituals and folk songs and his pantheistic worldview were embodied.

The composer's work in the 80s. mainly represented by symphonic works: “The Tale” (1880), Sinfonietta (1885) and Piano Concerto (1883), as well as the famous “Capriccio Espagnol” (1887) and “Scheherazade” (1888). At the same time, Rimsky-Korsakov works in the Court Singing Chapel. But most of all his time and energy he devotes to preparing for the performance and publication of the operas of his late friends - “Khovanshchina” by Mussorgsky and “Prince Igor” by Borodin. Probably, this intense work on opera scores determined that Rimsky-Korsakov’s own work developed in these years in the symphonic sphere.

The composer returned to opera only in 1889, creating the enchanting “Mlada” (1889-90). Since the mid-90s. followed one after another by “The Night Before Christmas” (1895), “Sadko” (1896), the prologue to “The Pskov Woman” - the one-act “Boyaryna Vera Sheloga” and “The Tsar’s Bride” (both 1898). In the 1900s “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (1900), “Servilia” (1901), “Pan Voivode” (1903), “The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh” (1904) and “The Golden Cockerel” (1907) are created.

Throughout creative life the composer also turned to vocal lyrics. His 79 romances feature poetry by A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, A. K. Tolstoy, L. Mey, A. Fet, and from foreign authors J. Byron and G. Heine.

The content of Rimsky-Korsakov’s work is diverse: it revealed a folk-historical theme (“The Woman of Pskov”, “The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh”), the sphere of lyric poetry (“The Tsar’s Bride”, “Servilia”) and everyday drama (“Pan Voivode”), reflected images of the East (“Antar”, “Scheherazade”), embodied the features of other musical cultures (“Serbian Fantasy”, “Spanish Capriccio”, etc.). But more characteristic of Rimsky-Korsakov is fantasy, fabulousness, and diverse connections with folk art.

The composer created a whole gallery of unique in their charm, pure, tenderly lyrical female images- both real and fantastic (Pannochka in “May Night”, Snow Maiden, Marfa in “The Tsar’s Bride”, Fevronia in “The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh”), images of folk singers (Lel in “Snow Maiden”, Nezhata in “Sadko” ).

Formed in the 1860s. The composer remained faithful to progressive social ideals all his life. On the eve of the first Russian revolution of 1905 and in the period of reaction that followed it, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the operas “Kashchei the Immortal” (1902) and “The Golden Cockerel”, which were perceived as an exposure of the political stagnation that reigned in Russia.

The composer's creative path lasted more than 40 years. Having entered upon it as a continuer of Glinka’s traditions, he continued in the 20th century. represents with dignity Russian art in world musical culture. Rimsky-Korsakov's creative and musical-social activities are multifaceted: composer and conductor, author of theoretical works and reviews, editor of the works of Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky and Borodin, he had a strong influence on the development of Russian music.

Over 37 years of teaching at the conservatory, more than 200 composers studied with him: A. Glazunov, A. Lyadov, A. Arensky, M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, I. Stravinsky, N. Cherepnin, A. Grechaninov, N. Myaskovsky, S. Prokofiev and others. Rimsky-Korsakov’s development of oriental themes (“Antar”, “Scheherazade”, “The Golden Cockerel”) was of invaluable importance for the development of national musical cultures of Transcaucasia and Central Asia, and the diverse seascapes(“Sadko”, “Scheherazade”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, the cycle of romances “By the Sea”, etc.) determined a lot in the plein air sound painting of the Frenchman C. Debussy and the Italian O. Respighi.

E. Gordeeva

The work of Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov is a unique phenomenon in Russian history musical culture. It's not just the huge artistic significance, colossal volume, rare versatility of his work, but also in the fact that the composer’s activity covers almost entirely a very dynamic era in Russian history - from the peasant reform to the period between revolutions. One of the young musician’s first works was the orchestration of Dargomyzhsky’s just completed “The Stone Guest.” The master’s last major work, “The Golden Cockerel,” dates back to 1906–1907: the opera was composed simultaneously with Scriabin’s “Poem of Ecstasy” and Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony; only four years separate the premiere of The Golden Cockerel (1909) from the premiere of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, two years from Prokofiev's debut as a composer.

Thus, the work of Rimsky-Korsakov, purely in chronological terms, constitutes, as it were, the core of Russian classical music, connecting the link between the era of Glinka-Dargomyzhsky and the 20th century. Synthesizing the achievements of the St. Petersburg school from Glinka to Lyadov and Glazunov, absorbing much of the experience of Muscovites - Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, composers who appeared at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was always open to new artistic trends, domestic and foreign.

A comprehensive, systematizing character is inherent in any direction of Rimsky-Korsakov’s work - composer, teacher, theorist, conductor, editor. His life activity as a whole is a complex world, which I would like to call “Rimsky-Korsakov’s cosmos.” The goal of this activity is to collect and focus the main features of national musical and, more broadly, artistic consciousness, and ultimately to recreate an integral image of the Russian worldview (of course, in its personal, “Korsakovian” refraction). This collection is inextricably linked with personal, authorial evolution, as well as the process of training and education - not only of immediate students, but of the entire musical environment - with self-training, self-education.

A. N. Rimsky-Korsakov, the composer’s son, speaking about the constantly renewed variety of problems solved by Rimsky-Korsakov, successfully described the artist’s life as “a fugue-shaped plexus of threads.” He, reflecting on what forced the brilliant musician to devote an inordinate amount of time and energy to “side” types of educational work, pointed to “a clear consciousness of his duty to Russian music and musicians.” " Service“is a key word in the life of Rimsky-Korsakov, just as “confession” is in the life of Mussorgsky.

It is believed that Russian music is the second half of the 19th century century clearly gravitates towards the assimilation of contemporary achievements of other arts, especially literature: hence the preference for “verbal” genres (from romance, song to opera, the crown of creative aspirations of all composers of the 1860s generation), and in instrumental genres - the widespread development of the principle of programmaticity. However, it is now becoming more and more obvious that the picture of the world created by the Russian classical music, is not at all identical to those in literature, painting or architecture. The peculiarities of the growth of the Russian school of composition are connected with the specifics of music as an art form and with the special position of music in Russian culture of the 20th century, with its special tasks in understanding life.

The historical and cultural situation in Russia predetermined a colossal gap between the people who, according to Glinka, “create music” and those who wanted to “arrange” it. The rupture was deeply, tragically irreversible, and its consequences are felt to this day. But, on the other hand, the multi-layered nature of the cumulative auditory experience of Russian people contained inexhaustible possibilities for the movement and growth of art. Perhaps in music the “discovery of Russia” was expressed with the greatest force, since the basis of its language - intonation - is the most organic revelation of the individual human and ethnic, a concentrated expression of the spiritual experience of the people. The “multiformity” of the national intonation environment in Russia in the middle of the century before last is one of the prerequisites for the innovation of the Russian professional music school. Gathering in a single focus multidirectional trends - relatively speaking, from pagan, proto-Slavic roots to the latest ideas Western European musical romanticism, the most advanced techniques of musical technology, are the most characteristic feature of Russian music of the second half of the 19th century. During this period, it finally leaves the power of applied functions and becomes a worldview in sounds.

Often discussing the sixties of Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Borodin, we seem to forget that Rimsky-Korsakov belonged to the same era. Meanwhile, it is difficult to find an artist more faithful to the highest and purest ideals of his time.

Those who knew Rimsky-Korsakov later - in the 80s, 90s, and 1900s - never tired of being amazed at how harshly he proselyzed himself and his work. Hence the frequent judgments about the “dryness” of his nature, his “academicism,” “rationalism,” etc. In fact, this is typical sixties combined with the typical Russian artist’s avoidance of excessive pathos in relation to his own personality. One of Rimsky-Korsakov’s students, M. F. Gnesin, expressed the idea that the artist, in a constant struggle with himself and with those around him, with the tastes of his era, at times seemed to become embittered, becoming narrower and inferior to himself in some of his statements. This must be kept in mind when interpreting the composer’s statements. Apparently, the remark of another student of Rimsky-Korsakov, A.V. Ossovsky, deserves even more attention: the rigor, pickiness of introspection, self-control that invariably accompanied the artist’s path were such that a person of lesser talent simply would not have withstood those “breakdowns” those experiments that he constantly carried out on himself: the author of “The Pskov Woman”, like a schoolboy, sits down to problems on harmony, the author of “The Snow Maiden” does not miss a single performance of Wagner’s operas, the author of “Sadko” writes “Mozart and Salieri”, professor an academician creates “Kashchey,” etc. And this, too, came from Rimsky-Korsakov not only from nature, but also from the era.

His social activity was always very high, and his activities were distinguished by complete selflessness and undivided devotion to the idea of ​​public duty. But, unlike Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov is not a “populist” in the specific, historical significance this term. In the problem of the people, he always, starting with “The Pskov Woman” and the poem “Sadko,” saw not so much the historical and social, but rather the indivisible and eternal. Compared to the documents of Tchaikovsky or Mussorgsky in the letters of Rimsky-Korsakov, in his “Chronicle” there are few declarations of love for the people and for Russia, but as an artist he was characterized by a colossal sense of national dignity, and in the messianism of Russian art, in particular music, he was no less confident than Mussorgsky.

All the Kuchkists were characterized by such a feature of the sixties as an endless inquisitiveness towards the phenomena of life, an eternal anxiety of thought. For Rimsky-Korsakov, it focused to the greatest extent on nature, understood as the unity of the elements and man, and on art as the highest embodiment of such unity. Like Mussorgsky and Borodin, he steadily strived for “positive” knowledge about the world. In his desire to study all areas of musical science in the most thorough manner, he proceeded from the position - in which (like Mussorgsky) he believed very firmly, sometimes to the point of naivety - that in art there are laws (norms) as objective and universal as in science. and not just taste preferences.

As a result, Rimsky-Korsakov’s aesthetic and theoretical activity embraced almost all areas of knowledge about music and developed into a complete system. Its components: the doctrine of harmony, the doctrine of instrumentation (both in the form of large theoretical works), aesthetics and form (notes of the 1890s, critical articles), folklore (collections of adaptations of folk songs and examples of creative understanding of folk motifs in compositions), the doctrine of mode (large theoretical work about ancient modes was destroyed by the author, but a short version of it has been preserved, as well as examples of the interpretation of ancient modes in arrangements of church chants), polyphony (considerations expressed in letters, in conversations with Yastrebtsev, etc., as well as creative examples), musical education and organization of musical life (articles, but mainly educational and pedagogical activity). In all these areas, Rimsky-Korsakov expressed bold ideas, the novelty of which was often obscured by a strict, laconic form of presentation.

“The creator of “The Pskovite” and “The Golden Cockerel” was not a retrograde. He was an innovator, but one who strove for classical completeness and proportionality of musical elements” (Zukkerman V.A.). According to Rimsky-Korsakov, anything new is possible in any field under the conditions of a genetic connection with the past, logic, semantic conditionality, and architectonic organization. This is his doctrine of the functionality of harmony, in which logical functions can be represented by consonances of a wide variety of structures; This is his teaching on instrumentation, which opens with the phrase: “There are no bad sonorities in the orchestra.” The system of music education he proposed is unusually progressive, in which the mode of teaching is associated primarily with the nature of the student’s talent and the availability of certain methods of live music playing.

The epigraph to his book about the teacher M. F. Gnesin put a phrase from Rimsky-Korsakov’s letter to his mother: “Look at the stars, but don’t look and don’t fall.” This seemingly random phrase from a young cadet of the Naval Corps remarkably characterizes the position of Rimsky-Korsakov - an artist in the future. Perhaps the Gospel parable about two messengers is also suitable for his personality, one of whom immediately said “I will go” - and did not go, and the other first said “I will not go” - and went (Matt., XXI, 28-31).

In fact, throughout creative path Rimsky-Korsakov notes many contradictions between “words” and “deeds”. For example, no one so vehemently scolded Kuchkism and its shortcomings (suffice it to recall the exclamation from a letter to Krutikov: “Oh, Russian composite O ry - Stasov's emphasis - owe their lack of education to themselves! ", a whole series of offensive statements in the Chronicle about Mussorgsky, Balakirev, etc.) - and no one was so consistent in upholding and defending the fundamental aesthetic principles Kuchkism and all its creative achievements: in 1907, a few months before his death, Rimsky-Korsakov called himself “the most convinced Kuchkist.” Few people were so critical of “new times” in general and of fundamentally new phenomena of musical culture at the turn of the century and at the beginning of the 20th century - and at the same time responded so deeply and fully to spiritual needs new era(“Kashchei”, “Kitezh”, “The Golden Cockerel” and others in the composer’s late work). In the 80s and early 90s, Rimsky-Korsakov sometimes spoke very harshly about Tchaikovsky and his direction - and he constantly learned from his antipode: the work of Rimsky-Korsakov, his pedagogical activity, undoubtedly, was the main link between St. Petersburg and Moscow schools. Even more devastating is Korsakov’s criticism of Wagner and his operatic reforms, and yet, among Russian musicians, he most deeply perceived Wagner’s ideas and creatively responded to them. Finally, none of the Russian musicians so consistently emphasized their religious agnosticism in words, and few were able to create such deep images of the people's faith in their creative work.

The dominant features of Rimsky-Korsakov’s artistic worldview were the “universal feeling” (his own expression) and the broadly understood mythology of thinking. In a chapter from the Chronicle dedicated to “The Snow Maiden,” he formulated his creative process as follows: “I listened to the voices of nature and folk art and nature and took what they sang and suggested as the basis of my creativity.” Artist's attention to the greatest extent focused on the great phenomena of the cosmos - the sky, sea, sun, stars and on the great phenomena in people's lives - birth, love, death. All of Rimsky-Korsakov’s aesthetic terminology corresponds to this, especially his favorite word - « contemplation" His notes on aesthetics open with the affirmation of art as a “sphere of contemplative activity,” where the object of contemplation is “ life human spirit and nature, expressed in their mutual relations" Along with the unity of the human spirit and nature, the artist affirms the unity of the content of all types of art (in this sense, his own work is certainly syncretic, although on different grounds than, for example, the work of Mussorgsky, who also argued that the arts differ from each other only in material, but not in tasks and goals). The motto for Rimsky-Korsakov’s entire work could be his own words: “The idea of ​​beauty is the idea of ​​infinite complexity.” At the same time, the favorite term of early Kuchkism, “artistic truth,” was not alien to him; he protested only against its narrowed, dogmatic understanding.

The peculiarities of Rimsky-Korsakov’s aesthetics determined the discrepancy between his work and public tastes. It is just as legitimate to speak of incomprehensibility in relation to him as in relation to Mussorgsky. Mussorgsky, more than Rimsky-Korsakov, corresponded to his era in terms of the type of talent and the direction of his interests (generally speaking, the history of the people and the psychology of the individual), but the radicalism of his decisions was beyond the capabilities of his contemporaries. For Rimsky-Korsakov, the incomprehensibility was not so acute, but no less profound.

His life seemed to be very happy: a wonderful family, an excellent upbringing, an exciting trip around the world, the brilliant success of his first compositions, an unusually successful personal life, the opportunity to devote himself entirely to music, and subsequently universal respect and joy to see the growth of talented students around him. Nevertheless, starting from the second opera and until the end of the 90s, Rimsky-Korsakov was constantly faced with misunderstandings between “us” and “strangers”. The Kuchkists considered him a non-opera composer who did not master drama and vocal writing. For a long time there was an opinion that he lacked original melodicism. Rimsky-Korsakov was recognized for his skill, especially in the field of the orchestra, but nothing more. This protracted misunderstanding was, in fact, the main reason for the severe crisis experienced by the composer in the period after the death of Borodin and the final collapse of the Mighty Handful as a creative movement. And only since the late 90s has Rimsky-Korsakov’s art become more and more in tune with the era and meets recognition and understanding among the new Russian intelligentsia.

This process of assimilating the artist’s ideas into the public consciousness was interrupted by subsequent events in the history of Russia. For decades, the art of Rimsky-Korsakov was interpreted (and embodied, if we are talking about stage realizations of his operas) in a very simplified way. The most valuable thing in it - the philosophy of the unity of man and the cosmos, the idea of ​​worshiping the beauty and mystery of the world - remained buried under the falsely interpreted categories of “nationality” and “realism”. The fate of Rimsky-Korsakov's legacy in this sense is, of course, not unique: for example, Mussorgsky's operas were subjected to even greater distortions. However, if recently there have been disputes around the figure and work of Mussorgsky, the legacy of Rimsky-Korsakov has been in honorable oblivion in recent decades. All sorts of merits were recognized for him academic order, but it seemed to fall out of public consciousness. Rimsky-Korsakov's music is played infrequently; in those cases when his operas appear on the stage, most of the stagings - purely decorative, leaf or popular fairy tales - indicate a decisive misunderstanding of the composer's ideas.

Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov is a Russian composer, teacher, theorist, conductor, member of the musical creative community “The Mighty Handful”. Author of fifteen operas, three symphonies, a number of symphonic works, collections of “100 Russian folk songs” and “40 folk songs”, as well as 80 romances.

Childhood and youth

Nikolai Andreevich was born in the city of Tikhvin, Novgorod province, into a family of hereditary nobles. The great-great-grandfather of the future composer served as rear admiral of the fleet at. Father Andrei Petrovich Rimsky-Korsakov bore the title of actual state councilor, served as the Novgorod vice-governor, and held the post of Volyn governor for four years. Mother Sofya Vasilievna belonged to the family of landowners Skaryatin, but was born from a serf peasant woman.

The family raised two sons - Warrior and Nikolai. The eldest son, Voin Andreevich, later became a naval rear admiral. The age difference between the brothers was 22 years, so younger brother was strongly influenced by the authority of the elder.

Nicholas with early years was prepared for service in the navy, but his father, who himself played the piano, instilled in his youngest son a love of music from the age of six. Initially, Nikolai was only interested in church singing and Russian folklore. At the age of 9, the boy composed his first vocal work.

In 1856, the teenager was assigned to the Naval Cadet Corps. Having moved to the northern capital, Rimsky-Korsakov immersed himself in the cultural life of the city and began visiting the opera house. Nikolai met musical works, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and .

The young man began taking cello lessons from teacher Ulikh, then studied with pianist Fyodor Kanille. In 1862, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov graduated from the naval school. In the same year, the young man suffered a heavy loss - the father of the future composer died. Mother and older brother moved to St. Petersburg.

Music

In 1861, Rimsky-Korsakov and the founder of the “Mighty Handful” community met. Friendship with a talented musician influenced the development creative biography Nikolai Andreevich. Ts. A. Cui and M. P. Mussorgsky also became members of the circle. Later he joined the community. The ideologist of the “Mighty Handful” was the music critic V.V. Stasov.

Mily Alekseevich inspired the young composer to create a major work - the First Symphony op. 1, sketches for which have already been created. By the end of training in maritime school Nikolai completed three parts of the work and set off on a circumnavigation of the world on the Almaz clipper. The slow part of the symphonic cycle was written six months after sailing.

Returning three years later to St. Petersburg, Nikolai Andreevich immersed himself in creativity. In the very first months, the premiere of the author’s First Russian Symphony took place, performed by an orchestra conducted by Miliy Balakirev at a concert of the Free Music School.

Under the influence of his mentor, Rimsky-Korsakov delved into the study of folklore and created the symphonic painting “Sadko”, musical material which was later used in the opera of the same name. The composer's innovation was manifested in the use of programming, as well as in the invention of a symmetrical scale, which gave the music a fantastic sound.

Rimsky-Korsakov enjoyed experimenting with mode systems, since the composer himself was naturally endowed with color hearing. The composer perceived the key of C major in white, and D major in yellow. E major became for Nikolai Andreevich a symbol of the sea element, associated with shades blue.

Later, the suite “Antar” (Second Symphony op. 9) appeared from the musician’s pen. Opera genre The composer begins to master by creating orchestrations of works by Cesar Cui. Rimsky-Korsakov’s first opera appeared only in 1872 and was called “The Pskov Woman.” The libretto is based on the drama of the same name by Lev May. The opera premiered a year later at the Mariinsky Theater.

In the early 70s, Nikolai Andreevich received an invitation from the administration of the St. Petersburg Conservatory and became a professor at the educational institution, without having a completed musical education. During his 35-year teaching career, the composer trained a galaxy of world-famous musicians, including Anton Arensky, Mikhail Gnessin, Alexander Grechaninov, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Nikolai Myaskovsky, .

Together with the students to whom Nikolai Andreevich teaches composition, instrumentation and orchestration, the composer himself improves his professional skills. The musician devotes the first years of teaching to writing polyphonic and vocal works, creating concerts for piano, clarinet, trombone, quintet and sextet for instrumental ensemble. In 1873, the author's Third Symphony (op. 32) was published.

In 1874, Rimsky-Korsakov took up the conductor's stand. Six years later, the talented musician already performed with the orchestra in Moscow, at the World Exhibition in Paris, and at the Concerts populaires in Brussels. In the mid-70s, the composer was preparing to release scores of operas by Mikhail Glinka.

In the 80s, symphonic works by Rimsky-Korsakov appeared, which earned the composer world fame: the orchestral suite “Scheherazade”, “Capriccio Spanish”, the overture “Bright Holiday”, as well as the operas “May Night”, “The Snow Maiden”, “Mlada” .

During these years, Nikolai Andreevich collaborated with the Court Singing Chapel, led the Belyaev Circle, and managed the Russian Symphony Concerts in St. Petersburg.

The beginning of the 90s was marked by a decline in the composer's creative activity. At this time, the master's philosophical and theoretical works appeared, Nikolai Andreevich created new editions of a number of previous works. A new stage begins in the mid-90s operatic creativity Rimsky-Korsakov: the operas “The Night Before Christmas” (1895), “Sadko” (1896), “Mozart and Salieri” (1897), “The Tsar’s Bride” (1898) appear.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Rimsky-Korsakov composed his last fairy-tale operas: “Kashchei the Immortal” (1902), “The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh...” (1904), “The Golden Cockerel” (1907). The interlude theme for the opera “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (1900), which was called “Flight of the Bumblebee,” gained popularity.

The number has been repeatedly rearranged for solo performance with stringed folk instruments, and editions for piano and guitar have also been created. In the 20th century, arrangements of the work appeared in the style of jazz, rock, and heavy metal.

With the beginning of the revolutionary movement in Russia in 1905, Rimsky-Korsakov came out in support of striking university students, as a result of which he was fired from the conservatory, where he returned after a while.

Personal life

The personal life of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov turned out well. Entering the house of his senior colleague A. S. Dargomyzhsky, on one of creative evenings Nikolai drew attention to the pianist Nadezhda Nikolaevna Purgold. At that moment, the young musician was just beginning work on the opera “The Pskov Woman.” Nikolai Andreevich needed an assistant to orchestrate several opera numbers, and he turned to Nadezhda Nikolaevna.

Joint creativity influenced the relationship of young people, and in 1872 a wedding took place. A year later, the family’s first child, Mikhail, was born, who later became a zoologist and forest scientist. In 1875, his wife gave Nikolai Andreevich a daughter, Sofia, a future opera singer.

Three years later, a son, Andrei, was born, who later mastered the profession of musicologist and became a Doctor of Philosophy. Vladimir, the youngest son of Rimsky-Korsakov, born in 1882, worked as a violist in the orchestra Mariinsky Theater. In 1884, the youngest daughter Nadezhda was born. The Rimsky-Korsakov couple had two more children - Svyatoslav and Maria, who died in infancy.

The wife outlived Nikolai Andreevich by 11 years and died of smallpox. The apartment on Zagorodny Avenue in St. Petersburg, where the Rimsky-Korsakovs lived in recent years, was occupied by visitors after the revolution. It was only in 1971 that the composer’s museum was located there, where the furnishings from Nikolai Andreevich’s life were restored. The apartment contains manuscripts of famous operas and photographs from the musician’s family archive.

Death

The composer died on June 8, 1908, according to Art. from a heart attack, which he received after the news that the opera “The Golden Cockerel” was prohibited from being staged. At this time, Nikolai Andreevich was in a country estate in Lyubensk.

The musician’s grave was initially located in St. Petersburg at the Novodevichy Cemetery, then the remains were reburied in the Necropolis of the Masters of Arts of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Works

• 1865 – First Symphony
• 1872 – “Pskovite”
• 1878 – “May Night”
• 1881 – “The Snow Maiden”
• 1883 – Concerto for piano and orchestra
• 1887 – “Spanish Capriccio”
• 1888 – Suite “Scheherazade”
• 1895 – “The Night Before Christmas”
• 1896 – “Sadko”
• 1897 – “Mozart and Salieri”
• 1898 – “The Tsar’s Bride”
• 1900 – “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”
• 1907 – “The Golden Cockerel”