Literary and music soirees have become another good tradition cultivated by the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, highlighting the anniversaries of prominent cultural figures, with invitations extended to diplomats, businesspeople, politicians, scientists, scholars, and men of the arts. This time the program was dedicated to the classical Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Arias from his operas The Tsar’s Bride, Snow Maiden, Sadko, and romances were performed with rare inspiration by singers Liudmyla Yurchenko and Valentyna Matiushenko; the music trio Aktsent played their instruments with a sure virtuoso touch. The concert was organized courtesy of the Ukrainian Philharmonic Society Benevolent Foundation as part of the Project Russian Music Culture in Ukraine.
March 18 marked Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s 160th birthday as Russia’s great composer, musician, and public figure. His was a versatile talent in terms of music and erudition. As a young man, he was a Russian Navy officer, thereby thus upholding the Rimsky-Korsakov family tradition. He took part in naval trips round the world. He was bound by his naval duty, but he craved to take up music professionally. He was a virtuoso pianist and then made his final choice. In 1861, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov joined Balakirev’s Mighty Handful and was strongly influenced by the composer’s personality and views.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s creative legacy is very original as well as diverse, rooted in classical traditions and relying on folklore. He was the author of fifteen operas in a variety of genres — traditional Russian legends, ballads, fairy tales, historical and contemporary dramas, as well as lyrical comedies. His Maid of Pskov [aka Pskovityanka], Snow Maiden, Christmas Eve, Sadko, The Tsar’s Bride, May Night, The Legend of Tsar Saltan, Mozart and Salieri, The Golden Cockerel, Kashchey the Immortal, Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia, also cantatas, including Song of Oleg the Wise and Svitezyanka, remain true masterpieces. He was also the author of three symphonies, numerous chamber pieces, romances, and singular arrangements of folk songs.
He laid the foundations for professional composer training, writing textbooks on harmony and orchestration, considerably expanding the range and coloration of musical instruments, developing a range-harmony system of his own (including the well-known Rimsky-Korsakov scales). His orchestrations are sparklingly transparent; they are singular owing to the composer’s unique talent. He founded Russia’s first school of musical composition in Saint Petersburg, training 200 composers and conductors. Among his celebrated pupils were Glazunov, Stravinsky, Lysenko, Liadov, Prokofiev... He went on many tours as conductor, performing in Kyiv on numerous occasions. Interestingly, his Mozart and Salieri premiered in Kyiv, and he conducted the orchestra himself. He also helped establish the Kyiv Philharmonic Society.
As the years go by, Rimsky-Korsakov’s creative heritage remains very much in demand; they seem to have been written by a contemporary composer. His works are staged by opera and ballet companies around the world. The Ukrainian National Opera has his Tsar’s Bride and his ballet Scheherazade permanently in its repertoire.
“Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a brilliant composer; he succeeded in finding the kind of style that expressed the spirit of Russia,” stressed Mykhailo Stepanenko, Chairman of the Ukrainian Composers Union, adding that “Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, and Borodin are the three creative giants of the nineteenth century paving the way for Russian classical music. Their works are rooted in the folk vocal heritage. He [Rimsky-Korsakov] brilliantly succeeded in embodying Russian poetry in his music. For us, Rimsky-Korsakov is especially important because he was a top professional and a noble individual. After Mussorgsky’s death, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov did his utmost to complete his [Mussorgsky’s] operas Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina and have them staged. Note that he would not even allow his name to be mentioned. He accomplished a titanic amount of work. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote fifteen operas, bringing forth a great many subjects and plots, demonstrating his versatile talent as a composer. One can only wonder about how he found the time for it all. He was a distinguished professor. Suffice to recall one of his pupils, Stravinsky, who marked a whole epoch. Rimsky-Korsakov headed the Conservatory of Music during its most difficult period (1905-06), when they wanted to throw it to its knees. Thanks to Rimsky-Korsakov’s diary and records, contemporary musicologists can restore the biographies of a number of composers, among then his favored pupil Fedir Yakymenko, a noted Ukrainian singer and composer, seldom mentioned today. He was the elder brother of Yakiv Stepovy (Yakymenko), the composer and musician. Fedir Yakymenko sang with the Court Choir in St. Petersburg. After the revolution, he immigrated to France and subsequently toured a number of countries. He was extremely popular their, but here they made his name taboo for many years.
“Rimsky-Korsakov’s heritage is immense. Anyone can find something there to one’s taste. I am fond of his romances. Each shows the composer’s brilliant insight into the lyrics so delicately complimented by his music. He believed that every sound should reflect every word. This was the greatest accomplishment ever shown by a composer.”
Rimsky-Korsakov’s 92-year-old nephew Mykhailo Zhurbin lives in Kyiv. He is a noted composer and construction engineer by training. He remains youthful and continues to work. He used to work as professor with the Construction Institute of Kyiv. He is the author of the cantata Batkivshchyna [Fatherland], as well as of a coloratura soprano concerto, romances to the lyrics of Lesia Ukrainka, Taras Shevchenko, Volodymyr Sosiura, and others. Interestingly, Rimsky-Korsakov’s nephew was also a naval officer, who subsequently graduated for an engineering institute and a music conservatory. He suffered from the purges, owing to his aristocratic parentage. In 1944, he was awarded a Soviet state prize, in recognition for meritorious service in reviving the Donbas coal mines. Mykhailo Zhurbin is a gifted construction engineer, as well as a talented composer determined to uphold the Rimsky-Korsakov family tradition.
