a A f^rr^jr^ -\ r^ y^vf"" 1 * T~*^ T C^ f* TAT^.T 'AJITT C** T/^^ 
 
 MASTERS OF RUSSIAN MUSIC
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 EDWIN CORLE 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 JEAN CORLE
 
 lt*>
 
 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF
 
 MASTERS OF RUSSIAN MUSIC 
 
 RlMSKY - KORSAKOF 
 
 BY 
 
 M. MONTAGU -NATHAN 
 
 AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OP RUSSIAN MUSIC 1 ' 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DUFFIELD AND COMPANY 
 1917
 
 To 
 
 FRANK 
 
 Printed in England
 
 College 
 Library 
 
 /H 
 
 . 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION - 
 
 PART I 
 
 CABEBE - 13 
 
 PART n 
 
 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF AS OPERATIC COMPOSER - 69 
 
 PART HI 
 
 INSTRUMENTAL AND VOCAL COMPOSITIONS - - 96 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 OPERATIC SYNOPSES - - 111 
 
 SYMPHONIC SYNOPSES - 119 
 
 LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS - - 121 
 
 INDEX 122 
 
 1164065
 
 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 STUDENTS of Slavonic Literature a subject that 
 deserves the earnest attention of all who would under- 
 stand Russian music are aware that the poets of the 
 first quarter of the nineteenth century were for the 
 most part in revolt against the then prevalent worship 
 of Classicism in art, and that with the early works of 
 Pushkin a movement aiming at the enthronement of 
 Nationalism was initiated. 
 
 The parallel force in music can hardly be called a 
 movement, since the prime mover was a man who, at 
 a moment when isolated from nationalistic influences, 
 stumbled upon the truth by accident. Michael 
 Ivanovich Glinka, listening to music in Italy, suddenly 
 became possessed by an intense longing for a kind of 
 music that would speak to him of his native land. At 
 that moment he had little more than his profound love 
 of music to help him, for his technical knowledge was 
 of the scantiest. His conviction that the music of the 
 People a vast though neglected store of melody 
 could be used as the basis of art-music was sufficient. 
 The result of Glinka's effort has been acclaimed by 
 
 7
 
 8 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 several generations, and his fame as the composer of 
 " A Life for the Tsar " is ever on the increase. 
 
 But it was not until the fifties that Russian musical 
 nationalism really became a movement. Active pro- 
 paganda did not begin until that fateful evening when 
 the two young reformers, Mili Alexeyevich Balakiref 
 and Cesar Antonovich Cui, met at a concert in 
 Petrograd, and agreed that in the foundation of a 
 national Russian Music they had a common cause 
 worthy of their labours. It was then that the first 
 word of a glorious page in Russian musical history was 
 written. Their activities were more or less limited until 
 Borodin and Moussorgsky joined in their deliberations, 
 and the campaign was not fully launched until the great 
 art-critic, V. V. Stassof , and the composer Dargomijsky, 
 whose reputation was already established, associated 
 themselves with the little band. 
 
 Curiously enough it was the last recruit, and the one 
 least musically educated, who was destined to achieve 
 more for Russian musical nationalism than any of his 
 comrades. When young Rimsky-Korsakof joined the 
 group he had nothing to contribute beyond an enthu- 
 siasm for the joint ideal. His technical understanding 
 of the art of music was virtually nil ; he had heard 
 comparatively little, and he did not possess the saving 
 grace that gave Moussorgsky a certain power among 
 them a gift for piano-playing. Like Glinka, he 
 regarded the national ideal as something affecting him 
 personally^ and profoundly. If anything could bring 
 into action the creative faculty he felt v. CE I::'B : it
 
 INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 this need for the expression of the Soul of Russia in its 
 music the chief topic of discussion among the " Five." 
 
 Historians relate that in Balakiref and Dargomijsky, 
 both personally known to Glinka, the "father of 
 Russian Opera " saw the upholders of the tradition 
 he had founded. Events have proved that the young 
 naval cadet, who thought of the composer of " A Life 
 for the Tsar " rather as a god than as a mortal, was 
 the one on whose shoulders the mantle of Glinka 
 really fell. 
 
 For Rimsky-Korsakof was by nature both a nation- 
 alist and a propagandist. He was, moreover, a 
 thorough Russian in another sense. He was possessed 
 of the spirit that drives a man to undertake the ap- 
 parently impossible. And this faculty has saved both 
 himself and the cause he represented from destruction 
 at the hands of a reactionary opposition. Begging the 
 question in the argument contra Nationalism, its 
 opponents never tired of referring to the technical 
 deficiencies of its advocates. To this Rimsky-Korsakof 
 found only one answer possible. Already recognized 
 as a gifted composer, he addressed himself to an 
 arduous course of technical study, from which he 
 eventually emerged with so great a mastery as to arouse 
 the envy of the most experienced and respected 
 composer of his day, Tchaikovsky. Henceforth 
 Nationalism was to be free of the stigma of being 
 advocated by dilettanti its future was assured. The 
 naval officer had become a musician at whose technical 
 attainments none could cavil.
 
 10 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 But his respect for the original ideal was not in any 
 degree impaired by the erudition with which his studies 
 had endowed him. Just as the poets of the previous 
 century, prior to the reconstruction of the mutilated 
 Russian tongue, had been obliged to equip their 
 stringless lyre before it could be used, so had Rimsky- 
 Korsakof been confronted with the task of constructing 
 his own personal medium of expression. Having 
 acquired the means, he proved his worthiness to attain 
 the end by showing that the hardly-won instrument 
 was in the hands of a true bard. 
 
 That Rimsky-Korsakof was a poet no one can doubt 
 who has read his impressions of the ocean, recorded 
 when, as a naval cadet, he cruised in the southern seas. 
 They recall Gogol's famous descriptions of the steppes. 
 Yet while a poet, he was not lacking in the stuff of 
 which reformers are made. 
 
 When quite a youth he was proud to number himself 
 among the champions of free-thought, and he found 
 scope for its advocacy among his comrades aboard the 
 clipper in which he made his tour of the world some 
 of them being inclined to uphold the old regime of 
 serfdom and obscurantism. Reading of these dis- 
 cussions, one is reminded of the young Krapotkin, 
 who at about the same time, while a member of the 
 Imperial Corps of Pages, was awakening to a conscious 
 sympathy with liberal principles. 
 
 Fortunately for the composer he was able to envelop 
 his protests in a veil that was but rarely penetrated 
 by the eye of authority, though he did not altogether
 
 INTRODUCTION 11 
 
 escape censure. He became embroiled in the troubles 
 of 1905 when pleading for the self-government he 
 deemed necessary to the future welfare of the 
 Petrograd Conservatoire, over which he was then 
 presiding ; and it was not for nothing that the students 
 chose the symbolical "Kashchei" as the opera to be 
 performed at the complimentary gathering held in his 
 honour. 
 
 Yet his was not in the least a pugnacious character, 
 and his music would as well have represented a man 
 who held that the function of music began and ended 
 with the expression of beauty. 
 
 It has, however, done far more than that. In his 
 fifteen operas Rimsky-Korsakof has collected all the 
 elements of art-nationalism. He has taken the folk- 
 tales of Pushkin from the fireside and has brought 
 them into the theatre, where an assembly may be 
 made free of them; he has rescued the folk-song from 
 the printed volume in which it had but an ethnological 
 significance, and has given it back to those from 
 whom it came. He has revealed the sources from 
 which the all-pervading spirituality of the Russian 
 People has sprung, and has introduced into his music- 
 dramas a vast amount of episodic material that, as a 
 means of playing upon the emotions of his audience, 
 is just as effective as any folk-song or fairy-tale. 
 
 In his own words he has "listened to the People," 
 and has restored to them their own product embellished 
 by the touch of the artist. 
 
 "The People are the creators," said Glinka, "we
 
 1 2 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 are but the arrangers." The output of Rimsky- 
 Korsakof forbids the use of such a term as " arrange- 
 ment " to describe it. His art is a re-creation, and 
 its substance is transfigured by the glow of his in- 
 spiration.
 
 PART I 
 
 CAREER 
 
 I. 
 
 NIKOLAI ANDREYEVICH RIMSKY-KORSAKOF was born 
 on March 6th, 1844 (O.S.), at Tikhvin, in the Govern- 
 ment of Novgorod. The early signs of musical aptitude 
 shown by the child cannot have come as a great sur- 
 prise to his parents, since they were accustomed to 
 enliven a rather dull provincial life with musical 
 pursuits of a more or less elementary nature. His 
 father, a retired civil Governor and landed proprietor, 
 played the piano pretty well, and his fingers, if a 
 little halting, were capable of giving a fairly good 
 account of his favourite tunes from such operas as 
 Mehul's "Joseph," "Tancredi," and "The Magic 
 Flute." In her youth his mother had been a pianist 
 whose defects were more conspicuous than her qualities ; 
 one of the former a tendency, when singing, to 
 reduce the speed of the song was inherited by her son. 
 She had a brother who was musically gifted and who, 
 although entirely untrained, was able to play quite a 
 number of piano pieces by ear. 
 
 The youngster's first practical demonstration of 
 musical sensibility was his manipulation of a drum- 
 
 13
 
 1 4 RIMSKY-KORS AKOF 
 
 stick ; with this instrument he showed himself capable 
 of keeping accurate time to his father's performance 
 on the piano, despite frequent deliberately executed 
 variations of rhythm and tempo. Before receiving 
 any serious instruction he discovered that he possessed 
 the faculty of " absolute pitch."* 
 
 When six years old he began to learn the piano. 
 His first teacher was an elderly lady who lived near by. 
 She taught the little fellow for about two years, at 
 the close of which time she confessed herself at 
 the end of her tutorial resources. The avowal was as 
 opportune as it was frank. The lad had not found 
 her tuition at all inspiring; from his own account we 
 learn that so far he had not experienced any conscious- 
 ness of a love for music he merely tolerated it, dis- 
 playing a moderate diligence in his studies. 
 
 He was now placed under the guidance of a governess 
 attached to a neighbouring family, and during the 
 next three years made solid progress. On her depar- 
 ture a year or so later she left him to the care of the 
 young lady in whose family she had been employed. 
 At the end of the ensuing three years, at the age of 
 twelve, he passed through the first of two serious 
 crises in his musical career. 
 
 It has been said that the boy had not up to this 
 time displayed any considerable liking for music. 
 
 He was much fonder of child-like games than of 
 
 * In after life he declared that his ear had become very mucli 
 impaired owing to the difference in the pitches adopted by 
 the orchestras of the Conservatoire and the Imperial Chapel.
 
 CAREER 15 
 
 music, and the passion for mimicry was particularly 
 noticeable. Neither he nor his parents had ever 
 dreamed of the possibility of his becoming a great 
 musician, and his demeanour in childhood was naturally 
 regarded as being normal and healthy. He was parti- 
 cularly fond of those games in which there was plenty 
 of scope for the imitation of "grown-ups." 
 
 His parents intended him to follow a naval career. 
 His elder brother and his uncle were both in the 
 Service, and the time was drawing near when he 
 would enter the Petrograd Naval College. The letters 
 written home by his brother, now a lieutenant, had 
 played upon his imagination, and these, together with 
 some books of travel, aroused in him an ardent desire 
 for a sailor's life. 
 
 Curiously enough, it was a love not so much for 
 music as for mimicry which was instrumental in con- 
 vincing the boy that he was the possessor of musical 
 ability beyond the common, and in preserving the seed 
 of the plant that in due season blossomed forth so 
 wondrously. The impulse that drove young Nikolai 
 to don paper spectacles and dismember a watch 
 prompted him to play at being a composer. 
 
 His youthful attempts at composition were regarded 
 by those around him with the same degree of amuse- 
 ment as his horological experiments; there can be 
 little doubt, however, that his attitude towards music 
 subsequent to his arrival (in 1 856) at the Naval College 
 would have been very different but for this apparently 
 unimportant experience of the function of composing.
 
 16 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 II. 
 
 Migration from the country to the capital brought 
 with it opportunities of hearing music in the larger 
 forms. With some friends of his brother's, the 
 Golovins, young Rimsky-Korsakof frequently visited 
 the Opera; he took a fancy to " Lucia " and " Robert," 
 and was immediately impressed by the stirring scenes 
 and music in " A Life for the Tsar." He was parti- 
 cularly pleased with "Russian and Ludmilla," and 
 was not a little concerned to discover that so few of 
 his friends agreed with him as to its merits. En- 
 raptured with the Persian music, one of the most 
 popular features of this opera, he arranged it for 'cello 
 and piano, and played it in this home-made version 
 with an acquaintance. 
 
 His choice of instruments needs explanation. 
 
 The removal to Petrograd had of course necessitated 
 a change of teacher. On settling down at the college 
 he began to take lessons with a 'cellist named Ulich, 
 a member of the Alexandrinsky Theatre orchestra. 
 The pupil does not appear to have greatly respected 
 his master's abilities. But the occasional visits to the 
 theatre prevented a total disappearance of his interest 
 in music. The youth felt himself becoming fascinated 
 by the art; yet he was quite satisfied with his own 
 music-making, at this time that of the most primitive 
 amateur. To use his own words, he was merely 
 " trifling with it."
 
 CAREER 17 
 
 He would probably have gone on trifling for the 
 rest of his life had it not happened that Ulich, after 
 some years of altogether desultory instruction, induced 
 the young student to seek a teacher better qualified 
 to guide him. So it was that towards the close of his 
 fourth year at college, Kanille, a well-known and 
 esteemed musician, was engaged to take his musical 
 education in hand. 
 
 Under the new master the smouldering interest soon 
 burst into a flame of enthusiasm. Encouraged by 
 Kanille, he began to make some essays in composition 
 of a more ambitious kind than any he had hitherto 
 attempted. He was initiated into the mysteries of the 
 orchestra, and the elementary technique of its consti- 
 tuents was explained to him. From Kanille Rimsky- 
 Korsakof heard for the first time of Balakiref . 
 
 What a shock it must have been to the budding 
 composer when, after a year of more or less serious 
 study, just at the moment, in fact, when he had begun 
 to loosen the bonds of complete ignorance, his elder 
 brother, who naturally enough regarded music as merely 
 a pastime and looked upon a moderate proficiency in 
 piano-playing as the ultima thule of every amateur, 
 announced that in his opinion no further lessons could 
 possibly be necessary ! Kanille, while bowing to this 
 decree, refused to allow the lessons to be interrupted, 
 and they were continued unofficially and, it would 
 seem, gratuitously. 
 
 On a memorable day in November, 1861, master 
 and pupil sallied forth together to call on Balakiref, 
 
 2
 
 1 8 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 with whom the former was of course acquainted. 
 The fruits of this visit did not come to maturity until 
 some years later; in the interim they came near to 
 being nipped in the bud. 
 
 There is 110 denying that this first visit to the house 
 of the leader of the modern Russian School of music 
 was an episode of the utmost importance in the career 
 of Rimsky-Korsakof. Hitherto his musical environ- 
 ment had been, speaking generally, conventional and 
 not at all progressive. His early association with 
 Balakiref, whose education had been anything but 
 academical, gave him at the beginning of his musical 
 career an outlook upon the art that was to become for 
 a time characteristic of the " New Russian School " as 
 a whole. 
 
 III. 
 
 Thus Rimsky-Korsakof, a lad of seventeen, ignorant 
 of nearly all the fundamental theoretic principles of 
 the musical art, but nevertheless devoted to it, now 
 found himself accepted and welcomed as the latest 
 and youngest disciple of modernism. The small circle 
 of five musicians, destined to become so famous for 
 its advocacy of nationalism and progress, was not yet 
 complete. 
 
 Already five years had elapsed since Cesar Cui, 
 who in 1850 had come from Vilna to enter the 
 Petrograd School of Military Engineering, had been 
 introduced by Dargomijsky then a well-known 
 operatic composer to Balakiref. Their first meeting.
 
 CAREER 19 
 
 which took place at a quartet concert, was, as the 
 written history of modern music reveals, the founda- 
 tion of the New Russian movement. 
 
 Balakiref was relatively well qualified to assume, as 
 he did, the role of leadership of the band of five young 
 amateurs. His acquaintance with Cui is now acknow- 
 ledged as an episode of great portents ; but auspicious 
 though it may have been, it must have produced a 
 much fainter impression on Balakiref than the occasion 
 on which he produced his letter of introduction to the 
 composer of "A Life for the Tsar." Glinka had 
 quickly recognized his young worshipper's gifts, and 
 had perceived him to be well fitted to carry on the 
 tradition which he himself had founded. 
 
 Balakiref 's musical education had been rather 
 peculiar; but considering the circumstances, and 
 especially the moderate qualifications of his associates, 
 he was justified in regarding it as at least comparatively 
 extensive. 
 
 Having spent much of his boyhood under the roof 
 of Oulibishef (the biographer of Mozart and depreciator 
 of Beethoven), he had availed himself to the full of 
 the opportunities of study and research afforded him 
 by the splendid library of musical works amassed by 
 the eminent writer. Besides a good working know- 
 ledge of musical form and composition, and of the 
 theory if not of the practice of orchestration, he possessed 
 a remarkable gift for piano-playing, and an exceptional 
 talent for reading at sight. He does not appear to 
 have been in the least influenced by Oulibishef's
 
 20 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 notorious reactionary tendencies ; they may be reckoned 
 rather to have awakened in him a desire to probe more 
 deeply into the mysteries of Beethoven's last creative 
 phase, and to acquire a wide knowledge of contem- 
 porary musical currents. 
 
 Cui was also more or less a self-taught musician. 
 But the third recruit to the modernist movement was 
 one who, despite a sound early training, never ceased 
 his energetic repudiation of traditional methods. The 
 views of Modeste Moussorgsky are no longer in need of 
 championship, for they have received the endorsement 
 of the entire musical world. 
 
 Upwards of a year after the inauguration of the 
 weekly meetings between Balaldref and Cui, the latter 
 brought with him one evening the young guardsman 
 whom he had met at Dargomijsky's house. As a 
 friend of the composer of "Russalka," Moussorgsky 
 was already known to a section of musical society in 
 Petrograd. and Korsakof had heard something of him 
 from Kaiiille. 
 
 These, then, were the companions of his leisure 
 hours during the period of his studies at the Naval 
 College. 
 
 He was deeply impressed by this totally strange 
 musical environment. Satisfied himself that the art 
 of music could not flourish without progress, he had 
 been grieved to find so little acquiescence in his views 
 among the outside world. Once within the Balakiref 
 Circle, he perceived that not only did these sentiments 
 form the foundation of the accepted creed, but that
 
 CAREER 21 
 
 his new associates evinced a disregard for traditionalism 
 that was as refreshing as it was daring. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof was also profoundly influenced 
 by the conspicuous musical gifts of Balakiref, who in 
 turn took a considerable interest in his young disciple. 
 At his suggestion the material for a symphony, the 
 fruit of a first attempt to apply the principles of 
 Kanille's teachings, was put into shape, and additions 
 thereto were made under his watchful eye. 
 
 A rude interruption was, however, to disconcert the 
 novice just at the moment when for the first time he 
 felt himself likely to become an influence in the world of 
 music. His college course being at an end, he had now 
 to spend two or three years on an ocean cruise. When 
 his appointment to the Almaz arrived, he did his level 
 best to induce his brother to allow him to relinquish 
 the naval career. But this effort, though receiving 
 the sanction and support of Balakiref, who was greatly 
 upset at the impending rupture, was unavailing, and 
 after spending the summer at Kronstadt, where his 
 ship was being fitted out for the cruise, he bade a 
 rather sorrowful good-bye to his musical friends on 
 October 19th, 1862. Two days later the Almaz put 
 out to sea. 
 
 IV. 
 
 As may well be imagined, the long foreign cruise 
 contributed very little to Rimsky-Korsakof 's musical 
 development, though, as has been conjectured by more 
 than one writer, the wonderful tonal pictures of the
 
 22 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 sea, painted by him in such, works as " Sadko " and 
 " Sheherazade," were undoubtedly inspired by im- 
 pressions gained afloat. His musical experiences 
 during the cruise were few. While at Gravesend, 
 where the ship remained for four months, he made 
 an operatic pilgrimage to Covent Garden;* later, 
 during a stay of some three months in New York, he 
 heard two operas that had already a warm place in 
 his affections, namely, "Robert " and "Faust." He 
 occasionally played the piano for the entertainment of 
 his mess-mates and guests; and he records the per- 
 formance of some duets with an American pilot, a 
 violinist. 
 
 The passion for composition quickly grew cold. 
 The Andante for the symphony, begun before leaving 
 Russia, and continued at Balakiref 's written suggestion 
 while at anchor in the mouth of the Thames, appears 
 to have been the only instance of creative work of any 
 permanent value during the whole voyage.f 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof began his cruise in a spirit of 
 deep chagrin at being torn willy-nilly from his musical 
 activities and associates. The profession of the sea 
 never appealed very forcibly to him, but it is plain 
 that the pleasures of sight-seeing and of making 
 
 * In a letter dated January 20th, 1863, the writer seems 
 at a loss adequately to express his disdain of Howard Glover's 
 music to " Ruy Bias." 
 
 t The correspondence between Balakiref and Kimsky- 
 Korsakof, now in course of publication, reveals that several 
 tentative efforts were submitted for the former's approval."
 
 CAREER 23 
 
 acquaintance with distant lands and seas afforded him 
 by the voyage proved a fairly effective consolation. 
 As time went on he thought less and less about his 
 whilom desire to embrace the musical calling. His 
 indifference to an Italian opera that was being played 
 at Nice, where he made a break in the homeward 
 journey, is not perhaps as significant as it appears at 
 first sight, but it is certain that on reaching his native 
 shores, after nearly three years' absence, his regret 
 that his travels were at an end was almost as keen as 
 had been the sorrow caused by his enforced renuncia- 
 tion of music. According to his own description he 
 was now content to remain merely an " officer-dilet- 
 tante," in whom every ambition to become a compcser 
 had been extinguished. 
 
 It was lack of self-knowledge that led the returned 
 wanderer to imagine his aspirations to have withered. 
 They were only dried up through being deprived so 
 long of the musical atmosphere necessary to them, and 
 no sooner did he begin once more to frequent the society 
 of his musician friends than they revived. 
 
 During his absence the condition of music in 
 Petrograd had considerably improved. Balakiref, 
 with the assistance of Lomakin, had founded the Free 
 School of Music, and a visit from Wagner had aroused 
 great enthusiasm in the Russian capital. 
 
 The Balakiref Circle had secured a valuable recruit 
 in Alexander Porphyrievich Borodin, at that time a 
 professor of chemistry at the Academy of Medicine, 
 and they were now often joined in their deliberations
 
 24 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 by other interested individuals, Stassof being the most 
 frequent visitor. Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakof 
 appear to have dispensed with the usual probationary 
 period of acquaintanceship, and to have at once 
 become firm friends. The latter was on more or less 
 intimate terms with Moussorgsky, but his relations 
 with Balakiref and Cui were in the nature of a conditio 
 pupilli. Cui had lately obtained the post of musical 
 critic on the staff of a Petrograd journal. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's first musical task, set him, of 
 course, by Balakiref, was to put the fragments of the 
 neglected symphony into shape. Balakiref proposed 
 to produce the work, when finished, at the concerts 
 connected with the Free School which were held under 
 his conductorship. 
 
 The symphony was duly completed and rehearsed, 
 and was performed on December 19th, 1865. The 
 audience, sympathetic towards the music, became still 
 more favourably disposed when its plaudits were 
 acknowledged by a young officer in uniform. The 
 main body of the press was merely amiable, but Cui 
 wrote a characteristic notice in which he contrived, as 
 was his wont, to show his contempt for Rubinstein. 
 He spoke of his young friend's work as " the first 
 Russian symphony ever written." 
 
 Despite a repetition of the success when, in the 
 following spring, the symphony was conducted by the 
 father of the popular composer Lyadof, the young 
 sailor was not inspired to make an immediate 
 addition to the single example standing to his credit.
 
 CAREER 2& 
 
 Early in the Bummer, however, he conceived the idea 
 of writing an overture on Russian themes, suggested 
 to him by the now well-known work of Balakiref ; but 
 beyond the selection of three themes nothing was done 
 until after the summer holiday, which he spent 
 yachting. On coming ashore he got speedily to work, 
 and rapidly completed his overture. It was performed 
 under Balakiref's direction at the Free School in the 
 following December. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's account of the double life he 
 led at this time is amusing. By the Balakiref coterie 
 he was looked upon as having a moderate gift for com- 
 position, but a deficient pianistic capacity. In his 
 brother's social circle and among his naval friends he 
 had quite a reputation as a pianist, and was much 
 respected both for his knowledge of and judgments 
 upon "serious" music, and for his creative ability. 
 The Balakiref Circle was kept in ignorance of the 
 compliments paid to the versatile young officer by 
 the outside world. 
 
 V. 
 
 From the year 1866, which found Rimsky-Korsakof 
 installed in furnished rooms in Petrograd, the young 
 composer's renewal of enthusiasm for music may be said 
 to date. He was now enlarging his circle of musical 
 acquaintances a circle which embraced a number of 
 the most distinguished young artists of the day. In 
 these surroundings he became rapidly au courant with 
 the doings of the Petrograd musical world.
 
 26 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 Balakiref's encouragement did not cease, and the 
 leader of the " Invincible Band " showed a decided 
 partiality for his young disciple. Early in 1866 the 
 former began to take an interest in the Southern Slav 
 movement, then newly established, and in anticipation 
 of the projected visit of the committee to Petrograd 
 lie invited Rimsky-Korsakof to write a Fantasia on 
 Serbian themes, undertaking to give a concert in 
 honour of the event and to compose for it an Overture 
 on Czech melodies. The two works were duly per- 
 formed in the May following. The Serbian Fantasia, 
 which is dedicated to Borodin, appears to be an isolated 
 instance of the employment of Serbian folk-tunes in 
 art music. 
 
 Early in 1867 Rimsky-Korsakof spent an evening, 
 thanks to Balakiref, with Ludmilla Shestakof, the 
 devoted sister of Glinka. On this red-letter day he 
 made the acquaintance of Dargomijeky, then at work 
 upon his epoch-making opera, " The Stone Guest." 
 On his subsequent visits to the house he was often 
 disappointed to find that card-games had a greater 
 attraction for the company than music. But there 
 were compensations for this display of frivolity, and 
 on one occasion the singing of the much esteemed 
 vocalist L. I. Karmalin encouraged him to try his 
 hand at song - writing. The beautiful "Oriental 
 Romance " justifies his satisfaction with the result. 
 
 At this time he became quite attached to Mous- 
 fiorgsky. They met frequently, and exchanged musical 
 ideas with greater freedom, it seems, than was possible
 
 CAREER 27 
 
 " .1 
 
 in the presence of the monitorial Balakiref. From 
 Moussorgsky he received the suggestion of the subject 
 of " Sadko " as the theme of a symphonic tableau, 
 which he straightway set about composing. To this 
 date belongs also his first meeting with Tchaikovsky, 
 who afterwards conceived for him an admiration 
 which, according to his own confession, was not 
 unmixed with envy. 
 
 The winter of 1867 brought with it a season rendered 
 notable by the return visit of Hector Berlioz. A 
 series of concerts was given, of which the conductor- 
 ship was shared by the distinguished Frenchman and 
 Balakiref. In the latter's programmes figured once 
 more the "Serbian Fantasia" and "Sadko," which 
 scored a great success. This performance of " Sadko " 
 aroused the ire of the reactionary critic Famintsin, 
 who objected to its modernist tendencies. Retorting 
 for the Circle, Moussorgsky composed his famous song 
 " The Classicist." Its text refers to Famintsin's 
 foibles, and its music includes a theme quoted from 
 "Sadko." 
 
 Observing that all his friends were busily occupied 
 in the composition of works of an ambitious kind, 
 Rimsky-Korsakof began to think of a further essay 
 in the symphonic form. Unfortunately the new 
 symphony (in B minor) did not proceed very far. 
 Certain strictures made by Balakiref, who was sup- 
 ported by the remaining members of the Circle, 
 discouraged the composer, and he abandoned his effort, 
 having written only a portion of the opening movement.
 
 28 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 VI. 
 
 The constitution of a national music was not 
 the sole preoccupation of the "Five." The invasion 
 of Russia by alien musicians, invited by the reigning 
 monarchs of the eighteenth century, which had left 
 its mark on Russian musical taste, had provoked the 
 revolt of the " Invincible Band " against foreign 
 music in general. But in pleading for the home 
 product, they were fully alive to the importance of 
 securing for Russian music a respect of which a certain 
 kind of foreign music had not been altogether worthy. 
 Not the least significant item in their agenda was 
 the restoration of Opera to the place of dignity from 
 which it had fallen owing to the licences sanctioned, in 
 construction as well as in performance, by the Italians. 
 
 The question of the re constitution of Opera was 
 eagerly and earnestly canvassed by the young Russian 
 reformers, and they eventually arrived at an agreement 
 upon certain fixed principles. Opera was no longer 
 to be a performance designed solely for the glorifica- 
 tion of melody and the gratification of the singer. 
 Instead of consisting of a series of musical and choreo- 
 graphic items loosely strung together by a " plot " 
 that was only tolerated as a connecting link in the 
 entertainment, Opera was henceforth to be a dignified 
 dramatic art. Some of the reforms mooted were of 
 rather a drastic order when considered from the stand- 
 point of a public that was accustomed to every kind 
 of indulgence; but a determination to make no con- 
 cessions to the worldly taste of the old-fashioned
 
 CAREER 29 
 
 opera-goer was one of the first points agreed upon. 
 The primary consideration was to be that of the 
 dignity of Opera. Music-drama was to be an art in 
 which the two constituents could be considered as on 
 equal terms. The " plot " was no longer to be inter- 
 rupted in order to allow of the introduction of a ballet, 
 a chorus, or of a vocal melody having no bearing 
 upon the dramatic content of the work. These things 
 were to enter into the scheme only when the dramatic 
 situation demanded their presence. Music was to be 
 neither the slave nor the tyrant of Drama. The two, 
 by means of a perfect partnership, were to build up 
 an art that would compel the attention and command 
 the respect of the artist and of the thinking public. 
 
 These principles were founded upon reason and not 
 upon an existing model. But they appealed so forcibly 
 to Dargomijsky that he proposed to undertake an 
 opera that would conform to them. Feeling that the 
 advice of the young reformers might be of considerable 
 assistance to him, he suggested that the Circle should 
 henceforth meet at his house, and the musical setting 
 of Pushkin's version of the Statue episode from " Don 
 Juan " was proceeded with (in Rimsky-Korsakof's 
 words) " under our very eyes." 
 
 "The Stone Guest," hailed on its completion as 
 their "gospel," and styled by Cui the historian 
 of the group "the keystone of the New Russian 
 Opera," did not, however, monopolize their evenings; 
 songs and symphonic music, rendered on the piano, 
 also played a part. 
 
 At one of them Rimsky-Korsakof began a friendship
 
 30 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 that was destined to become a life-partnership. The 
 two sisters, Alexandra and Nadejda Pourgold, the 
 latter of whom he married, were by no means the least 
 active among Dargomijsky's musical set. Alexandra 
 was a singer who took her art very seriously, while 
 Nadejda was a fine pianist and all-round musician. 
 Towards the end of the spring (1868) he met the rest 
 of the Pourgold family, and to his great satisfaction 
 it was arranged that meetings should occasionally be 
 held at their house. 
 
 About this time Rimsky-Korsakof's attention was 
 directed once more towards the writing of a symphonic 
 work. At the suggestion of Balakiref and Moussorgsky, 
 he began the now celebrated symphonic suite " Antar," 
 based upon the legend of Senkovsky. The suggestion 
 of an opera having Mey's " The Maid of Pskof " as its 
 dramatic foundation emanated from the same source. 
 Devoting himself with energy to the first project, he 
 composed the second and third movement of " Antar " 
 during the spring of 1868, the remainder following a 
 month or two later. During the summer he spent a 
 good deal of time in the country. The rural environ- 
 ment proved extremely inspiring, and he brought 
 back with him some music illustrative of folk-customs 
 and ceremonials intended for the first act of his opera. 
 A visit to the Pourgolds' country home was also 
 musically productive. Two songs, " Night " and 
 " The Secret," were composed, and he dedicated them 
 to the two sisters. The source of the composer's 
 inspiration was probably no secret.
 
 CAREER 31 
 
 VII. 
 
 When in the autumn the Circle resumed its meetings, 
 two works of absorbing interest were ready for in- 
 spection. " The Stone Guest " was virtually com- 
 plete, and was played over to the little gathering. 
 The second, Moussorgsky's setting of Gogol's " The 
 Matchmaker," in which the composer had been guided 
 by the same ideals as Dargomijsky, excited no little 
 astonishment. The music followed the text of this 
 prose comedy word for word. Every note in the score 
 was devoted either to the reflection of the sentiment 
 of its literary substance or to the pantomimic notation 
 of the gestures and demeanour of the dramatis personce. 
 Apparently the Circle was somewhat alarmed at this 
 thoroughgoing application of its Principles. Even 
 Dargomijsky thought that his disciple had gone a 
 little too far, but the composer of " The Stone Guest " 
 was highly pleased with the general conception of the 
 work. 
 
 The latter's health had for some time been failing, 
 and he was not able much longer to afford hospitality 
 to his young adherents. Early in 1869 he died, leaving 
 instructions that the incomplete portions of his opera 
 should be filled in by Cui, its orchestration being en- 
 trusted to Rimsky-Korsakof . 
 
 In March, 1869, " Antar " was given its first public 
 performance at one of the Russian Musical Society's 
 concerts. It was warmly received by the audience,
 
 32 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 but a hard-dying antipathy to the programmatic idea 
 caused the Suite to be unacceptable to some of the 
 old-fashioned critics. The members of the Circle were 
 well accustomed to an opposition on all points that 
 came from the anti-nationalist camp, and Cui, on the 
 former's behalf, was generally prepared with a critical 
 Roland for every Oliver sent forth by their antagonists. 
 
 Cui's position was on occasion rendered somewhat 
 difficult by his dual activity as critic and composer* 
 It was in order to cope with a delicate situation that 
 Rimsky-Korsakof consented to try his hand at musical 
 journalism. Napravnik's " Citizens of Nijni " was to 
 be staged at the Maryinsky Theatre, and as this con- 
 ductor-composer was just then occupied in preparing 
 for a performance of Cui's opera "William Ratcliff," 
 the latter was particularly anxious to avoid expressing 
 an opinion which he imagined must be unfavourable 
 upon Napravnik's work. Rimsky-Korsakof 's article 
 upon the opera, coupled with a eulogistic notice of 
 " William Ratcliff " which followed shortly after, 
 resulted in creating a coolness between himself and 
 Napravnik which was lifelong.* 
 
 There are many examples of collaborative music 
 among the literature of the modern Russian School. 
 The notion seems to have originated with a specimen 
 of joint composition, with which our subject was now 
 called upon to busy himself. Gedeonof , the Director 
 of the Imperial Theatres, desired to mount a composite 
 
 * Both notices are to be found in the published volume of 
 Kimsky-Korsakof s writings.
 
 CAREER 33 
 
 work in the form of an " opera-ballet," to be called 
 " Mlada." The plot, derived from the chronicles of 
 the Polabian Slavs, was to be in the hands of V. A. 
 Krilof , and the four acts were to be set to music by 
 Cui, Borodin, Moussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakof. 
 The production was conceived, however, on rather too 
 generous a scale, and when the four composers had 
 completed the greater part of their labours the enter- 
 prise was suddenly abandoned owing to want of funds. 
 But its music, though shelved, was not altogether 
 abandoned, and a considerable portion of it was made 
 use of later in various ways by its respective composers. 
 Rimsky-Korsakof had entered into the undertaking 
 with much zest, and had put on one side his work both 
 on the orchestration of " The Stone Guest " and his 
 own opera, "The Maid of Pskof." This he was now 
 able to resume, and by the end of the summer of 1870 
 he had completed the former, had made considerable 
 additions to the latter, and had found time also to write 
 some new songs. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The periodical evenings, interrupted by the death 
 of Dargomijsky, had since that event been held either 
 at the house of Mme Shestakof or at the Pourgolds'. 
 A further death, that of Mme Pourgold, once more 
 caused the gatherings to be suspended for a time. In 
 the summer of 1871 the family moved into the country, 
 but were sufficiently near to Petrograd to receive con- 
 vStant visits from Nadejda Nikolaevna's suitor. The 
 
 3
 
 34 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 latter was again hard at work upon " The Maid of 
 Pskof," and had completed a goodly portion of the 
 orchestral score of his opera. 
 
 During the summer occurred an event which, as will 
 be seen, was destined completely to alter the course 
 of Rimsky-Korsakof's musical career. Fortified by 
 the Circle's indifference to academical training, he had 
 hitherto been content to rely almost entirely upon 
 musical instinct. One can but marvel at his boldness 
 in accepting the task of orchestrating " The Stone 
 Guest," despite his want of experience in this depart- 
 ment. 
 
 But when Azanchevsky, the newly appointed 
 Director of the Petrograd Conservatoire, actually 
 offered him a post as professor of composition and 
 orchestration, and the conductorship of the orchestral 
 class in that institution, he realized that his profound 
 ignorance of theoretical matters could no longer be 
 tolerated. 
 
 His own account of his feelings in regard to the 
 acceptance of the post is highly amusing. He felt 
 that to know nothing of counterpoint, little of the 
 principles of harmony, to be ignorant of the very names 
 of the intervals, to have but the sketchiest idea of 
 instrumentation and no experience of conducting, 
 might prove a little awkward for a professional musi- 
 cian. And he recognized that, as a professor of the 
 subjects he found himself invited to teach, these gaps 
 in his equipment might easily place him in a very 
 invidious position.
 
 CAREER 35 
 
 He was encouraged to accept the post, however, 
 not merely by the warm support of his immediate 
 friends, nor by the flattering prospect of occupying a 
 professorial chair, but because he felt that the studies 
 that he would now be obliged to pursue, even if only 
 for self -preservation's sake, would immensely facilitate 
 his future work as a composer. 
 
 And so our professor of harmony, counterpoint and 
 composition, began to take lessons in these subjects 
 from the students in his class, who quite unconsciously 
 enacted the role of pupil-teachers ! It need hardly 
 be mentioned that these studies were supplemented 
 by others. But this at any rate was the beginning 
 of those arduous researches that ended in his becoming 
 so fluent in these subjects as to provoke an ill-disguised 
 uneasiness among his fellow-members of the Circle. 
 Erudition, they felt, was not the best kind of qualifica- 
 tion for a pioneer.* The orchestral class appears to 
 have been a success, and if he did not retain the con- 
 ductorship very long it was not because he proved 
 himself in any way incapable. 
 
 Moussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakof had by this time 
 become great friends, and in the autumn of 1871 they 
 resolved to share the same roof. The latter had been in 
 the habit of dining at his brother's quarters, but owing to 
 Voin Andreyevich's bad health he had been ordered to 
 Italy, and his young brother, left to his own resources, 
 chose this method of guarding himself against loneliness. 
 
 * From Cui he received an intimation that his resolve must 
 inevitably lead to a parting of the ways.
 
 36 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 The two composers seem to have arranged their 
 work exceedingly well. Moussorgsky was occupied 
 just then with " Boris Godounof," and " The Maid 
 of Pskof " was in process of orchestration. But matters 
 were so well adjusted that their partnership caused 
 them no inconvenience. This proximity enabled them 
 to make a free exchange of ideas, and their room 
 became a meeting-place for the Circle. 
 
 But the arrangement was not of long duration. 
 Intercourse, interrupted in the first place by Korsakof 's 
 journey to Italy, where his brother had died, and then 
 by his formal engagement to Nadejda Pourgold, became 
 less and less frequent. The prospective bridegroom 
 spent every spare moment with his betrothed. 
 
 In January, 1872, " The Maid of Pskof " was ready 
 for publication. It had first, however, to be sub- 
 mitted to the Censor, who took exception to certain 
 passages savouring of republicanism, and also to the 
 appearance of Ivan the Terrible on the stage. He 
 sheltered himself behind a decree issued by Nicholas I., 
 but considerately furnished an explanation to the effect 
 that the spectacle of a Tsar bursting forth into song 
 was not calculated to promote the dignity of monarchy ! 
 Through the interference of one of the composer's 
 highly placed naval friends, the objection was finally 
 waived, and the opera received the favourable consider- 
 ation of the directorate of the Maryinsky Theatre. 
 
 But another claim had first to be satisfied, and in 
 the following month the now fully orchestrated " Stone 
 Guest " was mounted. The " cast " for the occasion
 
 CAREER 37 
 
 was beyond cavil ; but the success of this extraordinary 
 opera (which contained neither chorus nor ballet, and 
 was dubbed by one critic " a recitative in three acts ") 
 probably due to the excellence of its interpretation 
 was not long-lived, and " The Stone Guest " dis- 
 appeared, after a few performances, from the repertory. 
 
 In the early summer of this notable year Rimsky- 
 Korsakof, deserting his comrade, took a small room 
 near to the country house in which his fiancee was 
 living. On June 30th they inaugurated their long 
 and happy married life, Moussorgsky officiating as 
 best man. The honeymoon was spent in Switzerland 
 and Northern Italy. 
 
 In the autumn the pair settled in Petrograd, 
 the musical meetings were once more resumed, and 
 preparations were made for staging " The Maid of 
 Pskof." This took place in January, 1873. The inter- 
 pretation was in good hands, the best singers of the 
 time were engaged, and the part now associated with 
 Shalyapin was rendered by the famous Petrof. The 
 opera achieved a very considerable success, meeting, 
 however, with the usual carping criticism from the 
 ever-dissatisfied opposition. 
 
 Meanwhile things had not been going very well with 
 the Circle as a collective institution. Balakiref, 
 already under the sway of the religious mysticism 
 that was eventually to render him almost a fanatic, 
 was very rarely seen in musical society, and his where- 
 abouts had become the subject of considerable specu- 
 lation among his fellow-members of the " Invincible
 
 38 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 Band." Mme Rimsky-Korsakof's sister had married,* 
 and no longer attended the meetings, and the enthu- 
 siasm of some of their unofficial adherents had cooled. 
 But Moussorgsky, busy with " Khovanshchina," 
 Borodin, at work on " Prince Igor," and Stassof, 
 remained faithful. Rimsky-Korsakof, occupied with 
 the composition of a third symphony, was experiencing 
 considerable difficulty owing to an anxiety to introduce 
 therein a contrapuntal interest a desire that it was 
 not yet in his power to gratify " without tears." 
 
 Soon after the successful production of his opera 
 the fates smiled once more upon the composer. He 
 was invited to fill the newly-created post of Inspector 
 of Naval Bands, a billet that involved the entire 
 supervision of musicians and of music associated with 
 the Service throughout the Empire. This appoint- 
 ment, which he accepted, brought him a very welcome 
 addition to his income. It was also productive of 
 good results in the same way as his Conservatoire 
 professorship. He resolved to acquire a thorough 
 knowledge of the military band. Procuring a set of 
 wind instruments, he set to work during the summer, 
 spent as usual in the country, and after astonishing 
 the natives to a considerable degree, he succeeded in 
 obtaining a practical mastery as well as a fairly sound 
 theoretical knowledge of them. Brought up as he was 
 in a circle in which virtually nothing was known of such 
 
 * Alexandra Pourgold became the wife of Admiral Molas, 
 who was in command of the warship Petropavlovsk when she 
 was sunk by a Japanese mine.
 
 CAREER a9 
 
 things, it does not seem at all strange that at the very 
 outset of his studies he should have proposed to him- 
 self the compilation of a textbook on the subject. 
 Its subsequent outcome the posthumously published 
 Treatise on Instrumentation is a work from which 
 the present generation of musicians in Russia is profit- 
 ing very greatly. In justification of his acceptance 
 of the post, his Memoirs record that he found it neces- 
 sary to exert a fairly severe discipline among the 
 several foreign band-masters under his control. 
 
 IX. 
 
 In the following autumn Rimsky-Korsakof was 
 much occupied with his new Inspectorship. He 
 devoted a good deal of time to the scoring of works 
 suitable for the military type of orchestra, and busied 
 himself also with a general reorganization. One 
 reform that afforded him no little satisfaction was the 
 installation of native band-masters in positions hitherto 
 invariably held by aliens, principally German. But 
 he was not neglecting his primary vocation. Towards 
 the end of the autumn it was proposed to give a concert 
 in aid of a famine fund. Rimsky-Korsakof was called 
 upon to conduct, and it was decided that his now 
 completed third symphony should be performed. 
 The concert, held in February, 1874, went off very 
 happily in the artistic, though not in the financial, 
 sense, and the conductor had every reason to be satis- 
 fied with his initial public experience with the baton.
 
 40 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 But the symphony aroused no great enthusiasm 
 among his friends its contrapuntal substance, which 
 had given so much trouble to the young professor, was 
 not at all to their taste. 
 
 Another event of importance punctuated the course 
 of this season. Just before Rimsky-Korsakof's first 
 appearance as a conductor, the production of " Boris 
 Godounof " took place on the Maryinsky stage, causing 
 a great deal of excitement among the adherents of 
 the modern Russian group, and indeed Moussorgsky 
 was the hero of the hour. 
 
 The latter part of the season was spent in a tour of 
 the Crimea. The naval inspector, having been required 
 to report on the band at Nikolayef , availed himself of 
 this opportunity to betake himself, his wife, and their 
 little son, born in the previous summer, to the choicest 
 spots of Southern Russia, and the trio visited such 
 places of interest as Aloupka, Yalta, Sevastopol, and 
 Bakhtchisarai, the Oriental music of the street-players 
 in the last-named town furnishing the composer with 
 some valuable impressions. 
 
 On their return he began his first essay in chamber- 
 music, the string quartet in F. Once again he found 
 himself the victim of that newly acquired knowledge 
 of counterpoint, and the quartet proved somewhat 
 dull. The increasing " learnedness " of his music 
 continued to disturb his friends. They were sorely 
 troubled by this disconcerting result of his studies. 
 The offender, perceiving that his increasing knowledge 
 of the musical sciences added greatly to his capacity
 
 CAREER 41 
 
 for enjoying the works of the great masters of the 
 past, continued to persevere with his exercises in coun- 
 terpoint and fugue. Palestrina was now for him an 
 idol, Stassof an iconoclast. 
 
 Balakiref also upbraided him, but only by letter. 
 His withdrawal from the musical world had had a 
 disastrous effect upon the Free School ; he had neglected 
 to resign his directorship, which had thus become 
 merely nominal. In the autumn of 1874 Rimsky- 
 Korsakof was invited to take over this post, Balakiref 
 having apparently been prevailed upon by the com- 
 mittee to retire. The new director took his duties 
 very seriously, and soon infused some life into the 
 affairs of the School. In the following March he con- 
 ducted a " classical " concert, the first held in connec- 
 tion with the institution for three years, and once 
 more aroused the indignation of his friends by his 
 " retrogressive " programme. His fast-growing techni- 
 cal equipment afforded him, however, ample com- 
 pensation for this unpleasant attitude adopted by 
 them, and during the summer, spent at a country 
 house on the Neva, he zealously continued his studies- 
 
 They soon began to bear good fruit, evidences of 
 his prowess being provided in the shape of some 
 choruses for female and mixed voices, piano fugues, 
 and three small pieces for that instrument (op. 15). 
 These " exercises " seem to have been a source of 
 comfort to the Conservatoire authorities, who hoped 
 that some disquieting rumours circulating as to the 
 professor's want of training might thereby be hushed.
 
 42 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 A conciliatory effect upon his friends was created by 
 the second of two concerts given under Free School 
 auspices, in which the programme was exclusively 
 devoted to Russian music. Balakiref, who had lately 
 reappeared in musical circles, was alone dissatisfied. 
 He opined that to relegate Russian composers to a 
 " native " programme might give an impression that 
 Russian music was not of sufficient quality to emerge 
 successfully from comparison with the works of the 
 famous " Westerns." 
 
 Balakiref 's return was of happy augury for his now 
 established pupil. With him came one Filippof, a 
 religious mystic, whose influence is held responsible 
 for Balakiref's long abstention from musical pursuits. 
 Filippof had collected a number of folk-songs, and at 
 his invitation Rimsky-Korsakof set about harmonizing 
 some forty of these and preparing them for publica- 
 tion. This work prompted him to make a collection 
 of his own. Of the hundred specimens published a 
 short time after, many are to be found as themes in his 
 operas. Further, he was involved in Balakiref's 
 undertaking to edit the scores of Glinka's two famous 
 operas, in fulfilment of a promise made to the great 
 man's sister. His consent to assist Balakiref in this 
 caused severe inroads upon his working hours, but the 
 task was a very profitable one, as it afforded him so 
 excellent an opportunity of studying exhaustively the 
 methods of the " father of Russian Opera." Not- 
 withstanding a sudden influx of pupils, introduced by 
 Balakiref, he undertook at this time the composition
 
 CAREER 43 
 
 of a string sextet for a competition organized by the 
 Russian Musical Society. This and a quartet for piano 
 and wind instruments were completed during his 
 summer holiday. 
 
 In the autumn, whilst still at work upon the Glinka 
 scores, he resolved to rewrite his own opera, " The 
 Maid of Pskof," and to add to it a setting of the Pro- 
 logue of Mey's drama, subsequently published under 
 the separate title of " Boyarina Vera Sheloga." On 
 this he worked for the greater part of two years. 
 
 Despite his many occupations, Rimsky-Korsakof did 
 not neglect his duties as Inspector. He continued to 
 arrange and compose pieces designed to elevate the 
 taste of a public that preferred its music in the open 
 air. He was a little dismayed, however, to discover 
 that this public had a further preference that did not 
 at all commend itself to him. His al fresco audiences 
 were greatly interested in the performers, but paid 
 the scantiest attention to the music. 
 
 His participation in " indoor " music brought com- 
 pensations. During the latter end of 1876 and the 
 early months of the following year he organized and 
 conducted three concerts in connection with the Free 
 School. At the first of these his Serbian Fantasia was 
 played. The second was notable for a first perform- 
 ance of Borodin's now famous B minor symphony, 
 and Balakiref's overture " Russia " figured in the 
 third. Thanks to experience of this kind, he began 
 to " feel his feet " as a conductor. 
 
 During the annual rustication, while working at the
 
 44 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 revision of his first opera, the idea of writing a second 
 presented itself to the composer. Having discussed 
 the matter with his wife, he resolved to base the work 
 upon Gogol's famous tale " A Night in May," a story 
 that they had read together on the evening of their 
 engagement. For the present, however, he did not 
 propose to interrupt his labours on the revision of 
 " The Maid of Pskof." And in the autumn, when, 
 owing to the lapse of the Free School concerts through 
 want of funds, some spare time offered itself, he 
 conscientiously devoted it to the organizing of the 
 inner life of that institution, joining the students in 
 informal performances. 
 
 The School was supported mainly by voluntary 
 subscriptions, and the general adequacy of these seems 
 to have been due chiefly to the efforts of Balakiref, 
 who was an indefatigable canvasser. 
 
 Balakiref still frequented the revived Circle meetings, 
 but the younger members were much happier on the 
 occasions when he failed to put in an appearance. They 
 had attained to musical independence, and preferred 
 that their individualities should remain unhampered 
 by their former adviser's coercive methods. Stassof's 
 boisterous expressions of encouragement were much 
 more to their taste. 
 
 X. 
 
 The preliminary sketch of " A Night in May " being 
 complete, the winter saw the composer hard at work 
 upon his new opera. In this he was often assisted by
 
 CAREER 45 
 
 the counsels of Lyadof, formerly a pupil, now a col- 
 league. 
 
 Lyadof, being the son of a celebrated operatic 
 conductor, had received a liberal education in matters 
 theatrical, and he was thus able to offer some valuable 
 hints. But just as his first opera had been put on one 
 side in order to afford leisure for a very curious joint 
 composition (' ' Mlada " ) , so was the present work . In the 
 spring of 1878 the second in what is now quite a long 
 series of collaborative enterprises was mooted. This 
 was the set of piano variations on what is known to 
 us as the " chop-sticks " theme. The plan originated 
 with Borodin, who with Cui, Korsakof, and Lyadof, 
 put together a series of quite charming little pieces. 
 Later on Liszt expressed his approval of these " Para- 
 phrases " by writing an additional number. 
 
 An invitation to conduct some Russian concerts at 
 the Paris Exhibition of 1878 threatened a further 
 delay in the composition of " A Night in May." But 
 after spending a good deal of time and trouble in arrang- 
 ing programmes, the composer found himself super- 
 seded by N. G. Rubinstein, the brother of the famous 
 pianist. This, in view of his inexperience, he regarded 
 as a blessing in disguise. At any rate it enabled him 
 to resume work upon the opera, which began to make 
 good headway and was almost complete at the con- 
 clusion of the summer vacation. 
 
 In December " A Night in May," having been 
 approved by the Censor, was submitted to the operatic 
 directorate, accepted on the recommendation of
 
 46 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 Napravnik, and in the spring was put into rehearsal. 
 Taking advantage of the revival of the Free School 
 series of concerts, the composer inserted some excerpts 
 from the new opera in one of the four programmes of 
 the scheme. He also included therein some of Boro- 
 din's music for " Prince Igor," the composition of 
 which was proceeding somewhat fitfully. At a Moscow 
 Philharmonic concert at which he was engaged to 
 conduct, another sample of his operatic work, the 
 overture to " The Maid of Pskof," served to introduce 
 him to the musical public in the ancient capital. 
 " Sadko " was also performed, and made a profound 
 impression on the Muscovites. 
 
 His subsequent summer holiday brought forth a 
 sketch for " The Tale " (op. 29), a fantastic orchestral 
 work based on Pushkin's Prologue to " Russian and 
 Ludmilla," and a string quartet on Russian themes, 
 afterwards rearranged as an orchestral Sinfonietta. 
 
 The rehearsals of " A Night in May " proved some- 
 what more of a drain on the composer's time than he 
 had anticipated. But the vexatious, because quite 
 unnecessary, delay did not deter him from making 
 progress with his further operatic plans. Although 
 deep in discussion regarding the scenic arrangement of 
 " A Night in May," his mind was already busy with 
 thoughts of another work. He was reading Ostrovsky's 
 " Snow-Maiden." 
 
 Meanwhile the Free School concerts, the Conser- 
 vatoire, and the Inspectorship claimed a good deal of 
 attention. In respect of the first-named his deter-
 
 CAREER 47 
 
 mination to give prominence to contemporary Russian 
 composers involved his bearing a further burden, for 
 having undertaken to perform their works he found 
 the greatest possible difficulty in obtaining them ! 
 
 He had not only to run after the composers, but was 
 obliged in some instances actually to help them copy 
 out parts at the eleventh hour. As will have been 
 gathered, Rimsky-Korsakof's industry was never 
 confined to the mere carrying out of his many duties. 
 To add to his embarrassments, at this time Balakiref 
 continued to send him a number of new pupils. Among 
 them came young Sasha Glazounof, whose mother had 
 for some time been studying with him, and who quickly 
 captured his master's esteem and affection. 
 
 At last, in January, 1880, " A Night in May " was 
 produced with, on the whole, very happy results. 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's friends seem to have been prepared 
 for a somewhat pedagogic work, and were apparently 
 unable to rid themselves of certain preconceived 
 opinions. Their approval, at all events, was but 
 lukewarm. 
 
 A circumstance arising out of a return visit to Moscow 
 in the spring was instrumental in giving a fillip to his 
 project for a new opera. Availing himself of his 
 proximity to the home of the author of " The Snow- 
 Maiden," he called upon Ostrovsky, and was given a 
 cordial reception. Encouraged by the dramatist's 
 blessing he applied himself with energy, and by the 
 beginning of the summer he had already prepared a 
 good deal of rough material for his opera.
 
 48 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 His surroundings during the summer, spent at 
 Stelyovo, could not have been better chosen. The 
 beautiful scenery and the village life made just the kind 
 of impression upon the composer needful to inspire 
 him for the composition of such a work as " The Snow- 
 Maiden." Apparently, when seating himself at his 
 desk, he had but to think of the sights and sounds of 
 his daily experience in this altogether delightful 
 environment, and the music flowed forth. By the 
 middle of August the musical sketch had been filled 
 in, the orchestration was begun early in the autumn, 
 and by the end of March, 1881, the whole opera was 
 complete. 
 
 His confreres of the Circle, having heard nothing 
 whatever of what their colleague had been doing, 
 possibly imagined him once again deep in " musical 
 science " ; they were overcome with astonishment 
 when invited to listen to " The Snow-Maiden." But 
 they did not overwhelm the composer with eulogies 
 of his work. Even Balakiref, who showed consider- 
 able pleasure, appears to have missed the beauty of 
 the whole poetic conception, much to the chagrin of 
 the poet ! 
 
 The visits to Moscow having resulted in creating 
 a favourable impression of the Petrograd com- 
 poser, he received for the autumn of 1880 a third 
 invitation. It seems not at all improbable that 
 Tchaikovsky, who had made Rimsky-Korsakof's ac- 
 quaintance on the occasion of some visits to the Circle 
 meetings, may have exerted his powerful influence on
 
 CAREER 49 
 
 the latter's behalf; as critic on the staff of one of the 
 papers, he lost no opportunity of praising his friend's 
 work, and, as we shall see, there were reasons for sup- 
 posing that Rimsky-Korsakof's popularity in Moscow 
 might at some future time serve as a useful asset. 
 
 In connection with the Free School four concerts 
 were announced for that season. Only one of them 
 took place. On that occasion Moussorgsky's " The 
 Destruction of Sennacherib " (after Byron)* was per- 
 formed. About five weeks later Alexander II., the 
 Liberator, was laid low by the bomb of an anarchist, 
 and within three days of this Moussorgsky breathed 
 his last his constitution ruined by excesses. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Of these two tragic events the second, more than 
 the first, was responsible for changes in the subsequent 
 course of Rimsky-Korsakof's activities. The Free 
 School concerts were of course abandoned, but the 
 leisure this brought was soon accounted for. With 
 Moussorgsky's demise it fell to his friend's lot to 
 examine and edit for publication the mass of material 
 left by the unfortunate composer. Here was work 
 and to spare. And this, according to Rimsky-Kor- 
 sakof, finally dictated his resignation from the director- 
 ship of the Free School, a post that had become more 
 and more uncomfortable since Balakiref's return to 
 the musical world. The latter's interference in School 
 affairs the cause of Rimsky-Korsakof's dissatisfaction 
 
 * For mixed Chorus and Orchestra. 
 
 4
 
 50 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 was given point by his immediate reacceptance of 
 the directorship which he had been the first to hold. 
 A contributory reason for Rimsky-Korsakof's decision 
 was his anticipation that " The Snow-Maiden " might 
 be accepted for performance at the Opera, and that, 
 like " A Night in May," its rehearsals might demand 
 a considerable sacrifice of time. 
 
 This anticipation proved correct. After a com- 
 paratively uneventful summer, the composer found 
 himself called upon, in December, to attend the final 
 preparations for the production of his opera, the pre- 
 liminary rehearsals having then been in progress for 
 a considerable time. " The Snow-Maiden " received 
 its first performance in January, 1882. 
 
 Considering the number of " cuts " that had been 
 made in the score, it does not seem strange that the 
 critics should have found it wanting in dramatic in- 
 terest ; but the verdict given in respect of what has since 
 been accepted and acclaimed as a veritable master- 
 piece viz., that its composer was not at his best in 
 opera sounds a little odder than the ordinary mistaken 
 criticism by which masterpieces are so often greeted. 
 
 Belonging to this period is the first public appearance 
 of Rimsky-Korsakof's young pupil Glazounof. The 
 astonishment called forth by the sight of a youth in 
 schoolboy's uniform on the platform recalls his master's 
 similar experience. Certain sceptics there were who 
 did not conceal their belief that the " little Glinka," 
 as the youth had been dubbed, owed his first symphony 
 to a more experienced hand.
 
 CAREER 51 
 
 Glazounof's advent was instrumental in bringing 
 a new figure into Petrograd musical life. With it 
 began a widening of the sphere of the Circle's 
 activities ; it was soon to be reconstituted and to 
 be presided over, until his death, by the newcomer, 
 M. P. Belayef. The first meeting between Rimsky- 
 Korsakof and the Russian musical Maecenas took place 
 at a concert held at the Pan-Russian Exhibition in 
 Moscow, at which the former conducted Glazounof's 
 first symphony. This acquaintance speedily ripened 
 into friendship, and during this process the Circle, 
 now consisting of Borodin, Stassof, Lyadof, Glazounof, 
 Felix Blumenfeld whom Rimsky-Korsakof had met 
 while on a Crimean holiday in the summer of 1881 
 and Ippolitof-Ivanof , gradually came under the benign 
 and highly beneficial influence of its new leader; it 
 was not long before the venue of the meetings was 
 changed and he became host. 
 
 The editing of Moussorgsky's works continued for 
 some considerable time to occupy almost the whole 
 of Rimsky-Korsakof 's attention; the only creative 
 work undertaken during this period was the preliminary 
 sketch for a piano concerto and the setting of Pushkin'? 
 " Upas Tree," publication of which was delayed for 
 many years. 
 
 XII. 
 
 An indirect result of the change from the regime of 
 Alexander II. to that of his son was the reorganization 
 of the institution known as the Imperial Chapel. In
 
 52 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 this Rimsky-Korsakof took a large share of responsi- 
 bility. The actual directorship was given to Balakiref , 
 who chose his junior as chief assistant. The latter's 
 first important, though by no means onerous, duty 
 was to attend the ceremony of the coronation of the 
 new Emperor at Moscow in May, 1883. With the 
 rearrangement of the various classes he found plenty 
 to occupy him. Apparently this administrative task 
 and his other duties occupied the whole of his atten- 
 tion, for there is no record of any creative work at 
 this time. 
 
 A relief of the pressure came early in 1884. Doubt- 
 less as another result of the change of regime, the 
 long-held Inspectorship of Naval Bands came to an end ; 
 the post was abolished a " reform " that did not meet 
 with the deposed Inspector's approval, especially as 
 the military inspectorship was retained. 
 
 Belayef's esteem for Glazounof's early compositions 
 was such that he now brought forward a proposal to 
 publish the full score of the first (E major) symphony. 
 From this initial venture sprang the great organization 
 with which Belayef's name has been so long and so 
 honourably associated. Hitherto he had taken an 
 active part in the control of the large timber concern 
 left him by his father. He resolved at this juncture 
 to sever his active connection therewith, and henceforth 
 to devote his energies entirely to the welfare of native 
 music. With the administration of the publishing 
 house of Belayef, Rimsky-Korsakof was closely con- 
 cerned. To him the foundation of the series of con-
 
 CAREER 53 
 
 oerts endowed by Belayef for the furtherance of 
 Russian music is directly due. 
 
 At this moment Rimsky-Korsakof received an 
 invitation from Tchaikovsky to take up the vacant 
 post of Director of the Moscow Conservatoire. It is 
 a little curious that the honour paid him is not referred 
 to in his Memoirs. It is not difficult to understand 
 his non-acceptance. His duties at the Petrograd 
 Conservatoire and the Imperial Chapel, and the con- 
 ductorship of the newly established Russian Symphony 
 Concerts an appointment shared with his former 
 pupil Duetsch were supplemented by the further tie 
 of his association with Belayef. In addition, there was 
 the work on Moussorgsky's unfinished compositions. 
 
 This had already gone far towards completion. 
 After a considerable amount of trouble, he had suc- 
 ceeded in suitably orchestrating " A Night on the 
 Bare Mountain," which was performed at one of the 
 Russian Symphony concerts in the autumn of 1886, 
 and soon secured a wide popularity. But his altruistic 
 labours were not yet over. 
 
 At an early hour on February 15th, 1887, he heard 
 from Stassof of Borodin's sudden death at a party on 
 the previous evening. Immediately after the funeral 
 it was decided that Glazounof and he should under- 
 take the completion of the manuscripts found at the 
 lamented composer's house. Belayef held himself 
 responsible for their ultimate publication. This work 
 was begun at once, and occupied Rimsky-Korsakof 
 for the greater part of the summer, spent on the banks
 
 54 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 of Lake Nelai. During a break came the famous 
 " Spanish Caprice." 
 
 By autumn he had prepared sufficient material for 
 a concert devoted to Borodin's works, arranged in 
 connection with the Russian Symphony series, which, 
 owing to the indisposition of Duetsch, were all con- 
 ducted by Rimsky-Korsakof. The " Spanish Caprice," 
 also produced at these concerts, was apparently the 
 " hit " of the season. This no doubt prompted the 
 writing of further orchestral works. In the summer 
 of 1888 both " Sheherazade " and the " Easter Over- 
 ture " were composed, and they were performed under 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's own conductorship during the en- 
 suing concert season. 
 
 Still conscientiously pursuing the ideal of thorough 
 musicianship, he seized the opportunity presented 
 by a Wagner Season in Petrograd, which embraced 
 a performance of the " Ring," of embarking on an 
 exhaustive study of the great German's methods. 
 For some time, therefore, he laid aside the pen of 
 composition. But during his work upon the Borodin 
 material, it fell to him to deal with the " Mlada " 
 fragment, abandoned by its composer on the shelving 
 of Gedeonof's ambitious project. The suggestion that 
 " Mlada " might serve Rimsky-Korsakof as the sub- 
 ject of an opera-ballet came from Lyadof. By the 
 spring of 1889 it had already taken shape, and at 
 Christmas it was ready for performance. 
 
 The change in the Opera management Vsevolojsky 
 had been in charge since the accession of Alexander III.
 
 CAREER 55 
 
 had not been attended with any speeding-up of 
 affairs. The staging of Borodin's " Prince Igor," 
 which had been quickly got ready by Korsakof and 
 Glazounof, was unaccountably delayed, and " Mlada " 
 suffered the same fate. Despite its immediate accept- 
 ance it was not actually produced until October, 1892. 
 
 In the meantime the composer found other matters 
 claiming his attention. Belay ef called upon him to 
 undertake the conductorship of two Russian concerts, 
 to be held at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. The 
 Russian visitors were entertained by the leading 
 French musicians in a fashion that enabled them to for- 
 get the scantiness of the audiences. Owing to Belayef 's 
 dislike to any form of advertisement, even, it seems, 
 to that of a perfectly legitimate kind, the concerts 
 resulted in a heavy financial loss. 
 
 In the following spring Rimsky-Korsakof visited 
 Brussels. Russian music had been introduced into 
 Belgium through the efforts of the Countess Mercy- 
 Argenteau some years previously Cui and Borodin 
 having been invited to Liege and the capital in 
 1886 and the Petrograd master met with a most 
 cordial reception. Musicians came from all parts of 
 Belgium to make his acquaintance, and he was shown 
 every possible attention and much hospitality. The 
 two Russian concerts held at La Monnaie were a com- 
 plete success in every way. 
 
 At the end of the year he celebrated the twenty-fifth 
 anniversary of his initial effort as composer. This was 
 made the occasion by his friends for the holding of
 
 56 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 a miniature festival in his honour. A concert devoted 
 to his compositions was organized by Belayef, and the 
 performance of the programme was punctuated by 
 tributes of all kinds. In the evening the worthy com- 
 poser entertained his friends at dinner. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 During the time that had elapsed since the com- 
 pletion of " Mlada," Rimsky-Korsakof had not been 
 sufficiently settled to be able to undertake further 
 contributions to the operatic stage. He had worked 
 chiefly upon the Borodin material, and on a revision 
 of all his own earlier compositions. Every work of 
 his nonage, prior, that is, to the beginning of the 
 studies which had so alarmed his colleagues of the 
 Balakiref Circle, had now been subjected to a thorough 
 overhauling. From this time on, during the last 
 sixteen years of his life, he devoted himself almost 
 exclusively to operatic composition. An opera per 
 annum was for some little time his average output. 
 
 He had long been attracted by the subject of Gogol's 
 " Christmas Eve Revels," but had not felt himself 
 entitled to use it, since it formed the basis of Tchai- 
 kovsky's " Oxana's Caprice," a work for which 
 the Petrograd composer had little esteem. On 
 Tchaikovsky's death in the autumn of 1893 he con- 
 sidered himself at liberty to write a new setting. 
 
 The following summer was spent at Vechasha. Here 
 the environment proved propitious; not only did the
 
 CAREER 57 
 
 new opera quickly take shape, but the composer, 
 while engaged upon it, conceived the idea of a further 
 work. The subject of this was " Sadko," and in this 
 " opera-legend " he resolved to employ a certain 
 amount of the thematic material from the symphonic 
 poem of the same name. 
 
 Having resigned the conductorship of the Russian 
 Symphony concerts and his Imperial Chapel appoint- 
 ment, he was able for a time to devote a considerable 
 portion of his day to operatic composition ; but owing 
 to the resumption of the former duty for a season of 
 four concerts, he was obliged to confine his attention 
 to the one opera, and " Sadko " was put on one side 
 until the completion of " Christmas Eve Revels " 
 should be accomplished. 
 
 Towards October, 1894, he approached the Censor, 
 only to be informed that the appearance of the figure 
 of Catherine II. brought the opera under the ban of 
 a general prohibition of royal dramatis personce. As 
 in the case of " The Maid of Pskof," the composer's 
 influence was sufficient to enable him to obtain a 
 suspension of this rule. But this modification of an 
 Imperial decree had an unexpected outcome. At the 
 final rehearsal, in November, 1895, it transpired that 
 the management had put somewhat too liberal a 
 construction upon the licence granted them; the 
 royal character was made up so faithfully to resemble 
 the " Northern Semiramis " that two indignant mem- 
 bers of the reigning house present in the theatre made 
 immediate representations to the authorities, and a
 
 58 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 change was demanded as a condition of the production. 
 It was too late to argue, and the Empress Catherine 
 became a Most Serene Highness, of the sterner sex. 
 
 In the meantime " Sadko " was steadily progressing, 
 and the composer, having again sought inspiration at 
 Vechasha, met there his librettist Bielsky. This time, 
 however, his work was not so rapid. Indisposition 
 caused a serious interruption, and the completion of 
 " Sadko " was delayed until after the following summer. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof was well accustomed to the 
 vagaries of the Imperial Opera Directorate, but 
 hitherto he had experienced little difficulty in prevail- 
 ing upon them to accept his operas. On submitting 
 " Sadko," however, he saw at once that there was 
 an entire lack of enthusiasm on the part of the maj age- 
 ment; he resolved therefore to take his work else- 
 where. An opportunity offered itself towards th end 
 of 1897, when Mamontof, an artistic millionaire whose 
 name is honourably associated with operatic enter- 
 prises, announced his willingness to produce " Sadko " 
 at the Solodovnikof Theatre, Moscow. A rather 
 faulty first performance took place in December, 1897. 
 Under the same auspices the work appeared shortly 
 afterwards in the capital, and met with great success. 
 
 By this time another operatic venture was already 
 in course of preparation. The summer of 1897, spent 
 at Smichkovo, was particularly fruitful and its product 
 varied. The rarely-heard " Svitezyanka "* (a Cantata 
 for soprano, tenor chorus, and orchestra), a string 
 
 * After Mickievicz.
 
 CAREER 59 
 
 quartet, a piano trio, and several songs were com- 
 posed. But the most important item was " Mozart 
 and Salieri," an essay in Dargomijskian opera, inspired 
 by the " Stone Guest " and dedicated to the memory 
 of its composer. This, like " Sadko," from which it 
 differs so utterly, was entrusted to Mamontof , and was 
 produced by him at Moscow in the autumn of 1898 
 and subsequently at Petrograd. 
 
 Another effort in the declamatory style also figured 
 in Mamontof 's scheme. " Boyarina Vera Sheloga," 
 begun in the spring of 1898, may be considered either 
 as a very short one-act operatic study, or as a Prologue 
 to " The Maid of Pskof." Its literary substance forms 
 a key to the dramatic relationship between Ivan the 
 Terrible, Tokmakof, the Governor of Pskof, and his 
 adopted daughter Olga, in the work of which it is the 
 complement, or rather the Introduction. At its pro- 
 duction the Prologue seems to have been somewhat over- 
 shadowed by the main opera, in which Shalyapin gave a 
 particularly compelling performance as the terrible Tsar. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof was too gifted an artist to be 
 content for long with the method of " The Stone 
 Guest." His next opera was entirely melodic. The 
 inspiring effect of the temporarily forsaken Vechasha 
 neighbourhood was fresh in the composer's memory, 
 and to this spot he accordingly returned in the summer 
 of 1898, to seek in its well-remembered scenery the 
 evocation of melody for " The Tsar's Bride." He was 
 not disappointed. Vechasha exerted its former spell, 
 and the creative faculty was stimulated to a degree
 
 60 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 recalling his experience with the composition of " The 
 Snow-Maiden." The orchestration was carried out 
 in the autumn, and the opera was produced a year 
 later by Mamontof. 
 
 Considering the number of Russian musical works 
 that have been based on Pushkin literature, it is a 
 little surprising that so determined a nationalist 
 as Rimsky-Korsakof should have delayed so long in 
 resorting to the folk-lore creations of the great national 
 poet. Hitherto " Mozart and Salieri " was the only 
 example of Pushkin material used by him in opera. 
 In this the very nature of the subject precluded the 
 employment of anything akin to " national " treat- 
 ment. The choice of " The Tale of Tsar Saltan," one 
 of Pushkin's best known folk-poems, as the basis of 
 his tenth opera gave him full scope for such treatment. 
 Here it was no longer possible to use the original text 
 unaltered, as had been done with " Mozart and Salieri,'* 
 and the libretto was entrusted to Bielsky. The tried 
 combination of composer-librettist and the Vechasha 
 background again proved successful, and " Tsar 
 Saltan " was scored by the end of the year, notwith- 
 standing the composition of " The Ballad of the Doom 
 of Oleg " (for tenor, bass male chorus, and orchestra) > 
 undertaken as a diversion from the operatic work. 
 
 His dramatic output had so far been, with one 
 exception, of the " national " order. The choice of 
 the subject of Mey's " Servilia " was the outcome of 
 a desire to be free once again from the restrictions 
 imposed by adherence to the national programme.
 
 CAREER 61 
 
 But Rimsky-Korsakof, like Balakiref and Glinka, 
 preferred to construe the term " nationalistic " in its 
 most liberal sense ; he was thus not deterred from de- 
 voting himself to the exploitation of foreign nationalism. 
 But the task of reflecting in the score of " Servilia " 
 the atmosphere of its libretto which deals with 
 Rome in the time of Nero was not undertaken with- 
 out a good deal of misgiving. He thought the matter 
 out with characteristic thoroughness, and succeeded 
 in formulating a thematic plan with which he appears 
 to have been well satisfied. 
 
 His purely orchestral work was meanwhile earning 
 him a solid Western reputation. Invited a second 
 time to Brussels, he conducted there, in March, 1900, 
 a Russian concert, in which the principal items were 
 his own " Sheherazade," the symphonic "Sadko," 
 and Glazounof's " Raymonda " suite. 
 
 On his return from Belgium he addressed himself to 
 his new operatic subject. The summer of 1900 was 
 spent abroad, in Germany and Switzerland, but he 
 contrived nevertheless to make solid progress with 
 " Servilia," and it was ready for publication in the 
 following spring. The opera was not produced until 
 two years later, when it was taken in hand by the 
 Maryinsky directorate, now reconstituted. With the 
 change of management had come an improvement in 
 administration, and Rimsky-Korsakof, a little dis- 
 satisfied with the somewhat careless method of pro- 
 duction obtaining among " private " opera companies, 
 was highly pleased to learn that he could once more
 
 62 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 count upon seeing his operas on the Imperial stage. 
 "Sadko" now came into its own. Meanwhile "Saltan," 
 which had been promised to the Mamontof concern, 
 had been presented in Moscow (in October, 1900). 
 
 In December of that year the composer, by this 
 time feeling something of a veteran, found himself 
 plunged into a series of celebrations in honour of the 
 thirty-fifth anniversary of the production of his first 
 symphony. Returning from a visit to Moscow, 
 arranged in connection with these festivities, he was 
 dismayed to learn that a further succession of concerts, 
 banquets, addresses and the rest, with which he had 
 already been surfeited in Moscow, awaited him. In 
 his Memoirs he gives the impression that this " jubilee '* 
 was one of the most unpleasant episodes in his career I 
 
 There was little room in his mind for such futilities. 
 Three new operatic themes were being considered. 
 The first was to treat of Polish life in the time of 
 Sigismund III. and Boris Godounof; its libretto, 
 undertaken by Tioumenef, was to be romantic and 
 non-political. The second was " The Legend of the 
 Invisible City of Kitej and the Maiden Fevronia," 
 based on " The Chronicles of Kitej," which appear in 
 Bezsonof's edition of Kirievsky's Song Collection, and 
 which had for some time been the subject of conversa- 
 tions between the composer and Bielsky. E. M. 
 Petrovsky, of the Russian Musical Gazette, had sug- 
 gested the third, which was to consist of episodes from 
 Russian folk-lore with " Kashchei" as the central figure. 
 
 Of these the subject which most attracted the com- 
 poser was that of "Kashchei," and on this Rimsky-
 
 CAREER 63 
 
 Korsakof was engaged at Krapachouka during the 
 summer of 1901, and the ensuing autumn. 
 
 The year 1902 was devoted partly to the composition 
 of the Polish " Pan Voyevoda," and to the revision of 
 his edition of " The Stone Guest," the orchestration 
 of which he regarded as being much below the standard 
 of his present powers. About two months of this 
 year's holidays were spent in Heidelberg, where the 
 composer made the acquaintance of young Igor 
 Stravinsky, who afterwards became his pupil. 
 
 In October " Servilia " was produced at the Mary- 
 insky Theatre, but, failing to attract much attention, 
 was withdrawn after very few performances. In the 
 same month " Kashchei " received its first performance 
 at the Solodovnikof Theatre, and the newer work 
 created a much more favourable impression, as might 
 have been expected from the nature of its subject. 
 
 Towards the end of December, 1903, the Belay ef 
 Circle, and indeed the whole of Russian musical society, 
 sustained a severe loss through the death, after ?*n 
 operation, of the altruistic publisher. Among the 
 provisions of his will was the appointment of three 
 trustees to administer the various funds endowed by 
 this generous patron of music. These were Rimsky- 
 Korsakof, Glazounof, and Lyadof. The first-named 
 composed a small orchestral Prelude " At the Grave," 
 which was dedicated to Belayef's memory and was 
 performed at the first of that season's Russian Sym- 
 phony concerts, the series that owed its existence to 
 the deceased benefactor. 
 
 The composition of the penultimate opera, long
 
 64 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 planned and begun in the summer of 1903 at Krapa- 
 chouka, was already far advanced when Rimsky- 
 Korsakof reached his country quarters at " our 
 familiar and beloved Vechasha " in 1904. The pro- 
 duction of his " Servilia " by the Solodovnikof manage- 
 ment (no longer in the hands of Mamontof), which 
 had followed the Petrograd presentation, having 
 fallen somewhat below the standard required by the 
 composer, it was decided to reserve the staging of 
 " Kitej " until such time as it should be requisitioned 
 by the Imperial directorate. The anxiously awaited 
 invitation did not arrive until towards the close of 
 1906. Owing to its semi-religious subject-matter, the 
 libretto had met with some opposition on the part 
 of the Censor. The composer was the more grieved 
 since, although unorthodox in his opinions, he was 
 a deeply religious man, and believed that the stage 
 might be made a powerful instrument for the spiritual 
 elevation of the community. 
 
 It seems strange that the permission eventually 
 granted did not foreshadow a more enlightened attitude 
 towards " Parsifal " a work often compared with 
 " Kitej " which was decisively banned when, on the 
 expiration of its copyright, its production in Russia 
 was mooted. The immense success achieved by 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's opera at its first performance on 
 February 7th, 1907, was an ample repayment for the 
 delay. Unfortunately, owing to the expense entailed by 
 its production, "Kitej " could not long be retained in the 
 bill, and it was not revived until nearly four years later.
 
 CAREER 65 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The last years of Rimsky-Korsakof's life brought 
 him troubles and disappointments that contributed 
 to the undermining of his health. Towards the close 
 of 1904, during the political unrest arising out of 
 public dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Russo- 
 Japanese war, the students of the University began 
 an agitation in which the Conservatoire pupils speedily 
 joined. The police were summoned, the Conservatoire 
 closed, and Rimsky-Korsakof was called upon to vacate 
 the Directorship a command intended as a reproof for 
 having written to a newspaper explaining that, far from 
 instigating the students' agitation, he had actually 
 endeavoured to calm them. This abuse of authority, 
 however, was followed by protests from many parts 
 of the Empire; the students organized in honour of 
 their late Chief a performance of "Kashchei," to be 
 followed by a concert (March, 1905). In the interval, 
 however, such an uproar occurred that the police not 
 only refused to allow the concert to be proceeded with, 
 but placed an embargo upon Rimsky-Korsakof's 
 compositions. 
 
 This crisis seems to have thoroughly upset the com- 
 poser, and even a summer at Vechasha did not secure 
 a return of the peace of mind which he naturally found 
 an indispensable condition of creative work. He 
 occupied himself mainly, therefore, in compiling 
 examples for the illustration of his Treatise on Orches- 
 
 5
 
 66 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 tration. By the autumn the political atmosphere had 
 become a little less troubled. The Conservatoire was 
 reopened, Glazounof was appointed Director, and the 
 committee re-engaged the deposed Principal in a 
 professorial capacity. 
 
 In his Memoirs, which close with an entry made at 
 Garda in August, 1906, Rimsky-Korsakof, while 
 recording discussions with Bielsky in the early part 
 of that year regarding the material for a further opera, 
 makes no mention of " The Golden Cockerel," although 
 he refers to " Stenka Razin " (the subject of Glazounof 's 
 early orchestral poem) and to a Byronian tragedy 
 (apparently " Heaven and Earth "), sketches for both 
 of which operas were found among his papers. " The 
 Golden Cockerel " seems to have been begun very soon 
 after this final entry was made. 
 
 In the spring of 1907 Rimsky-Korsakof attended, 
 in the capacity of conductor, the magnificent Russian 
 musical festival organized in Paris by Messrs. Ossovsky 
 and Calvocoressi, and was admitted a corresponding 
 member of the French Academy.* On his return to 
 Petrograd the composer, in a letter to Zimin, the 
 controlling spirit in a " private " operatic enterprise, 
 wrote that " The Golden Cockerel " was virtually 
 finished, butthat since the necessary process of revision 
 
 * During this visit Rimsky-Korsakof renewed his acquaint- 
 ance with Skryabin, who had just returned from his American 
 tour. It is recorded that the two composers entered into a 
 long and animated discussion, in which they were joined by 
 the somewhat sceptical Rakhmaninof, respecting " key-colour."
 
 CAREER 67 
 
 might take as long as the actual composition, it would 
 hardly be advisable to consider its production during 
 the approaching season. On receiving word of its 
 readiness Zimin at once plunged into preparations for 
 its performance. He had counted without the Censor. 
 The thinly veiled satire of " The Golden Cockerel " 
 gave offence in high quarters, and despite Zimin's 
 representations the prohibition held good until March, 
 1909, when the Censor's ban was removed, subject to 
 certain modifications in the text. The first perform- 
 ance eventually took place on September 24th, 1909, 
 at Zimin's Theatre in Moscow, the Petrograd pro- 
 duction following in January, 1910. 
 
 In the opinion of Glazounof , expressed in an obituary 
 notice of the composer, this prohibition undoubtedly 
 hastened his death; his disciple adds that the refusal 
 of the French Society of Composers to admit him to 
 membership was a contributory cause of his decline. 
 
 His widow, in the Preface to his Memoirs, states 
 that by the time his last opera was complete the malady 
 from which he was suffering had made considerable 
 inroads on his constitution. Asthma supervened in 
 April, 1908, and shortly after he left Petrograd for 
 his country property, the manor-house at Lioubensk, 
 where, at two o'clock on the morning of June 8th, 
 the great national composer succumbed to an attack 
 of angina pectoris. 
 
 In addition to the works already mentioned there 
 were found after his death a revised edition of Mous- 
 sorgsky's fragment " The Matchmaker," which he
 
 68 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 had proposed to orchestrate; sketches for an opera 
 on the subject of " The Barber of Bagdad;" and the 
 Manual of Instrumentation, to which the finishing 
 touches had been put a few hours before the final 
 attack, and which has since been issued under the 
 editorship of his son-in-law, M. Steinberg.
 
 PART II 
 
 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF AS OPERATIC COMPOSER* 
 
 I. 
 
 IN the present volume it will not be possible to give 
 more than a brief survey of Rimsky-Korsakof 's operatic 
 activity and output. The reader who has perused 
 the foregoing narrative of the composer's life and work 
 will doubtless have gathered that the literary subject- 
 matter alone of these fifteen operas would provide 
 material for quite a lengthy tome, and he is assured 
 that their musical content is at least deserving of an 
 equally extended treatment. For the present occasion 
 it must needs suffice to pass in review the general 
 characteristics of the wonderful operatic treasury left 
 by Rimsky-Korsakof to the world. 
 
 Without some knowledge of his forerunners it is 
 impossible to appreciate the full significance of his 
 works. They may be said to derive from three sources. 
 
 Glinka's legacy to the theatre consists of two epoch- 
 making works. The first, " A Life for the Tsar," is 
 historical, being founded on an episode which is sup- 
 posed to have occurred at the time of the inauguration 
 of the Romanof dynasty. The second, " Russian 
 and Ludmilla," takes for its text the substance of 
 
 * See operatic synopses, p. 111. 
 69
 
 70 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 Pushkin's early poem of that name, and is fantastic 
 in character. " A Life for the Tsar " gave its com- 
 poser an opportunity of introducing folk-song and 
 melody of a national character; in "Russian and 
 Ludmilla " Glinka became, as it were, a musical 
 imperialist, and drew material from a variety of terri- 
 torial sources, from Finland on the one hand, from 
 Turkey and Persia on the other. 
 
 These two operas have had an influence upon sub- 
 sequent Russian music that it would be difficult to 
 over-estimate. The output of Rimsky-Korsakof, a 
 fairly prolific operatic composer, affords excellent 
 material for the tracing of Glinka's influence upon the 
 greatest Russian composers of modern times. 
 
 But ere proceeding with our analysis, it is necessary 
 to take into account a third influence, that of 
 Dargomijsky, Glinka's immediate successor. This 
 composer, it will be remembered, wrote two important 
 operas. " Russalka " possesses the elements of folk- 
 lore and fantasy; in addition it is to be considered as 
 an attempt to break away from the Italian tradition. 
 Dargomijsky desired to establish a closer relation 
 between the vocal music of an opera and its text, 
 holding that the intrinsic beauty of a melody should 
 not be regarded as an end in itself, but that the melody 
 should have a character in keeping with the sentiment 
 of the words to which it is sung. In this particular 
 " Russalka " was but an attempt. In " The Stone 
 Guest" the work which became the "Invincible 
 Band's " model he dispensed with melody and con-
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 71 
 
 fined the vocal line of the opera within the limits of 
 a melodic recitative. This was not the only measure 
 adopted to bring about reform. Dargomijsky declined 
 to avail himself of the various licences hitherto ac- 
 corded the operatic composer. He paid particular 
 attention to the question of dramatic realism, an 
 example of which is to be seen in the absence of a 
 chorus from " The Stone Guest " ; in the play on which 
 the opera is based there was no " crowd," and thus 
 a chorus, in Dargomijsky's opinion, could not be 
 legitimately introduced. 
 
 It was not long before the brotherhood of reformers 
 discovered that if, as they proposed, subjects of 
 national interest, such as " A Life for the Tsar," and 
 more particularly " Russian and Ludmilla," were to 
 be used as the basis of Russian opera, it would be 
 impossible rigidly to follow the path indicated by 
 " The Stone Guest," and the records of Russian 
 operatic composition, covering the thirty years follow- 
 ing their tacit agreement as to a need for compromise 
 in the matter, contain less than half a dozen examples 
 of this " legitimate " type of opera. Among the 
 dramatic works of the " Five " there are only three 
 examples. Borodin altogether repudiated the Dar- 
 gomijskian principle of " melo-declamation." Cui 
 interpreted the code of which he was the strongest 
 advocate with considerable elasticity, and Mous- 
 sorgsky wrote only one work in which he strictly 
 observed the principles, though, in " Boris Godounof " 
 and " Khovansh china," he effected a compromise
 
 72 RDISKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 which in itself constitutes an important contribution 
 to the effort towards an emancipation of opera from 
 the noxious Italian tradition. 
 
 The effect upon the operatic work of Rimsky- 
 Korsakof of these proposed reforms was not immediate . 
 In his first essay, '* The Maid of Pskof," much of the 
 solo-vocal music is in the recitatival manner, but the 
 opera cannot for a moment be considered as following 
 the precept of the " gospel," since it contains a duet 
 and other t; ensemble " numbers which are an in- 
 fraction of the Dargomijskian principle. Rirnsky- 
 Korsakof is not to be regarded as having definitely 
 subscribed to that doctrine later in life he spoke 
 somewhat disrespectful^ of what he characterized as 
 an over-strict regard for the dramatic verities but 
 as having recognized, through association with this 
 revolt against the past, that the future must be spent 
 in searching for, if not in attaining, the ideal operatic 
 structure. 
 
 II. 
 
 It will be necessary, then, in reviewing Rimsky- 
 Korsakof's operas, to seek for evidences of Glinka's 
 influence in the direction of literary material and poetic 
 content, and at the same time to take note of the 
 remarkable variation of style and structure to be 
 discovered in the material of his fifteen dramatic 
 works. 
 
 As has been indicated, the Glinkist tradition em- 
 braces the use of historical, folk-lore, and fantastic
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 73 
 
 material, and at the same time seeks to enlarge the 
 territory from which this may be derived by drawing 
 upon " all the Russias." The Oriental element in 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's music, operatic, instrumental, and 
 vocal, is a salient characteristic. 
 
 On historical subjects, or subjects pertaining more 
 or less closely to history, Rimsky-Korsakof wrote three 
 operas : " The Maid of Pskof " and " The Tsar's Bride," 
 in both of which figures the Tsar Ivan the Terrible, 
 and " Servilia," the last-named dealing with ancient 
 Roman life. " Boyarina Vera Sheloga " is, properly 
 speaking, a Prologue to " The Maid of Pskof," and is 
 thus reckoned as forming part and parcel of its plot. 
 
 But Rimsky-Korsakof, an ardent nationalist, taking 
 his cue from Glinka, has shown what abundant material 
 other than that of purely historical interest there lies at 
 the disposal of the Russian operatic composer who is 
 desirous of investing his music-dramas with an atmos- 
 phere of nationalism. The influence of Glinka's 
 " Russian and Ludmilla " is clearly present in the 
 literary substance of " The Tale of Tsar Saltan." In 
 both instances the original text was that of Pushkin, 
 and both stories are supposed to be told by the chained 
 cat that circled round an oak-tree, telling a tale when 
 turning to the left and singing a song when going in 
 the other direction. The Prologue of the one is the 
 cat's Introduction, which forms the programmatic 
 scheme of Rimsky-Korsakof 's orchestral fantasia, " The 
 Tale;" while the envoi of "Tsar Saltan" is uttered 
 by the same whiskered mouth. " Kashchei, the
 
 74 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 Immortal " and " Mlada," in which that terrible ogre 
 again appears, are obviously inspired by the Glinkist 
 example, while " The Golden Cockerel," also after 
 Pushkin, in its Oriental aspect at least, has certain 
 features in common with " Russian." With one 
 exception, namely, " Mozart and Salieri," all the 
 remaining operas of Rimsky-Korsakof contain in some 
 degree the fantastic element that was first introduced 
 into Russian Opera in Glinka's second work. " A 
 Night in May " and " Christmas Eve Revels," like Mous- 
 sorgsky's " Sorochinsk Fair," are dramatized versions 
 of tales from a famous series by Gogol. In the first, 
 happiness is bestowed upon the hero through the 
 benevolent intervention of a grateful water-nymph, 
 the " russalka " of Slavonic legend. In this plot the 
 Devil is regarded by some of the characters as being 
 not the unlikeliest visitor to their village; but in 
 " Christmas Eve Revels " he is a prominent figure, 
 and his theft of the moon and stars an act frequently 
 associated with his Satanic Majesty in northern 
 legendary lore is the cause of a deal of mischief. 
 
 The worship of pagan gods, which is a feature of 
 these two operas and of the opera-ballet " Mlada," 
 appears again in " The Snow-Maiden " in which the 
 advent of spring receives a poetic handling not excelled 
 in any other of the composer's operas and once more 
 in " The Legend of Kitej," the work of Rimsky- 
 Korsakof's last period, which shows in its literary 
 aspect the influence of " Parsifal." A pantheist by 
 conviction, Rimsky-Korsakof delighted in dwelling
 
 75 
 
 upon the beauty of natural phenomena and in calling 
 attention, by means of his art, to the old-time devo- 
 tional practices that survive in the ceremonial dances 
 and games of the Russian peasant. 
 
 His study of such works as Afanasief's " The 
 Slavonian Poetic Ideas of Nature " contributed not 
 a little to the supernatural element in " Christmas 
 Eve Revels"; and "The Snow-Maiden" is inspired 
 by the belief that there could be no finer manifestation 
 of religious feeling than the worship of Yarilo, the 
 sun-god a deity who makes an appearance both in 
 that opera and in " Mlada." 
 
 The " opera-legend " " Sadko " comes under a 
 distinct heading. Founded on the Novgorodian Cycle 
 it is, like Borodin's " Prince Igor," in the nature of 
 an epic. Its literary material is of two kinds, the real 
 and the fantastic, and in scenes where the latter 
 atmosphere prevails, such as the procession of sea- 
 marvels in the Sea-King's domain, one finds a sugges- 
 tion of the pantheistic sentiments of the composer. 
 
 Into the one opera that has not yet had mention 
 the supernatural enters only to a very small extent. 
 Dorosha, a sorcerer, an unimportant character in 
 " Pan Voyevoda," which deals with Polish life in the 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, produces a bowl 
 in which the act of divination by water is performed.
 
 76 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 III. 
 
 When a comparison is made between the historical 
 operas of Rimsky-Korsakof and those in which he 
 was able to introduce the element of fantasy, it is 
 quickly seen how gravely the composer was handi- 
 capped in treating " real " subjects. He had so great 
 a genius for descriptive writing that a text such as 
 that of " The Maid of Pskof " (with " Vera Sheloga "), 
 " The Tsar's Bride," or " Servilia," places him at a 
 serious disadvantage. His power of describing fan- 
 tastic figures and of revealing their nature by means of 
 orchestral devices is an exceedingly important item 
 among the component qualities of his nationalism. 
 One observes that wherever there is scope in the text 
 for fantastic description, the orchestra is at once given 
 a much more important role. There is already a 
 beginning in the first act of his second opera, " A Night 
 in May," when, in Levko's narration of the legend of 
 the oppressed step-daughter, the orchestra paints the 
 picture of her act of self-destruction; this orchestral 
 episode contains the germ of the music which in the third 
 act describes the unfortunate maiden, turned water- 
 nymph and surrounded by her attendant " russalki," 
 who disport themselves in choral games and dances. 
 
 It is a curious coincidence that the perusal of " The 
 Snow-Maiden " should have brought Rimsky-Korsakof 
 to the definite realization that the treatment of " real 
 life " was not calculated to afford him full scope for
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 77 
 
 his descriptive powers, for it was in this dramatic 
 study of Nature that Ostrovsky had signalized his 
 departure from the consideration of the purely mun- 
 dane. The scene of the enchanted forest (Act III), 
 with its Wood Spirit, who transforms himself into a, 
 tree-stump having two glowworms for eyes, and the 
 instantaneous growths that prevent the flight of the 
 terrified Mizguir, is set to music which, but for the 
 composer's emancipation from the bondage of "life" 
 subjects imposed upon him by the decreed principles, 
 might never have been written. It had become 
 quite evident to him that, while the historical sub- 
 ject afforded greater scope for dramatic action, he 
 could obtain ample compensation for the sacrifice 
 when dealing with material such as that of " The 
 Snow-Maiden." 
 
 His subsequent operatic output provides many 
 examples of the orchestral reflection of fantastic 
 scenes : the dance of stars and the procession of comets 
 in "Christinas Eve Revels" (Act III), the scene on 
 Mount Triglaf in " Mlada," the entertainment offered 
 Sadko in the submarine palace of the Sea-King and 
 the transformation of his daughter into the river 
 Volkhof , the symphonic introduction to the second act 
 and the final scene of " Tsar Saltan," which describe 
 the wonders of the magic island of Buyan, the music 
 which precedes the chorus of Snow Spirits in 
 "Kashchei,' 1 the bird songs in the scene of the enchanted 
 forest in "Kitej": all testify to Rimsky-Korsakof's 
 power of applying his wonderful imaginative faculty
 
 78 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 in the use of the individual instrument and of the 
 collective orchestra. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's recognition of the survival of 
 many pagan customs in the ceremonial of popular 
 dances and games has already been noted. As might 
 have been anticipated, there is no neglect of this 
 material in his operas ; he employs folk-lore substance 
 as the basis of a number of episodic songs and dances, 
 and obtains thereby many splendid scenic and musical 
 effects. His profound knowledge of and delight in the 
 subject of folk-legend, and the artistic fashion in which 
 he wields that knowledge, are responsible for the many 
 decorative scenes which adorn not only the fantastic 
 but the historical operas. In the first act of " The 
 Maid of Pskof " there is a reference, in the nurse's 
 song, to the whistling dragon Tugarin, a monster who 
 bears some resemblance to the " deathless " Kashchei; 
 " A Night in May " opens with a representation of the 
 choral game " The Sowing of the Millet," in which 
 occurs an invocation to Lado, the god of spring and 
 of love; of this there is a further specimen in " The 
 Snow-Maiden " ; in the second act of " Mlada " there 
 is. a Circling Dance or Kolo, from which the Russian 
 peasants derive their Khorovodes in this Kolo is 
 mentioned the god Koupala, the prototype of Yarilo 
 the sun-god; in " The Tsar's Bride " is a song and 
 dance, " The Hops," an old-time autumn ceremonial. 
 The Trepaks and Gopaks in " The Snow-Maiden," 
 "A Night in May," "Kitej," and "Kashchei," and 
 the Lithuanian dance in " Mlada," go to prove that
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 79 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof was alive to the advantages of 
 national and local colour. 
 
 Owing to his copious employment of folk-song, he 
 has been sometimes unjustly accused of a poverty of 
 melodic invention. But, as some of the Russian 
 critics have good reason to know, it is never safe to 
 speak without the book in this matter, for Rimsky- 
 Korsakof, like Glinka and Moussorgsky, became 
 possessed, by an unconscious process, of the power of 
 writing in the folk manner. 
 
 When dealing in genuine folk-songs, he employs 
 them in more than one fashion. There are already 
 specimens of complete songs to be found in the pages 
 of his early operas, " The Maid of Pskof " and 
 "A Night in May"; but in "The Snow-Maiden," 
 in addition to such tunes as that of the birds' 
 dance, the Carnival, the " Millet " chorus and 
 others, he has used certain suitable fragments as a 
 means of characterization. The very popular song 
 of Lei (the third given to this character) is, however, 
 original.* 
 
 Several genuine and identifiable folk-melodies appear 
 in " Tsar Saltan," one of them being the tune to which 
 the composer's children were sung to sleep by an old 
 
 * An instance of the composer's scrupulous regard for 
 appropriateness has recently come to light as the result of 
 a comparison of Ostrovsky's original text of this number, 
 (which, although written in a metre foreign to folk-song, was 
 set without alteration by Tchaikovsky,) and the paraphrased 
 version, made by Rimsky-Korsakof, in order that the music 
 might be given the true folk character.
 
 80 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 nurse; in " Kite] " the tune of the bear's dance in the 
 second act, the accompaniment of Poyarok's oration 
 in the third, and the chorus of encamped Tatars, 
 are all to be recognized as quotations from Rimsky- 
 Korsakof's own folk-song collection; the chorus of 
 Mendicant Friars in the second act is from the 
 collection of Filippof, which Rimsky-Korsakof har- 
 monized and edited. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's partiality for the folk-melody 
 was strengthened by a fondness for modal music, in 
 most cases the basis of these tunes. Several instances 
 of modal writing occur in "The Snow-Maiden"; 
 among them may be mentioned Lei's first song, the 
 Heralds' proclamation, and the hymn of the Berendeys ; 
 others may be seen in the " Millet " chorus of "A 
 Night in May " and in the dance of Msenads in the 
 second act of " Servilia " (Phrygian) ; while in " Kitej," 
 although not as rich in this respect as one might 
 anticipate from the nature of the subject, there are 
 three prominent themes in the ^Eolian mode, and one 
 in the Phrygian, associated with the inhabitants of 
 the temporarily invisible city. 
 
 Of Oriental colour, bequeathed to the Russian 
 School by Glinka, there is an abundance both in the 
 instrumental and operatic compositions of Rimsky- 
 Korsakof. Besides the well-known " Hindoo Mer- 
 chant's song " in " Sadko," there is a somewhat similar
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 81 
 
 Eastern episode in " Mlada," where, in a scene re- 
 calling that of the " opera-legend," a Moor cries his 
 golden wares, and in a series of national dances 
 (in the same work) there figures a " half -graceful, 
 half -savage " Indian measure. In this opera also 
 is the Eastern music one would expect to find in 
 association with the character of Cleopatra. The 
 florid passages sung by Queen Shemakha in " The 
 Golden Cockerel " constitute a further example of a 
 vein which appealed very strongly to the composer 
 of " Sheherazade." 
 
 As might be expected, Rimsky-Korsakof, with such 
 varied material at his command, had no difficulty in 
 maintaining throughout the music of an opera the 
 mood of its literary substance. He neglected no detail 
 that could in any way contribute to the general homo- 
 geneity of style. Thus, when contemplating the com- 
 position of " Servilia," he argued that while there are 
 no surviving data as to the character of the music of 
 ancient Rome, this circumstance could not excuse the 
 presence in such an opera of anything that bore 
 the definite impress of some particular non-Roman 
 nationality. He chose to write, therefore, in a 
 manner partly Italian, partly Greek, and partly 
 Byzantine, a procedure which he justifies on the 
 ground that Roman art was borrowed from these 
 sources. 
 
 Again, in " Sadko " he adopted a method of recita- 
 tival writing which resembles the declamatory intona- 
 tion characteristic of the peripatetic rhapsodists when 
 
 6
 
 82 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 reciting the Ryabinin legends.* "Running like a 
 scarlet thread," he observes in his Memoirs, " through- 
 out the opera, this imparts a national and historical 
 complexion to the work." In " Kitej " he maintains 
 the atmosphere of religious mysticism as successfully 
 as he does that of the archaic in " Mlada," and the 
 satirical in " The Golden Cockerel." 
 
 In the matter of operatic style Rimsky-Korsakof is 
 not to be regarded as by any means a faithful apostle 
 of the " Invincible Band." The dedication to Dar- 
 gomijsky of the opera in which he implicitly observes 
 the principles adopted by the " Five," must not be 
 endowed with too great a significance. It was under- 
 taken primarily as an exercise in vocal writing, in 
 which department the composer was anxious to im- 
 prove his resources. His attitude towards the prin- 
 ciples was, in fact, as Pyatnitsky f observes, one of 
 " enlightened liberalism," and at no time did he pledge 
 himself to slavish obedience. 
 
 His life was spent in searching for an operatic method 
 which should possess the quality of rationality without 
 making a fetish of realism. He was not prepared to 
 exalt life or even drama at the expense of melodious 
 music. In this connection the preface to one of his 
 operas is especially significant. The prefatory remarks 
 printed in the score of " Tsar Saltan " call the attention 
 
 * From Trofim Grigorief Ryabiuin, an Olenets peasant, 
 P. H. Ruibnikof obtained, in 1860, a number of hitherto un- 
 written legends for his valued collection. 
 
 f " Thematic Analysis of ' Kitej,' " Petrograd, 1914.
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 83 
 
 of producers to the need of impressing upon the chorus 
 the necessity of refraining, during the lyrical moments 
 of the opera, from any kind of gesture or movement 
 that might divert the attention of the audience from 
 the singers, as "an operatic work is before everything 
 a musical production." 
 
 V. 
 
 Whether the search for a via media that would avoid 
 the austerity of declamatory opera and the licence of 
 the purely melodic was successful, must be determined 
 by the individual, acccording to his own views upon the 
 operatic art. What Rimsky-Korsakof did attain was 
 an individuality of style that has earned for his most 
 characteristic works the honourable epithet of " Kor- 
 sakovian " a description current among Russian 
 commentators. The mere mention of this classifica- 
 tion, satisfying though it may be to the casual observer, 
 will hardly suffice for the student. 
 
 It should be explained, therefore, that the operas of 
 Rimsky-Korsakof arc divisible into the three categories 
 of Declamatory, Melodic, and Synthetic, and that the 
 synthetic type of opera is the type associated with the 
 composer's name. 
 
 The process through which the synthetic opera was 
 evolved was as follows: 
 
 "The Maid of Pskof," Rimsky-Korsakof s first 
 opera, is, as has been remarked, in the nature of a 
 compromise. In it the composer, while respecting the
 
 84 EIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 principles agreed upon with his colleagues, does not 
 conform to their letter. The dramatic portions are 
 declamatory, the lyrical in the form of arioso, but the 
 choral scenes are conceived on rather broader lines 
 than a strict observance of the Dargomijskian principles 
 would permit. 
 
 In the second opera, " A Night in May," theso 
 principles appear to have been completely abandoned. 
 It is as though the composer were seeking to prepare 
 himself for the synthetic method by making sure of 
 its primary components. " A Night in May " is a 
 melodic opera, and so neglectful of his duty to the 
 decrees of the " New Russian School " was the com- 
 poser that he actually permitted himself the licence 
 of including in it several self-contained numbers: 
 duets, trios, and the like. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that " A Night 
 in May " is in any sense a return to the Italian inanities 
 against which the reformers had so resolutely set their 
 face. The separate numbers, even in cases where 
 there is no musical link whatever, do not occasion any 
 interruption in the course of the drama; they are 
 always relevant to the dramatic issue. It should also 
 be noted that there is a certain amount of " melo- 
 declamation," such as that of the scene in the Mayor's 
 house (Act II). 
 
 With the third work, " The Snow-Maiden," came a 
 definite approach to the synthetic type. Here there 
 is already a judicious alloy of the melodic and the 
 declamatory ; here, also, is to be seen a more generous
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 85 
 
 and altogether broader employment of leading motives, 
 and the method of using them is individual. They 
 are not confined to an orchestral utterance but, pene- 
 trating to the vocal parts, are on occasion worked up 
 into short melodies of which they are the foundation. 
 Another device, first observed in this work, is that 
 which Rimsky-Korsakof himself calls the " leading- 
 harmony," a term which sufficiently describes the 
 thing it represents. The presence in " The Snow- 
 Maiden " of a number of quotations from traditional 
 song has already been noted. 
 
 Up to this time the Russians possessed but little 
 knowledge of the Wagnerian music-drama, but with 
 the advent of Neumann's company, in 1889, Rimsky- 
 Korsakof was able to familiarize himself with the 
 method of the Teuton genius, and in some of his sub- 
 sequent operas there is a decided trace of Wagnerian 
 influence. This is already observable in " Mlada " and 
 "Christmas Eve Revels." One notices a far greater 
 wealth of symphonic writing, and the orchestra attains 
 an independence hitherto denied it, more especially 
 in the descriptive scenes. In the " opera-ballet " are 
 to be heard some harmonies which have plainly been 
 assimilated and, as the composer confesses, the leading 
 motives are worked out in a fashion that was not 
 entirely of his own inventing. 
 
 If it is in " The Snow-Maiden " that, as the com- 
 poser avers, he definitely found himself, the completion 
 of " Sadko " signalized the inauguration of that type 
 of opera known as synthetic or " Korsakovian."
 
 86 RIMSKY-KORS AKOF 
 
 An examination of " Sadko " will provide ample 
 means of forming an idea as to the import of these 
 terms. The synthesis of styles is represented first in 
 the direction of its literary constitution. Despite the 
 spectacular character of the opera, the dramatic 
 interest, though perhaps a little wanting in intensity, 
 is never made to serve as a mere peg on which to 
 hang the spectacle ; there is, too, a nice balance betweei? 
 the real and the fantastic, the harmonization of the 
 former being simple, while the latter evokes a greater 
 harmonic complexity. 
 
 In the musical region a further synthesis is obtained 
 by means of a masterly distribution of responsibility 
 between the orchestra and the voice. But it is the 
 adoption of the " legendary recitative " that, in the 
 opinion of the composer, secures for his opera a place 
 altogether apart, and it is in virtue of this device, 
 together with a quite individual employment of the 
 leading-motive system, that " Sadko " justifies its con- 
 sideration as the perfect type of " Korsakovian " opera. 
 
 Conforming to this type, though in one instance 
 deviating a little from its lines, are four other operas. 
 In " The Tale of Tsar Saltan " Rimsky-Korsakof 
 adheres to the method of keeping the real and fantastic 
 elements separate, and he makes the distinction definite 
 by employing instrumental music for the fantastic 
 sections, and vocal for the real. To describe this 
 procedure, and to classify the opera in which its 
 workings are to be observed, the composer adopts the 
 term " vocal-instrumental," and thus labels " Tsar
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 87 
 
 Saltan." A modification of the leading-motive system 
 is noticeable in this work. The motives are not con- 
 fined to the characters (only four are thus endowed), 
 but are applied to events, occurrences in Nature, and 
 the psychological phenomena associated with the 
 dramatis personce. There is no sign in " Tsar Saltan " 
 that its composer is allowing his individuality to be 
 dried up by the flame of Wagner's musical personality ; 
 in this, as in the later operas, one is able to recognize 
 that Rimsky-Korsakof is an objectivist, and that even 
 in " Kitej " " pantheism " describes his religious or 
 spiritual attitude far better than " mysticism." 
 
 The reasons assigned by some writers for considering 
 "Kashchei the Immortal" as a work that is not to 
 be placed unreservedly in the category of " synthetic," 
 and that the composer had completely succumbed to 
 the Wagnerian influence, are not all of a convincing 
 kind. The preponderance in "Kashchei" of de- 
 clamatory writing is not so great as to justify its being 
 considered as pertaining to that class, and the sugges- 
 tion that the uncouthness of its harmonies should 
 weigh with classifiers is a little beside the point. 
 Harmonic uncouthness, as shown by musical history, 
 is a purely relative thing, and as a rule this quality 
 is proved in time to have represented nothing more 
 than that the music thus stigmatized was progressive. 
 That the harmony of Korsakof was on occasion, and 
 particularly in " Kashchei," unexpected and seemingly 
 uncouth, need not necessarily imply that it is all 
 Wagnerian in manner. One is obliged to confess that
 
 88 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 in some instances it is reminiscent,* and one can only 
 assume that Rimsky-Korsakof, who was not the sort 
 of man to be satisfied with imitation, had in the course 
 of a profound study of Wagnerian methods assimilated 
 enough to have become unconsciously a mild plagiarist. 
 The really frivolous arguments are that the presence 
 of the fanfares which open the preludes in " Saltan " 
 is a result of an undue reverence for the ceremonial 
 of Bayreuth; and that the idea of "redemption," 
 which is the ethical basis of "Kashchei" Nature's 
 movement symbolizing social development should 
 stamp that work as being characteristic of the com- 
 poser of " Parsifal," rather than as possessing 
 " Korsakovian " attributes. 
 
 The spiritual content of the libretto, the religious 
 mysticism with which the " book " and the score of 
 " Kitej " have been suffused by Bielsky and Rimsky- 
 Korsakof, has given rise to a comparison between this 
 work and " Parsifal." But in virtue of the circum- 
 stances that the harmony of " Kitej " is by no means 
 strikingly Wagnerian, that the opera contains just as 
 much national as spiritual material, and that Rimsky- 
 Korsakof, instead of revealing his own psychological 
 consciousness, depicts that of the protagonists, the 
 comparison cannot for long be maintained. 
 
 The desire to make the opera worthy of the synthetic 
 denomination is very clearly manifested in " Kitej." 
 The quality of its textual material was exceedingly 
 
 * In the last tableau there is a prominent melodic figure that 
 cannot fail to recall the Pilgrims' Chorus in " Tannhauser."
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 89 
 
 helpful. Apart from its dramatic value once again, 
 as in " Sadko " and " The Snow-Maiden," somewhat 
 slender there is a considerable variety of interest. 
 Reflected in the score of " Kitej," one finds the musical 
 expression of pantheism (in a woodland scene that 
 is, of course, compared with the " Waldweben "), of 
 religious ecstasy, of the pagan attitude towards the 
 Christian, and of the ascetic attitude towards life. 
 The characterization is as diverse as the individual 
 and collective personalities are varied; the polyphonic 
 character of the music associated with religious devo- 
 tion is in wonderful contrast to the descriptive pages 
 of the score. For the vocal parts, arioso prevails; 
 but there is an abundance of melody which includes 
 several folk-songs. Finally and this is something 
 more than a mere factitious aid to characterization 
 there is a complicated system of leading-motives, 
 divided by the commentators into four categories, 
 which include the " leading-harmonies " first met with 
 in " The Snow-Maiden." 
 
 " Kitej " is a fully synthetic music-drama in respect 
 of literary substance as well as in the direction of opera- 
 tic form. Korsakof's last opera, " The Golden 
 Cockerel," is designed on a much smaller plan. There 
 is a synthesis as to construction, but its literary 
 interest does not afford the same scope for varying 
 the character of its music. In one sense above all 
 others, however, it is " Korsakovian." The satire it 
 contains unfortunately smothered in the London 
 performances, owing to an entirely misplaced emphasis
 
 90 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 of the spectacular is characteristic of a man who 
 resented any sort of high-handed interference with 
 the liberty of the subject, and the pungency of his 
 protest was acknowledged when " The Golden 
 Cockerel " was banned. 
 
 There is, of course, no direct evidence that Rimsky- 
 Korsakof, in making his initial essays in operatic form, 
 began with the deliberate intention of acquiring 
 experience in the use of the two main contributory 
 factors to the synthetic type he ultimately evolved. 
 But in undertaking to set one of Pushkin's " dramatic 
 scenes " to music without altering the text, it is clear 
 that, besides the definite plan of improving himself 
 in the writing of melodic recitative, the impulse to 
 try conclusions with the austere Dargomijskian method 
 must have been present. " Mozart and Salieri," 
 though conforming to the principles of the " New 
 Russian School," has little in common with either 
 " The Stone Guest " or Moussorgsky's " The Match- 
 maker." It has none of the symphonic interest of 
 the " gospel," nor is there any of that notation of 
 gesture which is so wonderful a feature of Moussorgsky's 
 fragment. Leading-motives play a very small part, 
 and there are but few instances of tonal suggestion. 
 The music is consistently Mozartean, and the little 
 movement composed for Mozart's " improvization " 
 is a masterpiece that must cause us either to modify 
 our idolization of the composer of " Don Giovanni," 
 or to place Rimsky-Korsakof within the same 
 sanctum.
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 91 
 
 " Boyarina Vera Sheloga " is another essay the 
 declamatory style of which was chosen partly for the 
 same considerations as those determining the method 
 of " Mozart and Salieri," and partly, as is obvious, in 
 order that there should be no incongruity of style 
 between this work and " The Maid of Pskof," to which 
 it serves as Prologue. 
 
 VI. 
 
 It will easily be grasped that, as Rimsky-Korsakof 
 did not himself attempt the classification of his 
 operas, there is a certain amount of disagreement 
 as to the placing of some of them. Thus, according 
 to one authority, "Kashchei" belongs rightly to the 
 declamatory order; while in another's view it earns 
 a place in the same list with " Sadko." But there is 
 no room for disagreement about either " The Tsar's 
 Bride," " Servilia," or " Pan Voyevoda," so far as 
 concerns their general character. One may be par- 
 doned for assuming that when Rimsky-Korsakof so 
 boldly disregarded the decreed canons in " A Night in 
 May," he was fortified by Borodin's rebellious declara- 
 tion that for him melody was a positive necessity of 
 musical life. What lends weight to the supposition is 
 that, in taking up the subject of his dead friend's 
 abortive essay in declamatory opera, Rimsky-Korsakof 
 seems to have been imbued with the spirit of the com- 
 poser of " Prince Igor." " The Tsar's Bride " was 
 not only to be definitely melodic, but was entirely to
 
 92 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 ignore the Dargomijskian tradition. When we read 
 what the composer has written on the subject which 
 is to the effect that he intended writing real ensembles 
 in which people actually sang together we are able 
 to realize the spirit in which this opera was devised 
 and carried out. It is a lyrical opera, and is a direct 
 offspring of " A Life for the Tsar." It begins with the 
 conventional long overture, which is not, however, 
 self-contained,* and is constructed apparently with 
 a view to the provision of a feast of melody, in which 
 Liouba's unaccompanied song in the second act 
 repeated as an orchestral intermezzo and Martha's 
 aria in the third are favourite dishes. The composer 
 had by this time assimilated the folk-song manner to 
 his own satisfaction, and was able to dispense with 
 quotations, the only specimen used being the 
 " Slavsya," which serves as a motive for Ivan and 
 which is coupled towards the close of the opera, when 
 his choice of a bride is announced, with the theme by 
 which he is represented in " The Maid of Pskof," an 
 allusion which recalls the self-quotings of Strauss and 
 his advocate Shaw. 
 
 As to "Servilia" and "Pan Voyevoda," little 
 need be said. In both cases the literary interest is 
 chiefly dramatic. In the matter of construction the 
 one is as declamatory as the other is lyrical ; the degree 
 of deviation is common, both leaning, as it were, 
 inwardly, or slightly towards the synthetic style. 
 
 * It was furnished by the composer with a " concert - 
 ending."
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 93 
 
 VII. 
 
 Nothing could better warrant the description of 
 Rimsky-Korsakof as an " enlightened liberal " than 
 his operatic creations. In it is reflected the mind of a 
 man clearly determined that everything that could 
 legitimately claim the attention of a composer should 
 find a place in music-drama. Yet while acting gener- 
 ously toward the operatic art -repudiating the 
 austere purism of the " New Russian School " he 
 was withal fastidious in his choice of material. But 
 the special distinction of his dramatic work would seem 
 to lie in that he beautified the whole not only by his 
 treatment of the parts, but by the application of an 
 unfailing instinct for appropriate combinations of 
 material. 
 
 His texts are unvaryingly sound. That of " Sadko," 
 derived from a number of chronicles of an archaic 
 period and strung together by the composer,* gives 
 some indication of the standard required of a libretto 
 by the artist who arranged it. In Bielsky, the libret- 
 tist of "Tsar Saltan," " Kitej," and "The Golden 
 Cockerel," Rimsky-Korsakof found a collaborator 
 entirely after his own heart. Between them there 
 was a strong personal and artistic sympathy. The 
 quality of Bielsky's work may be appreciated by any- 
 one reading the texts of the three operas named ; they 
 are well worth the reading for their own sake. Yet 
 
 * Rimsky-Korsakof was assisted by Bielsky.
 
 94 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 we know from the composer that he was not prepared 
 to sacrifice any musical idea for the sake of his texts. 
 "In an opera," reads the concluding sentence in the 
 preface to " Sadko," " the rhythm of the poetry must 
 be made to conform to the rhythm of the music, and 
 not the inverse." 
 
 His employment of folk-music was particularly 
 felicitous. Having often (to use his own phrase) 
 listened to the voice of the People, he eventually 
 acquired the power of incorporating not merely the 
 substance of their utterance, but its manner, in the 
 music of his operas. 
 
 When reading the views of Rimsky-Korsakof upon 
 musico-dramatic construction, one creates for oneself 
 the idea of an orchestra that plays a subordinate part 
 in the scheme. But, important as would seem in 
 comparison the role assigned to Wagner's orchestra, 
 the symphonic interest in the Russian composer's 
 operas is fairly abundant. The German makes of the 
 orchestra a window through which we may peep into 
 his soul. The Slav's window affords us a glimpse of 
 Nature's world, and our eye seems to penetrate into 
 its hidden secrets. 
 
 Even in assigning pre-eminence to the voice, he 
 never for a moment reverts to the heresies of the purely 
 vocal opera. In such operas as " Sadko " and " The 
 Golden Cockerel," and in the opera-ballet " Mlada," 
 there are some quite florid vocal passages, but colora- 
 tura is here employed as a means of securing an appro- 
 priate fantastic expression for a given character. In
 
 AS OPERATIC COMPOSER 95 
 
 his Memoirs, Rimsky-Korsakof refers to two eminent 
 singers who approached him with the suggestion that 
 he might compose an opera "for us." His manner 
 of recording the incident leaves no doubt as to his 
 views regarding the function of the singer in Opera. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof has, in short, enriched the form 
 of Opera without sacrificing the dignity of the art. 
 He has achieved far more than the establishment in 
 Russia of an Opera positively pregnant with nation- 
 alism. The series of operas constituting his legacy 
 to the lyric stage is a document which, combining all 
 the approved elements of music-drama, creates by 
 their fusion something altogether unique.
 
 PART III 
 
 INSTRUMENTAL AND VOCAL COMPOSITIONS 
 
 I. 
 
 THE orchestral and, for the most part, the chamber 
 music of Rimsky-Korsakof reveals that as a nationalist 
 composer he was not entirely dependent upon the 
 stage. In several of his orchestral works he used 
 folk- tunes as a thematic basis. The Andante of the 
 First Symphony, written during his stay in England, 
 the themes of the Russian and Easter Overtures, and 
 of the " Sinfonietta," are all from an autochthonous 
 source; the "Serbian Fantasia" and the "Spanish 
 Caprice " have a special interest as a manifestation of 
 a nationalism that begins at home but does not end 
 there. As for " Antar " and " Sheherazade," they 
 are a very definite avowal of the influence of the near- 
 Orient upon the Russian artist; and as this influence 
 has flowed through the Caucasian channel, and has 
 been widely assimilated by Russian poets, painters, 
 and musicians, there would appear to be sufficient 
 reason for considering the Oriental design and colouring 
 of such works as Balakiref's " Islamey " and 
 " Tamara," and the two descriptive orchestral pieces 
 referred to above, as properly national. 
 
 96
 
 INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITIONS 97 
 
 In " The Tale," and the symphonic picture " Sadko," 
 the procedure is rather more subtle. They have a 
 Russian programme, but the music plays a suggestive 
 part. No folk-tunes are employed, but the melodies 
 are thoroughly in keeping with the character of the 
 programme. There is a curious resemblance between 
 the themes which, in each case, appear to represent 
 the narratival thread. 
 
 It is not, however, permissible in this instance to 
 speak of programme without an explanation that both 
 in " The Tale " and " Sheherazade," as well as in 
 " Sadko," the programmatic material is not described 
 in the music, but is only suggested by it. With the 
 exception of that representing Sheherazade's introduc- 
 tion to the stories told by her to the Sultan the 
 passage serving as a link there are no really definite 
 thematic associations in the work. The mission of the 
 music is limited to a suggestion of the atmosphere of 
 the "Arabian Nights."* Similarly in "The Tale," 
 which is based on Pushkin's prologue to " Russian and 
 Ludmilla," the music does not refer to the literary 
 material of Glinka's second opera, but merely suggests 
 that a fairy story is being told by the miraculous 
 chained cat, which feline fabulist stands in the same 
 relation to the story of " Russian and Ludmilla " as does 
 the indefatigable Sheherazade to the "Arabian Nights.'' 
 
 * Annotations communicated by the composer sanction 
 the association of certain passages in " Sheherazade " with 
 episodes in the " Arabian Nights," but in such instances the 
 music is for the most part symbolical rather than descriptive. 
 
 7
 
 98 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 It seems hardly necessary to point out that, as an 
 orchestral composer, Rimsky-Korsakof was influenced 
 in no small degree by Glinka, particularly in the matter 
 of literary, poetic, and thematic content. " The Tale," 
 the "Russian Overture" and "Sinfonietta," and the 
 " Spanish Caprice " are sufficiently eloquent testimony. 
 The distinctively Russian device accompanimental 
 variation of an unvarying melody, as in " Sadko," is 
 also the legacy of Glinka. 
 
 Like Glinka's, Rimsky-Korsakof s orchestral output 
 had humble beginnings. Thus, when writing his first 
 symphony, he was guided by a study of Glinka's 
 scores, and used Berlioz' famous Treatise on Instru- 
 mentation as a prop. 
 
 He admits having had no clear idea of the distinction 
 between the old-fashioned " natural " brass instru- 
 ments, and the modern valve or chromatic variety, 
 then more or less a novelty. He was not able to rely 
 very much upon the assistance of his musical guide 
 and philosopher, Balakiref, whose knowledge in this 
 department was sparse. His own confession viz., 
 that he was attempting to run ere having learned to 
 walk would appear suitably to describe the circum- 
 stances of his early symphonic progress. In course 
 of time, however, when presented with some golden 
 opportunities of improving his technical knowledge, 
 he availed himself of them with the same earnestness 
 as characterized his studies in the technique of com- 
 position, succeeding eventually in attaining a mastery 
 that was not excelled by any of his contemporaries.
 
 INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITIONS 99 
 
 But apart from this mastery and the word is 
 inadequate, since it implies merely the dexterous 
 employment of traditional material in an orthodox 
 and approved fashion Rimsky-Korsakof must be 
 credited with the introduction of a new treatment of 
 the orchestra. He is responsible for a number of 
 innovations in the region of instrumental grouping, 
 and to his influence and teaching must be attributed 
 the foundation of a distinct style of orchestration 
 usually referred to as " Russian."* 
 
 By his generous recognition of the units of an 
 orchestra he has rendered a service which instru- 
 mentalists are not slow to acknowledge. In " Sheher- 
 azade," " Sidko," the " Spanish Caprice," and the 
 " Serbian Fantasia " he has made a feature of the 
 instrumental solo, as though striving to show of what 
 stuff the orchestral body consists and of what its units 
 are separately capable. Thus in the " Spanish 
 Caprice," in which there are solo passages for all the 
 melodic instruments, the composer.has allowed even the 
 " percussion " to be heard alone (scena e canto gitano), 
 a procedure that would appear sufficiently rare. 
 Another effect that seems to belong entirely to this 
 composer is that heard in " The Tale," where 
 
 * On more than one occasion Rimsky-Korsakof asserted 
 that orchestration should be considered as part of the process 
 of composition. Writing in 1904 to an acquaintance, he 
 declined to accept a proffered congratulation on the alleged 
 completion of his " Kitej." "... Its full score alone is the 
 finished form of an orchestral composition."
 
 100 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 the violins in three groups play a series of brilliant 
 chords that sound as though coming from one 
 instrument. 
 
 The achievement of Rimsky-Korsakof in this direc- 
 tion is twofold. By means of such works as are here 
 mentioned he has insisted on a high standard of 
 orchestral playing, and following the lead of Glinka, 
 who wrote his orchestral fantasias for this very pur- 
 pose, he has added to the symphonic repertory a series 
 of works that will at one and the same time appeal to 
 the sophisticated, and afford instruction and enter- 
 tainment to the large public that listens to music but 
 does not indulge in any closer form of study. 
 
 II. 
 
 In the composer's view his most important orches- 
 tral works are roughly divisible into two categories. 
 In the first he places the symphonic picture " Sadko," 
 " The Tale," and the " Easter Overture." " Antar " 
 and the much later work " Sheherazade " are, he 
 says, doubly akin, for they are both symphonic suites 
 and both Oriental in character. With " Sheherazade " 
 and the " Easter Overture " he links the " Spanish 
 Caprice " as representing his attainment of maturity 
 in the region of orchestral creation. The last work 
 he refers to as having been influenced by Glinka ; this 
 is of course quite obvious. What might perhaps 
 escape the superficial observer is that both " Sadko " 
 and "Antar" owe something to Liszt's "Mephisto
 
 INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITIONS 101 
 
 Valse," a work which has more recently accounted 
 for a stage in the evolution of Skryabin's art. Rimsky- 
 Korsakof makes an open avowal of his indebtedness, 
 and does not seek to conceal that what he might have 
 preferred to regard as emulation is in reality more in 
 the nature of imitation. 
 
 Having often expressed quite freely his opinion of 
 his initial essays in composition he causes no surprise 
 when, in respect of " Antar," he takes posterity into 
 his confidence and gives a full and frank account of 
 its origins and influences. The Antar theme was 
 invented, he says, under the influence of Cui's opera 
 ''William Ratcliff";* another passage reflects the 
 manner of Glinka's Persian Chorus (" Russian and 
 Ludmilla "), while the triplet accompaniment to the 
 Antar theme owes something to Serof's " Rogneda." 
 The A major episode of the third movement, like the 
 F sharp major melody of the first (f). was taken 
 from a French collection of Arab tunes, lent him by 
 Borodin, and the principal theme of the fourth move- 
 ment was harmonized and given him by Dargomijsky, 
 who extracted it from Christianovich's compilation. 
 Even the Gul-Nazar theme, which the composer once 
 thought to be original, has since proved to be practically 
 identical with a specimen of Arab popular song quoted 
 
 * Ivanof , the historian, calls attention to other thematic 
 loans, and cites the resemblance between the passage in which 
 Catarina (in Cui's "Angelo") resigns herself to a death by 
 poison, and the music accompanying the Snow-Maiden's 
 dissolution.
 
 102 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 in Fetis's Encyclopaedia. This circumstance the com- 
 poser attributed to unconscious assimilation. After 
 all this frankness we are not disposed to deny Rimsky- 
 Korsakof's claim that " Antar," in view of his in- 
 experience at the time of its creation, displays an 
 astonishing mastery in the handling of the various 
 themes. 
 
 A similar indebtedness manifests itself in the thematic 
 content of " Sadko." In the passage describing Sadko's 
 immersion is a reminiscence of Ludmilla's abduction, 
 the whole-tone scale by which Glinka depicted his 
 heroine's captor Chernomor being here replaced by the 
 progression of alternate tones and semitones after- 
 wards employed by Rimsky-Korsakof in " The Tale," 
 "Antar" (third movement), and in the operatic works 
 " The Maid of Pskof " and " Mlada." Harmonically 
 also there are suggestions of outside influence, notably 
 that of Liszt. 
 
 III. 
 
 On the question of " programme " the composer gives 
 some idea of his intentions when dealing with " The 
 Tale." It is, he says, to be considered as " abstract " 
 music. But it has, nevertheless, a definite association 
 with Pushkin's Prologue, which is established by 
 means of certain symbolical points d'appui such as the 
 trombone solo, in which we are right in seeing a musical 
 representation of Baba-Yaga, and the flute passage 
 (Allegro) which does duty as a description, or rather, a 
 suggestion, of the russalki. These figures belong, as
 
 INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITIONS 103 
 
 the composer points out, to Pushkin, but he clearly 
 warns the listener not to expect their presence to form 
 part of a literal rendering in musical terms of the 
 celebrated Prologue. 
 
 Coming to " Sheherazade " we are vouchsafed a 
 definite indication of Rimsky-Korsakof's attitude to- 
 wards the programmatic element in music. The 
 characteristic melodies and figures in this work are 
 not, he asserts, to be regarded as leading-motives, and 
 in order to dispel any illusion to the contrary he calls 
 attention to such instances as the trumpet call which 
 is made to serve as the representation of two quite 
 distinct ideas. And now he delivers himself of a state- 
 ment that clears up any misapprehension on the point. 
 The musical content of " Sheherazade " is designed 
 to give a general impression of its literary basis : when 
 inserting the titles to his movements (they were sub- 
 sequently discarded), his intention was that of giving 
 a lead to the listener, to indicate the channel through 
 which the composer's imagination had flowed when 
 writing the music. It should be observed, in conclusion, 
 that this programmatic vagueness is not to be con- 
 strued as an excuse for the employment of Rimsky- 
 Korsakof's music as the orchestral accompaniment 
 of a Ballet of which the story has little or nothing in 
 common with that which inspired our composer ! 
 
 In the literary basis of the " Easter Overture " we 
 get a glimpse of Rimsky-Korsakof's spiritual outlook 
 and observe once more his inclination towards pan- 
 theism. In this work he has sought to emphasize
 
 104 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 the contrast between the orthodox celebration of 
 festivals and the pagan rites in which they originated. 
 Even the bell music in which he reproduces the sounds 
 he heard as a boy, when he lived near the Tikhvin 
 Monastery, evokes from him an idea which would hardly 
 commend itself to the conventionally devout : he pre- 
 fers to regard it as a species of instrumental dance- 
 music, sanctioned by the orthodox Russian Church. 
 The orchestral figure employed to describe the bells 
 appears again in the Prelude " At the Grave," composed 
 on the death of Belayef . 
 
 Reference to the bell-sound one of the most 
 popular of the devices drawn upon by Russian nation- 
 alist composers recalls the quip attributed to Cui, 
 who declared that Korsakof's instrumentation of the 
 chimes in " Boris " sounded more like the original 
 than the original itself. This paradoxical remark 
 would appear to characterize the composer of " Antar " 
 and " Sheherazade " as a master of the orchestra. 
 When writing symphonic music he thought in orches- 
 tral terms; he strove continuously to perfect himself 
 in his handling of the medium, incurring among critics 
 an allegation that he was obsessed by a mania for 
 " polish." This, in reality, was no exaggerated 
 estimate of the importance of a complete orchestral 
 mastery, but simply the outcome of a desire that the 
 symphonic expression of any particular idea should 
 be something more than a mere version, that it should 
 be not only the music's most expressive form but an 
 integral part of the music itself.
 
 INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITIONS 105 
 
 IV. 
 
 Beyond his solicitude for the individual instrument, 
 the chamber music of Rimsky-Korsakof does not 
 afford any great interest. Considering the extent to 
 which in his symphonic creations the composer 
 relies upon effects of colour, it is surprising that, in 
 his works for string combinations, he does not strive, 
 like his compatriot Tchaikovsky and many another 
 composer of modern times, after orchestral effects. 
 On the contrary, the manner of his first essay, the 
 string quartet in F, a work written more or less as 
 an exercise in which to test himself after his studies 
 in counterpoint, is repeated in the majority of his 
 subsequent works of the kind. The interest is chiefly 
 melodic, for the contrapuntal efforts of the quartet, 
 culminating in an ingenious though only partially 
 successful Finale, are hardly improved upon in the 
 posthumously published string sextet, in which there 
 are two highly complicated movements, a rondo fugato 
 and a scherzo. And unfortunately, apart from the 
 movements that are in the folk-style, there is an absence 
 of melodic charm. 
 
 In the series of collaborative chamber works, which 
 are so interesting a feature of Russian music, Rimsky- 
 Korsakof shows himself capable of carrying out his 
 share in the programme. The Allegro for the string 
 quartet on the theme B-La-F, dedicated to the great 
 Russian musical patron, is an eminently suitable
 
 106 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 movement ; while the concluding Khorovod in the work 
 which celebrates Belayef 's birthday is full of a gaiety 
 that reminds one of the music in the festive sections 
 of " Sadko " and " The Golden Cockerel." To the 
 ;t Vendredis " series, a number of little pieces com- 
 posed by the personnel of Belay ef's celebrated musical 
 Friday evenings, Rimsky-Korsakof contributed the 
 initial Allegro of the second volume, a movement that 
 is successful if considered in relation to its context, 
 but is not in any way likely to add to its composer's 
 reputation. 
 
 In referring to his early essays in chamber music, 
 Rimsky-Korsakof excuses their shortcomings by ex- 
 plaining that his technical education was then incom- 
 plete and that the contrapuntal manner had not yet 
 entered into his being. But to judge by the weak- 
 nesses of the specimens he has left, one prefers to assume 
 that chamber music was not his metier. The art of 
 the composer of " Mlada " only attained its highest 
 level when he was able to work on material that 
 allowed of his using a large canvas, on which either 
 broad splashes of colour or a multitude of widely 
 varied effects could be employed. Rimsky-Korsakof 
 was a musician whose gift lay in the region of the 
 descriptive. He was inspired by his own lively appre- 
 ciation of his subject. Of this his orchestral and 
 operatic works are a sufficient proof; his chamber 
 music is an endorsement.
 
 INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITIONS 107 
 
 V. 
 
 The solo-instrumental examples do not call for a 
 modification of this verdict. The piano concerto, 
 which is apparently the fruit of Lisztian influence, has 
 in some quarters been acclaimed as a work that 
 worthily bears its dedication to the great pianist; but 
 the circumstance of its having been conceived as a 
 specimen of cyclic construction has not endowed it 
 with any superlative merit as music, and it must at 
 this date be considered as music belonging to a given 
 moment, depending upon its association with the con- 
 dition of musical affairs at that moment for its interest. 
 
 A violin fantasia on two Russian airs possesses no 
 importance whatsoever. Those experienced in Russian 
 music will possibly marvel that, with such a wealth 
 of folk-melody at the disposal of Russian composers, 
 the same tune should have appeared in this, in the 
 " Vendredis," and " Variations " quartet collections. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's contributions to the " Para- 
 phrases " or " Chopsticks " series show him to possess 
 a greater fertility of imagination, but far less charm 
 of manner, than those accomplished miniaturists 
 Lyadof and Cui. The tonal scale in the bass of one 
 of the variations appears to be the only instance of 
 its employment by a Russian composer in music of a 
 cheerful kind ! 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof's choral works have not met with 
 any great success.
 
 1 08 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 " Svitezyanka," "The Doom of Oleg " (based on 
 Pushkin's poem), a setting of the same poet's " Upas 
 Tree," and the revolutionary song " Doubinoushka," 
 prompted by the events of 1905, have all been per- 
 formed in Russia. Their failure is ascribed by their 
 composer to a want of interest in such compositions, 
 the solo-vocalists preferring to present themselves in 
 purely solo examples, and the chorus in exclusively 
 choral works, while the publisher shows a distaste 
 for material that is not bought by the public ! It 
 may be safely conjectured that a Russian orchestra 
 would prefer to be heard in such indulgent numbers 
 as " Sheherazade " or the " Spanish Caprice." 
 
 The choice of " The Doom of Oleg " for the New- 
 castle-on-Tyne Festival of 1909 was probably a mani- 
 festation of the very different state of affairs prevailing 
 in this country. 
 
 VI. 
 
 An examination of Rimsky-Korsakof's songs forces 
 one to the adoption of two conclusions : that his best 
 work in this region was done at the beginning of his 
 career, at which time his vocal writing seems to have 
 suffered little from his ignorance of technique, and to 
 have gained much as the first flow of a not too abundant 
 lyrical inspiration; and secondly that the composer 
 reached his highest level in song- writing when affecting 
 the Eastern idiom. Thus the Oriental Romance 
 (from op. 2) was never excelled, and, if equalled, its
 
 VOCAL COMPOSITIONS 109 
 
 peers are to be found in such examples as " The Hills 
 of Georgia," "The Fir Tree and the Palm" (from 
 op. 3), and in the much later song, " I Love Thee, 
 Moon " (from op. 41), in which an Indian reminis- 
 cence is clearly responsible for the happy melodic 
 inspiration. The last-named specimen stands out 
 from a number of songs in which the glorified accom- 
 paniment provides an interest far superior to that of 
 the vocal line. 
 
 It is assumed by one of the foremost Russian critics 
 that Rimsky-Korsakof was too often inclined to regard 
 his songs as studies for operatic writing, and this seems 
 probable when one reads between the lines of his 
 Memoirs. But this does not account for the tendency, 
 noticeable in the composer's vocal works, to exalt (as 
 Cui puts it in his disquisition "Russian Song") the 
 accessory at the expense of the essential. The accom- 
 paniment in Rimsky-Korsakof's songs, says Cui, bears 
 the same relation to the melody as does a handsome 
 frame to an insignificant picture. For this reason 
 vocalists have neglected the greater part of his consider- 
 able contribution to their repertory. Among his 
 songs are some exceedingly worthy specimens of 
 descriptive music, such, for instance, as " The Nymph " 
 (op. 56), but the singer is not likely to be satisfied in 
 figuring as a pretext for the performance of a beautiful 
 accompaniment. 
 
 " Some of his songs and their accompaniments 
 remind me," aptly remarks Mrs. Newmarch in " The 
 Russian Opera," " of those sixteenth-century portraits
 
 110 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 in which some slim, colourless, but distinguished 
 Infanta is gowned in a robe of brocade rich enough to 
 stand by itself, without the negative aid of the wearer." 
 But in dealing with such a song as " The Nymph," we 
 have to substitute Cui's metaphor of the ornate frame 
 for the slender subject. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof was, as we know, richly endowed 
 with the musico-descriptive faculty, and had a very 
 correct notion of the vocal tessitura. Had he possessed 
 in the samejmeasure a lyrical gift, his songs would 
 surely have been unsurpassed.
 
 OPERATIC SYNOPSES 
 
 THE MAID OF PSKOF 
 In Three Acts and Four Tableaux. 
 
 IVAN THE TERRIBLE, desirous of removing the autonomous 
 power hitherto the prerogative of the city of Pskof, descends 
 with his army upon its people. But discovering that the 
 adopted daughter of the Governor is the child of Vera Sheloga, 
 whom many years before he had himself betrayed, he is 
 impelled to act with clemency. 
 
 A NIGHT IN MAY 
 In Three Acts and Four Tableaux. 
 
 Near a Little- Russian village stands, at the lakeside, a 
 haunted house. Here, according to legend, there dwelt a 
 Pole, whose second marriage brought upon his daughter a 
 stepmother's hatred. Despair drives the girl to drown 
 herself. Becoming a " russalka," she contrives to lure her 
 enemy into the water, but the stepmother, now one of many 
 water-nymphs, can no longer be identified. 
 
 This story is told by Levko, the son of the village Head- 
 man, to Hanna, his betrothed. His father, a rival, refuses 
 his consent to their union. Levko, overhearing the addresses 
 paid by the Headman to Hanna, prevails upon some friends 
 to " bait " his father. The Headman, incensed by an uproar 
 outside his house, rushes out, and in the dark incarcerates 
 his sister-in-law, whom he mistakes for the ringleader. He 
 then discovers that his son is to blame, and hurries off in 
 search of the culprit. The same night Levko, singing before 
 
 111
 
 112 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 the haunted house, is requested by the Pannochka (Polish) 
 russalka to establish the identity of her stepmother, and, 
 succeeding, is rewarded with a letter, apparently in the hand- 
 writing of a high official, commanding the Headman to ex- 
 pedite the marriage of his son with Hanna. 
 
 THE SNOW-MAIDEN 
 In Four Acts and a Prologue. 
 
 Sniegourochka, the daughter of Frost and Spring, is deaf 
 to her parents' warning, and resolves to leave her woodland 
 solitude and to seek the companionship of mortals. Her 
 numb heart is warmed by the songs of Lei, the shepherd, 
 but her inclination for him meets with no response, for Lei 
 is in love with Koupava. She is the affianced of Mizguir, 
 a Tatar, and in his breast Sniegourochka kindles so fierce a 
 flame of passion that he deserts his betrothed. Sniegourochka, 
 bewildered by the vagaries of Cupid, returns to her mother, 
 who, in maternal solicitude, bestows upon her ill-fated child 
 the power of human love. But no sooner does the Snow- 
 Maiden utter, at the dictates of her newly awakened sensi- 
 bility, an avowal of love for Mizguir. than a ray of the warm 
 spring sun falls upon her and she floats to Heaven in a vapour. 
 
 MLADA 
 
 Opera-Ballet, in Four Acts and an Apotheosis. 
 
 Mstivoi, Prince of Ehetra, having designs upon the neigh- 
 bouring principality of Arkonsk, has caused his daughter, 
 Voislava, to present to Mlada, the bride of Yaromir, its ruler, 
 a poisoned ring. Not caring to depend upon her own charms 
 for the captivation of the bereaved Yaromir, now expected 
 as a visitor to her father's palace, Voislava invokes the aid of 
 the inferral goddess Morena, who, unknown to the former, has 
 taken the earthly shape of her nurse, and has herself suggested 
 this step. Yaromir conceives a passion for Voislava which
 
 OPERATIC SYNOPSES 113 
 
 even survives a dream in which the cause of his bride's death is 
 revealed, but so surely as he attempts to embrace his consoler 
 the Shade of Mlada intervenes, and ultimately succeeds in 
 carrying him off. Keturning, he kills Voislava, whose soul 
 descends to Hades with Morena. 
 
 CHRISTMAS EVE REVELS 
 In Four Acts and Nine Tableaux. 
 
 Solokha, a witch, has taken a fancy to the elderly Cossack 
 Choub, but is greatly hampered by her son Vakoula's courtship 
 of Oxana, the Cossack's daughter. Anticipating that during 
 Choub's visit to the Sacristan there will be a meeting between 
 the lovers, Solokha arranges with the Devil, whose ire has beei> 
 aroused by a caricature drawn by Vakoula on the wall of the 
 village church, to steal the moon and stars. In the darkness 
 Choub, travelling in a circle, arrives back home and is refused 
 admittance by Vakoula, who imagines him to be a rival. 
 Meanwhile, Oxana accepts Vakoula on condition that he wiU 
 secure for her a pair of the Empress's shoes. Nothing daunted. 
 Vakoula seeks the Imperial Presence, and is duly rewarded, 
 first with the shoes, and then by his lady's favour. 
 
 SADKO 
 Opera-Legend in Seven Tableaux. 
 
 Sadko, a poor but spirited minstrel, wagers his head against 
 the wealth of the Novgorod merchants that he will catch 
 golden fish in the neighbouring Lake Ilmen. Aided by the 
 Sea-King's daughter he wins, and embarks upon a voyage 
 on one of the fleet of ships that have become his. Overtaken 
 by storm, it is decided by the ship's company that one of 
 their number must be offered as a sacrifice to the Sea- King. 
 Lots are drawn, with the result that Sadko finds himself on 
 a plank in mid-ocean. 
 
 8
 
 114 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 Entering the Sea-King's domain, he plays upon his gusli 
 with such goodwill that the monarch and his court are soon 
 engaged in a frenzied dance. A fierce gale ensues. St. 
 Nicholas, intervening on behalf of seafarers above, dashes 
 the gusli to the ground, orders Sadko home, and transforms 
 the Sea-King's daughter, who has offered herself to the already 
 married minstrel, into the river Volkhof, on which Novgorod 
 now stands. 
 
 MOZART AND SALIERI 
 Dramatic Duologue in Two Scenes. 
 
 Salieri, jealous of the success of Mozart, resolves upon 
 poisoning him. He invites his rival to a meal, during which 
 there is a discussion as to the possibility of genius and crime 
 being united in one mind. Salieri, having heard the Requiem 
 that Mozart had composed at the behest of a mysterious 
 stranger, drops the poison into his glass, and when Mozart 
 withdraws, indisposed but unconscious of the cause, is plunged 
 into remorse, fearing that his murderous act may signify that 
 he is himself no genius. 
 
 BOYARINA VERA SHELOGA 
 Prologue in One Act. 
 
 Vera, the wife of Ivan Sheloga, who is absent at the War, 
 is singing her child to sleep. Nadejda, her sister, learns that 
 the child is not Sheloga's, but the mother refuses to divulge 
 more than that one day, when on her way to the Pechersky 
 Monastery, she had become faint, and had found herself, on 
 regaining consciousness, in the tent of a stranger, who subse- 
 quently visited her at her home. Hardly has she finished 
 her story when her husband returns. When he puts the 
 question, " Whose is that child ?" Nadejda, to shield her 
 sister, proclaims herself the mother. 
 
 (The child is Olga, the Maid of Pskof, her father is Ivan the 
 Terrible.)
 
 OPERATIC SYNOPSES 115 
 
 THE TSAR'S BRIDE 
 In Three Acts and Four Tableaux. 
 
 Martha, the daughter of the Novgorod merchant Sobakin, 
 is to marry the boyard Lykof ; but Gryaznoy, one of Ivan the 
 Terrible's bodyguard, has sworn that she shall be his, and 
 obtains from Bomely, the Tsar's doctor, a potion with which 
 he intends to destroy her memory. His discarded mistress 
 Liouba, aided by Bomely, substitutes another concoction that 
 is to mar her beauty. This Martha drinks. Meantime, in 
 accordance with a royal custom, Ivan the Terrible has been 
 endeavouring unseen to select a bride. His choice falls upon 
 Martha. When she hears from Gryaznoy that Lykof, her 
 betrothed, has been executed for attempting to poison her, 
 she loses her reason. Liouba, confessing to her act, is stabbed 
 by Gryaznoy, who gives himself up to justice. 
 
 THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN 
 In Four Acts and Seven Tableaux. 
 
 Tsar Saltan overhears three sisters who are confiding to 
 each other their views on the subject of happiness. The 
 youngest, having declared that she would wish nothing better 
 than to become the mother of a hero, is chosen by Saltan for 
 his bride. While he is at the War the jealous sisters plot 
 against the young queen, who with her little son is consigned 
 to the waves in a barrel, which drifts on to an island. One 
 day the Tsarevich, now a sturdy youth, saves a swan from 
 a pike that is pursuing it. He is rewarded with magic powers 
 enabling him to build a Wonder-City, over which he is chosen 
 to reign, and the swan, having resumed her former estate of 
 Princess, consents to share his throne. Returning from the 
 Wars, Tsar Saltan hears of the famous island, and journeying 
 thither is reunited with his queen.
 
 116 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 SERVILIA 
 In Five Acts. 
 
 Servilia, daughter of the senator Soranus, is desired by her 
 father to contract an alliance with Trasea, but the latter, 
 hearing of her preference for his adopted son Valerius, with- 
 draws his suit. Egnatiiis, the freedman of Soranus, being 
 enamoured of Servilia, conspires against his master and 
 Trasea, and intimates to Servilia that her submission alone 
 will secure their safety. Valerius has mysteriously disap- 
 peared, and Servilia, becoming a convert to Christianity, 
 renounces the World. Called before the tribunal, Trasea and 
 Soranus are sentenced to banishment, while Servilia is awarded 
 to Egnatius. Valerius now returns, bearing a proclamation 
 from Nero that the tribunal is dissolved. The sudden reap- 
 pearance of her lover causes Servilia's death, and Valerius is 
 only prevented from destroying himself by the intervention 
 of his foster-father. Egnatius, in his woe, invokes the Divine 
 Being, and the rest join him in acclaiming the Christian God. 
 
 KASHCHEI THE IMMORTAL 
 
 In One Act and Three Tableaux. 
 
 The beautiful Tsarevna is held captive and spellbound in 
 the magic kingdom of the monster Kashchei, where she hourly 
 awaits deliverance at the hands of Ivan Korolevich, her lover. 
 The latter, seeking Kashchei's "death" (which according to 
 tradition is an object that, once found, will end the ogre's 
 existence), is waylaid by Kashcheievna, Kashchei's daughter. 
 She prevails upon him to drink a potion, promising him that 
 by this means he will find the sought-for " death." His 
 enslaver is about to kill him when the benevolent Burya 
 Bogatyr awakens the hero, and transports him on a magic 
 carpet to Kashchei's kingdom. Kashcheievna makes a further 
 effort to secure Ivan for herself, promising him the release of 
 his betrothed ; and when the latter gives expression to a feeling
 
 OPERATIC SYNOPSES 117 
 
 of pity for her, she weeps. It is in the tears of his daughter 
 that Kashchei's "death" is hidden, and at their flow his 
 kingdom crumbles and the monster dies. The lovers regain 
 their freedom, and Kashcheievna is transformed into a weeping 
 willow. 
 
 PAN VOYEVODA 
 In Four Acts. 
 
 Maria Oskolsky is in love with Boleslaf Chaplinsky, but is 
 coveted by Pan Voyevoda, who disregards her lover's claim. 
 Yadviga, who has designs upon the Voyevoda, obtains from 
 a sorcerer, Dorosha, a poison which during a banquet she 
 pours into Maria's glass; but the Voyevoda, drinking from it 
 in error, expires, and Chaplinsky, who is lying under a sentence 
 of death, is released. 
 
 THE TALE OF THE INVISIBLE CITY KITEJ AND THE 
 MAIDEN FEVRONIA 
 
 In Four Acts and Six Tableaux. 
 
 While singing the praises of Nature in a forest near Little 
 Kitej, the maiden Fevronia is surprised by a stranger, who 
 is captivated by her beauty and obtains her consent to marry 
 him. On his departure, she learns that he is the son of the 
 Prince of Kitej. The city is attacked by Tatars, who have been 
 guided thence by Grishka Kouterma, a drunken reprobate. 
 
 Fevronia is seized and carried off, praying that Kitej may 
 be saved. 
 
 When the Tatars press their attack the City is rendered 
 invisible, and its reflection is seen on the surface of the 
 Lake. Fevronia escapes and, together with the now repentant 
 Kouterma, enters the forest. Here she is visited by birds of 
 Paradise, and the spirit of her betrothed, who has been killed. 
 Having eaten of the bread that brings eternal happiness, 
 Fevronia departs with the spirit. Kitej is restored to its 
 transfigured People.
 
 1 18 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 THE GOLDEN COCKEEEL 
 In Three Acts. 
 
 King Dodon takes counsel with his nobles in order to devise 
 a means whereby the constant plotting of a neighbouring 
 hostile ruler may be frustrated. Ere a practicable scheme 
 has been evolved, there enters an Astrologer, who proffers 
 a golden cockerel. With the bird watching over the city the 
 king may sleep; danger will be sounded by a warning crow. 
 At the cockerel's first alarm the king despatches his two 
 sons to lead his army; at the second he decides to betake 
 himself to the field of battle. The first sight that meets his 
 gaze is that of his two sons, who have done each other to death. 
 At dawn he perceives a tent. Dodon and his General mistake 
 this as belonging to the leader of the opposing army, but to 
 their astonishment there emerges from it the lovely Queen of 
 Shemakha. She completely infatuates and ruthlessly fools 
 the old Dodon, who finally asks her to share his throne. On 
 their return in state to the capital, Dodon is reminded by the 
 Astrologer of his promised token of gratitude. The king, 
 asking his price, is horrified by a demand for the person of his 
 bride. Infuriated, he slays the Astrologer. The queen 
 deserts him, and he is killed by the golden beak of the avenging 
 cockerel. 
 
 (In a brief Epilogue, the Astrologer returns to life and 
 assures the spectators that only he and the queen are mortals ; 
 what they have witnessed is but a fantasy.)
 
 SYMPHONIC SYNOPSES 
 
 ANTAR 
 
 I. 
 
 ANTAR, having sworn eternal enmity to mankind on account 
 of the wrongs done him, has renounced human society and has 
 sought the ruins of Palmyra, a city erected by the spirits of 
 darkness. His solitary communings are suddenly interrupted 
 by the appearance of a slender and charming gazelle; Antar 
 prepares to follow, but at this moment perceives that a gigantic 
 bird is pursuing the gazelle. With his lance he drives off 
 the winged monster, which flies away with a piercing cry. 
 The frail quarry has also vanished. Antar, musing over the 
 episode, falls into slumber. In a vision he sees himself trans- 
 ported to the magnificent palace of the Queen of Palmyra, the 
 fairy Gul-Nazar; his ear is enchanted by the song of a bevy 
 of slaves. The Queen, who is none other than the rescued 
 gazelle, offers Antar the three supreme delights of human 
 existence. He accepts, and the dream is dispelled. 
 
 II. 
 
 The first is the joy of Revenge. 
 
 III. 
 
 The second is the enjoyment of Power. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The third is the sweetness of Love. 
 
 119
 
 120 RIMSKY-KORSAKOF 
 
 Antar implores the Queen, if ever she should suspect the 
 waning of his passion for her, to take his life ; this she promises- 
 When, after a prolonged period of happiness the Fairy observes 
 that Antar' s gaze turns longingly towards the horizon, she 
 divines the cause and embraces him passionately. His heart 
 is scorched by the fire of love, and in Gul-Nazar's arms he dies. 
 
 SHEHERAZADE 
 
 The Sultan Shahriar, convinced that all women are by nature 
 false, has vowed to slay each of his wives on the morrow of the 
 nuptials. But the Sultana Sheherazade contrives to fascinate 
 her murderous lord by recounting a series of wondrous tales, 
 and after a thousand and one nights spent in listening to her 
 fantasies the Sultan renounces his terrible resolve.
 
 LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS 
 
 OPERAS 
 See Synopses p. 111. 
 
 ORCHESTRA 
 
 Symphony, op. 1. Symphonic Picture, " Sadko," op. 5. 
 Serbian Fantasia, op. 6. Symphonic Suite, " Antar," op. 9. 
 Overture on Russian Themes, op. 28. " The Tale," op. 29. 
 Sinfonietta on Russian Themes, op. 31. Symphony, op. 32. 
 Spanish Caprice, op. 34. " Sheherazade," op. 35. Easter 
 Overture, op. 36. 
 
 CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA 
 
 " Svitezyanka," op. 44. Cantata for soprano, tenor, chorus 
 and orchestra. " The Ballad of the Doom of Oleg," op. 58, 
 for male voices and orchestra. " From Homer," op. 60, 
 Prelude-Cantata for female voices, women's chorus and 
 orchestra. 
 
 CHAMBER MUSIC 
 
 String Quartet, op. 12. Contributions to " Belayef," 
 " Birthday" and " Friday " Collections. 
 
 String Sextet, for two violins, two violas and two 'cellos ; 
 posthumous. Quintet, for piano, flute, clarinet, horn and 
 bassoon; posthumous. 
 
 SOLO AND ORCHESTRA 
 Piano Concerto, op. 30. 
 
 SONGS 
 
 About sixty, also a number of vocal duets. 
 Collection of one hundred Russian folk-songs. 
 
 121
 
 INDEX 
 
 Afanasief, 75 
 
 Alexander II., 49, 51 
 
 Alexander III., 52, 54 
 
 Angelo, 101 
 
 Antar, 30, 31, 100, 101, 102, 104 
 
 Azanchevsky, 34 
 
 Balakiref, 8, 9, 17, 19, 20-27, 
 
 30,37,41-44,48,49, 61, 96, 
 
 98 
 
 Barber of Bagdad, 68 
 Beethoven, 19, 20 
 Belayef, 51-53, 55, 56, 104, 
 
 105, 106 
 Berlioz, 27, 98 
 Bezsonof, 62 
 
 Bielsky, 58, 60, 62, 66, 88, 93 
 Blumenfeld, 51 
 Boris Godounof, 36, 40, 71, 104 
 Borodin, 8, 24, 26, 33, 38, 43, 
 
 45, 46, 51, 53, 54, 55, 71, 75, 
 
 91, 101 
 Byron, 49, 66 
 
 Calyocoressi, 66 
 
 Christmas Eve Revels, 56, 57, 
 
 74, 75, 77, 85 
 Citizens of Nijni, 32 
 Classicist, The, 27 
 Cui, 8, 18, 19, 20, 24, 29, 31- 
 
 35, 45, 71, 101, 104, 107, 109, 
 
 110 
 
 Dargomijsky, 8, 9, 18, 20, 26, 
 29, 30, 31, 33, 59, 70, 71, 82, 
 90, 101 
 
 Doom of Oleg, 60, 108 
 Doubinoushka, 108 
 Duetsch, 53, 54 
 
 Easter Overture, 54, 96, 100, 
 103 
 
 Famintsin, 27 
 
 Faust, 22 
 
 Fetis, 102 
 
 Filippof, 42, 80 
 
 Fir Tree and the Palm, The, 
 
 109 
 Free School of Music, 23-25, 
 
 41-44, 46, 49 
 
 Gedeonof, 32 
 
 Georgia, The Hills of, 109 
 
 Glazounof, 47, 50-55, 61, 63, 
 
 66, 67 
 Glinka, 7-9, 11, 19, 26, 42, 43, 
 
 61, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 79, 80, 
 
 95-97 
 
 Gogol, 10, 31,44,56, 74 
 Golden Cockerel, 66, 74, 80, 
 
 81, 82, 88, 93, 94, 106 
 Golovin, 16 
 Grave, At the, 63, 104 
 
 Heaven and Earth, 66 
 
 I love thee, Moon, 109 
 Instrumentation, Treatise on, 
 
 39, 65, 68 
 
 Ippolitof-Ivanof, 51 
 Islamey, 96 
 
 122
 
 INDEX 
 
 123 
 
 Ivan the Terrible, 36, 59, 73 
 Ivanof, 101 
 
 Joseph, 13 
 
 Kanille, 17, 20, 21 
 
 Karmalin, 26 
 
 Kashchei, 11, 62, 63, 65, 73, 
 
 77, 78, 87, 88, 91 
 Khovanshchina, 38, 71 
 Kirievsky, 62 
 Kitej, Legend of, 62, 64, 74, 
 
 77, 78, 80, 82, 87-89, 93 
 Krapotkin, 10 
 
 Krilof, 33 
 
 Life for the Tsar, A, 8, 9, 16, 
 
 19, 69, 70, 92 
 Liszt, 45, 100, 102 
 Lomakin, 23 
 Lucia, 16 
 Lyadof, 24, 45, 51, 54, 63, 107 
 
 Magic Flute, 13 
 Maid of Pskof, 30, 33, 34, 37, 
 43, 44, 46, 59, 72, 73, 76, 
 
 78, 79, 83, 91, 92, 102 
 Mamontof, 58, 59, 60, 62, 64 
 Matchmaker, The, 31, 67, 90 
 Mehul, 13 
 
 Mephisto Valse, 100 
 Mercy-Argenteau, 55 
 Mey, 30, 43, 60 
 Mlada, 54-56, 74, 75, 77, 78, 
 
 81, 82, 85, 94, 102, 106 
 Mlada (Gedeonof s), 33, 45, 54, 
 
 55 
 
 Molas, see A. Pourgold. 
 Moussorgsky, 8, 20, 24, 26, 
 
 27, 30-33, 35-38, 40, 49, 51, 
 
 53, 67, 71, 79, 90 
 Mozart, 19, 89 
 Mozart and, Salierl, 59, 60, 73, 
 
 88, 90, 91 
 
 Napravnik, 32, 46 
 
 Neumann, 85 
 
 Newmarch, 109 
 
 Nicholas I., 36 
 
 Night, 30 
 
 Night in May, A, 44-47, 50, 
 
 74, 76, 78-80, 84, 91 
 Night on the Bare Mountain, 
 
 53 
 Nymph, The, 109, 110 
 
 Oriental Eomance, 26, 108 
 Ossovsky, 66 
 Ostrovsky, 46, 47, 77, 79 
 Oulibishef, 19 
 Oxana's Caprice, 56 
 
 Paleetrina, 41 
 
 Pan Voyevoda, 63, 75, 91, 92 
 
 Paraphrases, 45, 107 
 
 Parsifal, 64, 74, 88 
 
 Pttrof, 37 
 
 Petrovsky, 62 
 
 Pourgold, A., 30, 33, 38 
 
 Pourgold, N., 29, 30, 33, 36, 
 
 37 38 
 
 Prince Igor, 38, 46, 55, 75, 91 
 Pushkin, 7, 11, 60, 70, 73, 74, 
 
 90, 95, 97, 102, 103, 108 
 Pyatnitsky, 82 
 
 Quartet, see String Quartet 
 
 Rakhmaninof, 66 
 Raymonda, 61 
 Rimsky-Korsakof, Mme., see 
 
 N. Pourgold. 
 
 Rimsky-Korsakof, V. A., 35 
 Robert, 16, 22 
 Rogneda, 101 
 Rubinstein, A., 24 
 Rubinstein, N. G., 45 
 Ruibnikof, 82 
 Rus<alka, 20, 70
 
 124 
 
 DsDEX 
 
 Russian Musical Societv, 31, 
 
 43 
 
 Bussian Overture, 96, 98 
 Bussian Svmphony Concerts, 
 
 53, 54, 63 
 Bussian and LudmiUa, 16, 69, 
 
 70, 71, 73, 74, 97, 101, 102 
 Byabinin, 82 
 
 Sadko (Operatic), 57-59, 62, 
 
 75, 77, 80, 81, 85, 86, 89, 91, 
 
 92, 93, 94, 106 
 Sadko (Symphonic), 22, 26, 
 
 27,46, 62, 93, 94, 97, 98, 99, 
 
 100, 102 
 Secret, The, 30 
 Senkovsky, 30 
 
 Sennacherib, Destruction of, 49 
 Serbian Fantasia, 26, 27, 99 
 Serof, 101 
 SereHia, 60, 61-64, 73, 76, 80, 
 
 81, 91, 92 
 Sextet, 105 
 Shalyapin, 37, 59 
 Shaw, 91, 92 
 Sheherazade, 22, 54, 61, 81, 94, 
 
 96, 97, 100, 103, 104, 108 
 Shestakof, 26, 33 
 Sigjamund III., 62 
 Sinfonietta on Russian Themes, 
 
 46, 96, 98 
 Skryabin, 66, 101 
 Snow- Maiden, 46-48, 50, 60, 
 
 76-79, 84, 85, 88, 89, 101 
 Spanish Capriee, 54, 96, 97, 
 
 98, 99, 100, 108 
 Stassof, 8, 24, 38, 41, 44, 51, 53 
 
 Steinberg, 67 
 
 Stenka Bazin, 68 
 
 Stone Guest, The, 26, 29, 31, 
 
 33, 34, 36, 37, 59, 63, 70, 71, 
 
 90 
 
 Strauss, 92 
 Stravinsky, 63 
 String Quartet, 40, 105 
 Sritezyanka, 58, 108 
 Symphony (1st), 96 
 
 Tale, The, 46, 72, 73, 95, 97, 
 
 98, 99, 100, 102 
 Tamara, 96 
 Tancredi, 13 
 Tchaikovsky, 9, 26, 48, 53, 
 
 56, 79, 105 
 Tioumenef, 62 
 Tsar Saltan, 60, 62, 73, 77, 
 
 79, 82, 86, 93 
 Tsar's Bride, The, 59, 73, 76, 
 
 78, 91, 92 
 
 Ulich, 16, 17 
 Upas Tree, 51, 108 
 
 Variations Quartet, 107 
 Vendredis, Les, 106, 107 
 Vera Sheloga, 43, 59, 73, 75, 76, 
 
 91 
 Vsevolojsky, 54 
 
 Wagner, 23, 54, 85, 86, 87, 88, 
 
 94 
 William Bateliff, 32, 101 
 
 Zimin, 66, 67 
 
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