Publisher's Synopsis
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov is one of Russia's great musical figures. Although largely self-taught he became a professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and one of the famed Mighty Handful of Russian nationalist composers. Works like ÊScheherazadeÊ and ÊCapriccio EspagnolÊ remain popular as does his textbook on orchestration. His influence extended from students like Stravinsky and Prokofiev to non-Russian composers such as Debussy Dukas and Ravel. Yet relatively little written about him is available outside Russia.ÞÊRimsky-Korsakov: Letters to His Family and FriendsÊ is a rare revealing look at the composer written by his granddaughter Tatiana. Featuring a wealth of correspondence and photographs from his family's archives this book provides new fascinating details about the composer's life work and relations with close friends and colleagues including Borodin Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky. It also sheds new light on his wife Nadezhda Purgold an accomplished composer and pianist who helped her husband with his own compositions. Many letters involve Rimsky-Korsakov's other family members and important figures in art history literature and music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.ÞFilled with material presented in English for the first time this book is an essential resource on Rimsky-Korsakov late romantic and early modern music and culture in Russia as it approached the end of an era.
