Transcript Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov March 18,1844 – June 21,1908

The Romantic Russians
•Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
•Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
•Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
•Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
(1844-1908)
• Professor of theory with
many important students
including Stravinsky & Prokofiev
• Officer in the Russian navy
– Exoticism
• Greatest Hits:
– Scheherazade
– Flight of the Bumble Bee
– Capriccio Espagnole
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
(1839-1881)
• Called the Dostoyevsky of music
because compositions depict the insulted
and the injured.
• Thought of as the most superior composer,
but was revised by fellow composers to the
point of changing his music
• Best compositions are songs and the
opera “Boris Godunov” but biggest hits
are:
-Pictures at an Exhibition
-Night on Bald Mountain
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff
(1873-1943)
• Rooted in Russian musical tradition
• Piano virtuoso
• Immigrated to United States after the
Russian Revolution. He became extremely
homesick, and his compositional output
declined.
• Extremely large hands which made for greater complexity
• Greatest hits:
– Piano Concerto No. 2
– Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
Richard Strauss
(1864-1949)
• Born in Munich, educated from
young age by court musicians.
• Age 18- Worked as conductor
• Marriage
• Composition in typical romantic
style until from Alexander Ritter
influenced him to abandon his
conservative style
Tone Poem
• Piece of orchestral music in one movement in
which some extramusical program provides a
narrative or illustrative element. This
programme may come from a poem, a story or
novel, a painting, or another source.
• Used previously by Liszt and Smetana, but
Strauss perfected the genre is and most
associated with it. (late 1800’s)
• Famous Tone Poems by Strauss include:
– Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
– A Hero's Life
– Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Richard Strauss
(1864-1949)
• End of century, turned his attention to
opera:
– Salome
– Elektra