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Nikolai Rimskii-Korskaov (1844-1908)Nikolai Rimskii-Korsakov

Nikolai Andreevich Rimskii-Korsakov (Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков) was a Russian composer, teacher, conductor and music critic, born 6/18 March 1844 at Tikhvin.

After studying at the Imperial Naval College in Saint Petersburg, Rimskii-Korsakov enrolled in the Russian Navy in 1862, but his musical interests began to develop the previous year, after a meeting with Milii Balakirev. Through Balakirev, he met the other nationalist composers who became "The Mighty Handful" (Могучая Кучка) or "The Five", and also became friendly with Tchaikovsky.

In 1871 he became professor of orchestration and composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and the next year he married Nadezhda Purgol'd, who was also a pianist and composer. Together they had seven children: Mikhail (1873-1951), Sofia (1875-1943), Andrei (1878-1940), Vladimir (1882-1970), Nadezhda (1884-1971), Mariia (1888-1893), and Sviatoslav (1889-1890).

Rimskii-Korsakov's reputation continued grow, and over the next few years he became Inspector of the Navy Chorus (1873-1884), director and conductor of the Free Music School (1874-1881), assistant director of the Imperial Chapel Choir (1883-1894), and conductor of the Russian Symphonic Concerts in Saint Petersburg (1886-1890). In addition to numerous compositions, he was also the author of A practical manual of harmony (Практический учебник гармонии), and memoirs A chronicle of my musical life (Летопись моей музыкальной жизни), and various music review articles.

Following his support for student protestors in 1905, Rimskii-Korsakov was removed from his position at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, only to be reinstated after protests from staff and students. He died of heart failure on 8/21 June 1908 at Liubensk, near Luga), aged 64.

In 1870 Rimskii-Korsakov dediated his song Where thou art, my thought flies to thee (No. 1 of the Six Songs, Op. 8) to Tchaikovsky, who returned the compliment with his song Wait (No. 2 of the Six Romances, Op. 16).