Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908) was
a Russian composer, 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.He believed i...(+)
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908) was
a Russian composer, 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.He believed in developing a nationalistic
style of classical music, as did his fellow composer
Mily Balakirev and the critic Vladimir Stasov. 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.
Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques
after he became a professor of musical composition,
harmony, and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg
Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous
three-year program of self-education and became a
master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside
the influences of Mikhail Glinka and fellow members of
The Five. Rimsky-Korsakov's techniques of composition
and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure
to the works of Richard Wagner.
Rimsky-Korsakov followed the musical ideals espoused by
The Five. He employed Orthodox liturgical themes in the
Russian Easter Festival Overture, folk song in
Capriccio Espagnol and orientalism in Scheherazade,
possibly his best known work. He proved a prolific
composer but also a perpetually self-critical one. He
revised every orchestral work up to and including his
Third Symphony—some, like Antar and Sadko, more than
once. These revisions range from minor changes of
tempo, phrasing and instrumental detail to wholesale
transposition and complete recomposition.
Rimsky-Korsakov is mainly known as the composer of
numerous Russian operas and brilliant orchestral works.
Many people do not know, however, that he wrote
interesting and exquisite piano music as well.
Published in 1878, this work is a surprise piece in his
oeuvre which otherwise is rather associated with the
national folkloristic aesthetic. With this composition,
a Russian master bows not only before the name of BACH
but also before the German music.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rimsky-Korsakov)
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Although originally composed for Solo Piano, I created
this Interpretation of the Fugue from "6 Variations on
the Theme B-A-C-H" (Op. 10 No. 6) for String Quartet (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION