StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Rimsky-Korsakov - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This paper will examine the life and work of the greatest Russian composer - Rimsky-Korsakov. The author describes his music as paintings and reviews his famous orchestral work - "Scheherazade"…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.8% of users find it useful
Rimsky-Korsakov
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Rimsky-Korsakov"

Download file to see previous pages

The Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888 set one of these wonderful stories, the tale of Schaherazade to music. It should be noticed that "based on The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, this orchestral work combines two feature common to Russian music, and of Rimsky-Korsakov in particular in particular: dazzling, colorful orchestration and an interest in the East, which figured greatly in the history of Imperial Russia". Through all the movements of the suite run the theme of gorgeous women and wonderful teller, Schaherazade.

Emotional, sensuously winding and full of inscrutability melody for violin solo, which is accompanied by harp, perform this theme. This is not just some excerption from an ancient eastern melody. It was composed by Rimsky-Korsakov himself, in the way that it is really seems the melody combines all the enchantment and inviting mystique of eastern lyrics. The same may be said about all other themes: orchestral, lyric-singing etc. They all synthesize eurhythmics, figuration, and diversity of color of eastern music.

Rimsky-Korsakov is best known for his mastership to paint beautiful pictures in music by using the colors of sound made by each instrument of orchestra. He had a color ear for music, and perceived the notes associating them with particular colors2. Note C D Eb E F G A Color white yellow dark bluish-grey sparkling sapphire green rich gold rosy colored The whole first movement depictures the sea, which appears again in the ending section of the final.

In such way the composer margined his suite with glaringly blue, and sparkling sapphire colors. The theme of sea is falling from the theme of overbearing Sultan. The theme of Sultan is built on four notes of the describing whole tone scale. Immediately following this theme, almost interrupting it, is the gentle and passionate violin solo of Scheherazade. This is one of the loveliest melodies ever penned. "Listening to these two themes, and the sweeping music of Schaherazade's tales that transports us bodily into the magic of the 1001 Tales of the Arabian Nights, one can only wish that Rimsky-Korsakov had had the time to produce settings for the other 997"3.

Some time after we forget about fearful governor as Allegro starts painting the picture of the sea. Accordingly changes the character of the first movement: now it sounds stately and on an even keel. This calmness is underlined with figuration of accompaniment, in which we hear decuman ocean waves. The main theme of the first movement is added by two accessory themes. One of them is a theme of Sinbad's ship. The other one is a theme of Scheherazade, Sultan's wife, who used to please her husband with the marvelous stories.

It is remarkable that the wavy accompaniment, which appears as an essential element of the main part, disappears just for a while and then comes again, sounding almost throughout whole first movem

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Tags
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Rimsky-Korsakov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Rimsky-Korsakov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/music/1511113-rimsky-korsakov
(Rimsky-Korsakov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
Rimsky-Korsakov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words. https://studentshare.org/music/1511113-rimsky-korsakov.
“Rimsky-Korsakov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/music/1511113-rimsky-korsakov.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Rimsky-Korsakov

Schumann and Stravinsky Paper

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, his teacher started giving him regular lesson from 1905 till 1908.... Schumann was born on 8th of June, 1810, in a small town located at the border of the Czech Republic.... While he was growing up he was surrounded by various books, this being mostly because his father was a successful bookseller and an author....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

The Musical Talents of Alexander Scriabin

Critics have observed that Scriabin concerto resembled the songs of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky, and Modest Mussorgsky (Chang 23).... The paper “The Musical Talents of Alexander Scriabin” seeks to analyze the musical work of Scriabin focusing on his contribution to changes in music composition and performance....
5 Pages (1250 words) Assignment

Rimsky Korsakov Golden Cockerel Opera

Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel (Le Coq D' Or) musical masterpieces centers on the fairy tale satire of Alexander Puskin (http://www.... The paper "Rimsky Korsakov Golden Cockerel Opera" discusses that the two Golden Cockerel themes satirically incorporate romance, love, disloyalty, and other issues to the previously banned play....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Igor Stravinsky

While at law school, Stravinsky met Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov whose father was the very famous composer, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov.... Stravinsky would eventually begin to work with Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov who would eventually teach him about composition.... At the university, Stravinsky became friends with Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov.... The two men became fast friends and this lead to Stravinsky working for Vladimir's father, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and eventually he would be able to begin learning composition from him (Dobrin 15)....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Imagery and Bumblebees

Like the sound produced by the insect, the tempo of the music slowly builds up with variation of the pitch accordingly which makes it more relative with the humming of the bees (Audio Sparx, “Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov”).... “Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov”.... This is a brief review of two musical pieces - Rimsky's opera “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” and Flight of the Bumblebees....
1 Pages (250 words) Term Paper

Digging Deeper

tmlHis two symphonies can be listened from:A Midsummer Night's DreamThe HebridesReply to Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovYour post on Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is significant to the discussion and timely.... Born in 1847 to a prominent Jewish household, Felix spent most of his childhood with his grandfather Moses Mendelssohn who was a philosopher....
2 Pages (500 words) Research Paper

Early Music through the Baroque Period

hellip; This piece was written in 1887 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and, from listening to it, one gets the feeling of Spanish folk melodies.... The researcher of this essay "Early Music through the Baroque Period" explores The Nature of Music and the Baroque music.... Biebl's Ave Maria was performed by the Ecclesium choir and I found it enchanting with an elegant mood that is both beautiful and soothing....
4 Pages (1000 words) Assignment

Autobiography of Robert Schumann

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, his teacher started giving him regular lessons from 1905 till 1908.... This essay "Autobiography of Robert Schumann" presents Schumann who was born on the 8th of June, 1810, in a small town located at the border of the Czech Republic.... While he was growing up he was surrounded by books, this being mostly because his father was a successful bookseller and an author....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us