Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...

 wrote his Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 1 (originally in E-flat minor), between 1861 and 1865 under the guidance of Mily Balakirev

Mily Balakirev

Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev ,Russia was still using old style dates in the 19th century, and information sources used in the article sometimes report dates as old style rather than new style. Dates in the article are taken verbatim from the source and therefore are in the same style as the source...

. Balakirev also premiered the work at a concert of the Free Music School in December 1865. Rimsky-Korsakov revised the work in 1884.

Form

The symphony is written in the traditional four movements.

1. Largo assai—Allegro
2. Andante tranquillo
3. Scherzo. Vivace
4. Allegro assai

Composition

Before meeting Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov had written, among other works, "something like the beginning of a symphony in E-flat minor." These pieces were the fruit of composition lessons with F.A. Kanille, with whom he had begun studying in the fall of 1859. In November 1861, Kanille introduced him to Balakirev. Balakirev approved of the works Rimsky-Korsakov had written thus far, encouraging him to continue work on the symphony. On Balakirev's advice, Rimsky-Korsakov continued writing the opening movement. Balakirev subjected this music to considerable criticism; Rimsky-Korsakov incorporated his suggested changes zealously. Once this movement was finished, Rimsky-Korsakov attempted to orchestrate it and was embarrassed at the results. Balakirev orchestrated the first page of the movement for him. From there, the process went more smoothly.

By the time the navy sent Rimsky-Korsakov on a three-year world cruise in 1862, he had completed the first movement, scherzo and finale of the symphony. He wrote the slow movement during a stop in England, then mailed the score to Balakirev berore going back to sea. Upon his return to St. Petersburg in 1865, Balakirev suggested that Rimsky-Korsakov renew work on the symphony. He did, writing a trio for the Scherzo and reorchestrating the whole work. Balakirev conducted the successful premiere of the symphony in December, 1865. Rimsky-Korsakov appeared on stage in uniform to acknowledge the applause (regulations demanded that officers remain in uniform even when off-duty). Seeing him, the audience was surprised a naval officer had written such a work. A second performance quickly followed on March 1866 under the baton of Konstantin Lyadov, father of the composer.

"First Russian Symphony"

As leader of "The Five

The Five

The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin...

," Balakirev encouraged the use of eastern themes and harmonies to set their "Russian" music apart from the German symphonism of Anton Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein

Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...

 and other Western-orientated composers. Because Rimsky-Korsakov used Russian folk and oriental melodies in his First Symphony, Vladimir Stasov and the other nationalists dubbed it the "First Russian Symphony," even though Rubinstein had written his Ocean Symphony a dozen years before it. These were themes Balakirev had transcribed in the Caucasus.. "The symphony is good," fellow "Five" member César Cui

César Cui

César Antonovich Cui was a Russian of French and Lithuanian descent. His profession was as an army officer and a teacher of fortifications; his avocational life has particular significance in the history of music, in that he was a composer and music critic; in this sideline he is known as a...

 wrote to Rimsky-Korsakov in 1863, while the latter was out on naval deployment. "We played it a few days ago at Balakirev's—to the great pleasure of Stassov. It is really Russian. Only a Russian could have composed it, because it lacks the slightest trace of any stagnant Germanness."

Influences

Despite Cui's comment, a fair amount of non-Russian influence made its way into the First Symphony. Among the models Rimsky-Korsakov acknowledged were Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

's Manfred Overture and Third Symphony

Symphony No. 3 (Schumann)

Composed from November 2 to December 9, 1850, the Symphony No. 3 “Rhenish” in E flat major, Op. 97, is the last symphony that Robert Schumann composed, although it was not the last symphony that he published...

, Mikhail Glinka

Mikhail Glinka

Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...

's Prince Kholmsky and Jota Aragonesa and Balakirev's King Lear Overture. The influence of Schumann's music proved especially strong. Inexperienced in orchestration, he turned to Hector Berlioz

Hector Berlioz

Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...

's treatise on orchestration as well as to advice from Balakirev. "I felt that I was ignorant of many things," Rimsky-Korsakov later wrote, "but was convinced that Balakirev knew everything in the world, and he cleverly concealed from me and the others [among 'The Five'] the insufficiency of his information. But in orchestral coloring and combination of instruments he was a good practical hand, and his counsels were invaluable to me."

Revision

In 1884, Rimsky-Korsakov thoroughly revised his First Symphony. He transposed the key of the symphony itself from E flat minor

E flat minor

E minor or e-flat minor is a minor scale based on E-flat, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. In the harmonic minor, the D is raised to D. Its key signature consists of six flats ....

 to E minor

E minor

E minor is a minor scale based on the note E. The E natural minor scale consists of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. The E harmonic minor scale contains the natural 7, D, rather than the flatted 7, D – to align with the major dominant chord, B7 .Its key signature has one sharp, F .Its...

, to enable orchestras to play the work more easily than had previously been able and allow the work to become a repertory piece for student and amateur orchestras. He also reversed the order of slow movement and scherzo.

Sources

• Abraham, Gerald, Slavonic and Romantic Music: Essays and Studies (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1968). Library of Congress Card Catalog #68-13029.
• Abraham, Gerald, ed. Stankey Sadie, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 20 vols. (London: MacMillian, 1980). ISBN 0-333-23111-2.
• Figes, Orlando, Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2002). ISBN 0-8050-5783-8 (hc.)
• Maes, Francis, tr. Pomerans, Arnold J. and Erica Pomerans, A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2002). ISBN 0-520-21815-9.
• Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai, Letoppis Moyey Muzykalnoy Zhizni (St. Petersburg, 1909), published in English as My Musical Life (New York: Knopf, 1925, 3rd ed. 1942). ISBN n/a.