Russia's Most Influential Composer... 

Another underappreciated Russian composer is Scriabin. Hearing his Symphony number 4 made me realize how much Stravinsky owes to him.

I have always considered Scheherazade one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed.

It boils down to taste. I admire ALL the Russian composers but Tchaikovsky was the whole package. Along with being one of the top melody kings in music history, he wrote timeless beautiful world-popular masterpieces in all genres (opera, symphony, concerto, chamber, choral) and he single-handedly elevated and evolved ballet music into a sophisticated symphonic storytelling medium.

Being russian myself, its wonderful for me to hear about Rimski-Korsakov from a foreigner. This composer is not that popular in Russia either. Only few operas, such as Sadko, are widely known. Thank you for telling about "the five" who contributed so greatly into russian culture.

fun fact: Rimsky-Korsakoff was known to be a synesthete. The rich colors of his orchestrations were literally colors in his mind.

Small correction. Cui's name is pronounced close to Kyui (certainly not "Sui"), it is written as Кюи in Cyrillic.

Borodin is one of the few people in history to have notable accomplishments in two totally different fields : classical music composition and organic chemistry Also the flight of the bumblebee comes from the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan and honestly it's worth a full listening/watching Rimsky-Korsakov is definitely an inspiring man for sure

Symphony musician here.... Totally hooked on Russian composers. Magnificent

Very good video, sad that it's let down by some errors! The narrator miss pronounces Cui's and Stassov's names and the second photo of The Mighty Handful is not of them, but Tchaikovsky and Ippolitov-Ivanov. Later, when giving an example of Anton Rubinstein's music, a page from Dvorak's New World Symphony is shown!

Спасибо, что рассказали про композитора Римского-Корсакова! Это первое видео на английском языке про этого человека, которое я видел! Многие люди старшего поколения знают музыку этого композитора в нашей стране. Особенно известна музыка из опер-сказок. К сожалению, не могу сказать, что музыка данного композитора имеет успех в России. Некоторые мои знакомые даже не слышали про такого автора. Надеюсь, когда-нибудь музыка этого композитора станет понятна большему количеству людей! P.S. Извините, что пишу по-русски. Просто английский язык знаю не очень хорошо

Rimski-Korsakov is the definition of "practice makes better", it surprised me to know he had not been studying in a conservatory since he was a child but much later in life. Debunks the myth that for you to be successful in something, specially music, you need to start as young as possible. A lot of time, patience and effort is needed regardless, but what makes the difference is how much your passion burns for you to do something about it.

For me, the difference is Tchaikovsky worked in so many different styles while also being a master of melody. That's why so many of his works (Nutcracker, Swan Lake, 6th Symphony, Violin Concerto) are played all the time all around the world.

Rimsky-Korsakov (and the Five in general) had no right to write pieces so beautiful as they had close to no academic musical education. R-K has written incredible music for opera with hues of russian and oriental cultures. His style is unique and I love it. I highly recommend from RK : Symphony 2 Antar, Capriccio Espagnol, Fantasia on Serbian Themes, Golden cockerel suite, Sadko suite, Snow Maiden suite, Mlada suite, Christmas Eve suite, Russian Easter Overture, the Tsar's bride overture, Pan Voyevoda suite, Suite from the Tale of Tsar Saltan, Overture on Russian Themes, Sinfonietta on Russian Themes, Scheherazade of course... If you have time to spend, please have a listen to those, they're great! And some are rather short. It's a shame that many of his pieces are not that well known despite their high quality. This video is a fitting tribute to a musical genius and he deserves all the praise.

Rimski-Korsakov is off the chain , I adore his pieces the sheer of details in his works are just out of this world

One seriously underrated composer from Russia is Nikolai Medtner. If I remember correctly, Rachmaninov said that Medtner was the greatest contemporary composer.

Rimsky-Korsakov's music captured my imagination in college. He still remains one of my most favorite composers.

Scheherazade is easily one of my favourite symphonies. Thank you so much for your work, a superb video (as always)! My partner and I went to a Rismky-Korsakov concert as one of our first dates. Still together, many years later. 😄

Like most Westerners, I began with Tchaikovsky and still love his music. But The Five soon garnered first my interest then my passion, with Rimskii at their head. I'm especially fond of his operas Sadko and Coq d'Or (Zolotoy Pyetushok). Not to forget Mussorgsky's Boris and/or Khovanschina along with Borodin's Igor. Wonderful sounds! Thanks for this excellent overview, not to mention directing me to Antar. I was aware of it by name but have never heard it all the way through. That must change! BTW, I own and often reference Rimskii's orchestration manual.

As an avid, untrained, listener to 'classical' music for many years R-K became an early favourite and I love him more now than ever. He not only had great ideas for tunes, he had the genius of imagination to express them in ways that never tire the ear. 100% agree with your presentation. Thank you.

My dad played the music of these these five composers constantly; not as much Germanic music in our Polish-speaking household. I find them so exciting and soothing to listen too. He also played a lot of Prokofiev and Stravinsky. Loved this video! ❤️

At 4:30 you say the (audio) music in the video is by Rubinstein. That is probably the case but the page pictured in the video clearly states Dvorak, and is from his 9th. Symphony. You will have to do this part again.

Wonderful video! I love Rimsky-Korsakov so much; he is so underrated! It's so hard if I had to choose between him and Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky can certainly make an amazing melody, but Rimsky-Korsakov can certainly orchestrate a melody!

Thank you for such good video about Rimsky-Korsakov. I'm from Russia and I respect this channel for such deep understanding of Russian music. I love Rimsky-Korsakov very much and my favorite work by him is the opera "The legend of the invisible city of Kitezh". It is a Russian analogue of "Parsifal".

As a composer, Rimsky was in the shadow of Tchaikovsky and always will be. And he felt that, as you can read in "Testimony"about Schostakovich.

Thanks for the great video! Now let me be a bit of a nerd ) How it's pronounced in Russian: Tsezar Kuee ModEst Moosorgskiy Stasov (not Strasov) And not only Shostakovich remained of course. I think there should be a video about soviet composers as well.

I love the music of Rimsky-Korsakov. Antar is a favorite as are the operas. I'm a huge fan of Tsar's Bride. The orchestration is always amazing. Tchaikovsky excelled at the ballets, concertos, some of his gorgeous operas. They're very different; but both have remarkable lasting genius. Russia, for all it's faults, certainly had more than it's share of great composers. I even like a lot of the fringe ones.

Thank you from Russia for this well-made video!

I ran across a collection of composers' letters written to other composers, translated into English, when I was in college. One of Tschaikowsky's letters was about Rimsky-Korsakov. HIs concern was that R-K's fascination/obsession with learning all the theory/techniques he hadn't known might cause R-K to lose all his creativity and become a dull repetitive technician. It was in that letters compilation that I ran across the "reinvent the wheel" approach of the Five. I then looked at all the recordings I had of Mussorgsky's compositions and discovered every single one was arranged by R-K. R-K has been one of my favorite composers.

I'm glad that this period in history (mid-nineteenth to mid-twenieth) century was dominated by such great (mainly Russian) artists which influenced classical music forever afterwards. I'm not trying to take away the musical greatness of non-Russian composers of this time (and there are many of these), but the Russians added a new thematic to classical music derived partly from Slavic folk tunes, which adds to the depth, orchestration and attraction to the music (this was partly aided by the improvements to the instruments themselves, particularly brass and woodwind). Tchaikovsky I think is still one of the greatest composers of all time. And this comes from the diversity of his composition style, which i think is the epitome of genius. If you listen to his "Hymn of the Cherubim", so different style from most of his operas, you will understand.

Fun fact, in Russia Rimsky-Korsakov's name also being part of mnemonics for odd time signatures 11/4 (Римский-Корсаков совсем с ума сошёл (Rimsky-Korsakov gone really crazy)) and 5/4 (Римский-Корсаков).

RK's autobiography 'My musical life' is well worth reading & details much about his and his colleagues musical development. At this time, it appears out of print, some publisher should remedy this, so ask your library service if they can find one. I treasure my copy. You wish more working composers had written about their work in such detail. Answers many questions asked here. I commend 'Inside the Score' for this excellent video.

Wonderful program. Thanks for the new to me information. Lots of talent and music to listen to and look into.

My favorite Rimsky-Korsakov's works: Skazka Op. 29, Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36, Scheherazade op 35, Song of India from "Sadko" opera.

for years I've been hoping to find a A "new piece" by Korsakov to listen to being one of my favorite composers...Thank you for "Antar"!

A great video as always ! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Thanks for that really nice video ! Really well written !

im so glad you highlighted Antar! i love that piece so much

Wonderful video, thank you! I love the Antar symphony, listened to it hundreds of times, never knew the story behind it. Fascinatating.

He is my favorite composer.. His Night on Mount Triglav, Song of India and Antar are my definition of pure bliss!

Tchaikovsky also had some nice things to day about Rimsky-Korsakov, the tone being that of a friendly rivalry.

Thank you so much to introduce great Russian composer, I almost watch every lecture you have offer, I am glad I found your channel. I started taking your online music training classes , Oscar, you’re the best music teacher ❤

Thankyou for an excellent programme, and extremely well presented. I wish you continued success.

This video is pricelessly good! Thank you Oscar, for expanding my musical horizon once again! I am off listening to Antar now

Thank you, sir, for giving me a more comprehensive understanding of Rimsky-Korsakov, whose music I have always cherished.

1:48 - I spy me some good Hanon ;) - Thank you for this video, it comes at the right time, I'm re-orchestrating Mussorgsky's Night on the Bald Mountain, and I hadn't realised how much Rimsky-Korsakov had edited it. It's not just a light revision, for sure. High quality content, as usual (yours, I mean).

What a wonderful channel. Really appreciate the marvellous content.

Rimsky-Korsakov has long been one of my favorite composers. Not only for his own works, but also because of the tremendous influence he had on other composers. To judge à composer by his or her works alone is a very myopic view indeed. You mentioned Lyadov as being taught by Rimsky-Korsakov. A work by Lyadov that is somewhat obscure, but well worth a listen, is The Enchanted Lake. I wonder if it would have ever come into being without Rimsky-Korsakov.

Thank you beautiful video essay 😊

Amazing video. Thank you so very much for telling us about that great composer I have loved since a little girl, specially because of Scheherazade. It was my father’s most beloved music. Thanks again.

Great video on such an amazing composer, ItS. If I could recommend one topic for a future video, even if it won't be as long as your average productions, maybe the history behind Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere", and how Mozart did get this piece out of its Vatican hold for the world to know...

Very excellent presentation about this great composer! Well done!

I couldn't understand as a boy (many years ago) why there was never a word of praise from Western musicologists for Russian music and in particular Tchaikovsky.

Thank you for this! Whenever the name of Rimsky-Korsakov comes up, I think of ANTAR because I've long thought it was a masterpiece equal to, or greater than Sheherazade (which I do like a lot). I was enjoying your video and when you announced the importance of ANTAR I was very pleased by your discussion of it. As you say, it's still not as popular as it once was and many who like Russian music do not know it.

Beautifully executed. Superb editing.

Thank you for this informative document! I had the pleasure of performing in one of Rimskj-Korsakov’s operas , ‘Mozart and Salieri’ , but at the time had no idea of his far reaching influences. I also found interesting his humility and the fact that he had many life experiences outside of the world of music making.

I have wanted to see this for decades. Thanks for your work.

The absolutely great and astonishing text! Thanks.

I have heared Scheherezad on the concert I was absolutely strucked with such brilliant composition. It was my very first time I was ever introduced to Korsakov and it was beautiful and stunning experience.

Antar has been my favorite symphony for 50 years. I particularly like the version of Neeme Jarvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. The last movement is just otherworldly.

Thank you for sharing this precious information about the Antar symphony. It is one of my favourite works.

Waouw, la vidéo est géniale ! … bravo Simon !

I was looking for this video yesterday and thinking why hasn't anyone made one - and here it is!

Interesting and informative! Thanks.

Thank you for the video!

Sheesh! Cui = koo ee (not soo ee); Stasov = sta sov (not strassov). Rimsky's operas are superb and among my favorite musical works. Especially The Tsar's Bride, The Snow Queen and Christmas Eve - just beautiful. There are a number of exceptional performances of Rimsky's operas on YT. They are superior to his showy orchestral pieces, wonderful as they are. In particular, a filmic version of Tsar's Bride, an artistic form in which the Soviets excelled, posted on my other channel, jkircher314.

*Fun fact:* while the official reason for Tchaikovsky's death is cholera, Rimski-Korsakov didn't believe that Tchaikovsky died because of that. He said a friend of Tchaikovsky kept kissing the deceased man, which obviously no one would do if he had the disease cholera.

Nikolai has been my favorite composer for a long time. I have a bust of him in my house. Scheherazade is my "go-to" when I'm trying to relax to go to sleep. Just incredibly brilliant. Love all the Russian composers, but Rimsky-Korsakov is my favorite!!

Never could remember those "Mighty handful" guys, as well as that Rimsky-Korsakov was one of them

You should do one on Borodin !

Great video!! it is informative even for not experts in music as my self. I will listen to Russian classic music more carefully to enjoy it more…

Bravo Simon ! La vidéo est très intéressante .

An interesting fragment from Shostakovich's memoirs about Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky Maybe that's why I remember my composition teacher, Steinberg, without much pleasure. He was a dry and didactic man, and I remember him primarily because of two things. The first is that Steinberg was Rimsky-Korsakov's son-in-law, and the second is that he fiercely hated Tchaikovsky. The Rimsky-Korsakov family, I must say, had a low opinion of Tchaikovsky, and talking about him was a sore topic for them. The most painful topic was, of course, for Nikolai Andreevich himself. It is not necessary to rummage in the archives for a long time, just look at the list of Rimsky-Korsakov's works, and everything will become clear. Tchaikovsky prevented Korsakov from composing, hindered him by his very existence. It may seem blasphemy, but it is a fact. Rimsky-Korsakov was so worried about what Tchaikovsky was composing next to him that he could not write a single note. And, as the old saying goes, there is no silver lining: Tchaikovsky died, and Korsakov's crisis ended. In ten years Rimsky-Korsakov could not write a single opera, and in fifteen years after Tchaikovsky's death he wrote eleven! And, interestingly, this stream began with "The Night before Christmas." Tchaikovsky was almost gone when Korsakov took the theme he had already used and wrote in his own way. Once he had established himself, the writing went smoothly. But the hostility persisted. Prokofiev said that he had found a mistake in the score of Tchaikovsky's First Symphony: the flute should be played in B flat. He showed it to Rimsky-Korsakov, and he was glad of the mistake and said, grinning in his beard: "Yes, Pyotr Ilyich really messed up here. I have never met such a family as the Korsakovs: it is impossible to describe in words the reverence for his memory. And, of course, Steinberg was no exception. He and his wife, Nadezhda Nikolaevna, talked only about Nikolai Andreevich, he was the only one quoted, he was the only one referred to. I remember November 1941. Wartime. I was working on the Seventh Symphony when there was a knock on the door. I was urgently called to Steinberg. Okay, I'm leaving my job and going. When I got there, I saw that some kind of tragedy had occurred in the house. All - depressed, gloomy, eyes - tear-stained. Steinberg himself is darker than a cloud. I thought he wanted to ask me something about evacuation, which was the most important topic of the day. And so it happened, but I felt that I was not called for this. Then Steinberg started talking about some of his compositions. What composer doesn't like to talk about his music? But I listened and thought that's not the point, obviously not that. Finally, Steinberg couldn't hold back any longer. He took me to his office, locked the door and looked around. Then he took a copy of Pravda out of his desk drawer and said: "Why did Comrade Stalin mention Glinka and Tchaikovsky in his speech? And not Nikolai Andreevich? For Russian music, Nikolai Andreevich means more than Tchaikovsky. I want to write about this to Comrade Stalin." So that's the thing! All the newspapers have just printed Stalin's speech. It was his first major speech since the war began, and he spoke, in particular, about the great Russian people - the people of Pushkin and Tolstoy, Gorky and Chekhov, Repin and Surikov... and so on. You know, each creature has a pair. And of the composers, Stalin chose Glinka and Tchaikovsky to praise. This injustice shocked Steinberg to the core. Steinberg consulted me quite seriously on the best way to write to Stalin, as if it could make any difference. Years passed, a completely different era came, God knows what happened during that time, but nothing could shake the sacred hatred of the Korsakov family for Tchaikovsky.

EXCELLENT film! Thank You!

Thank you for this great introduction into Russian composers.

Sadko, his greatest....

Really informative and well done video. Just for the record, I believe it is spelled vengeance, not "vengance"

Tchaikovsky is an S-tier composer, but Rimsky-Korsakov deserves respect as solid A-tier-a true master craftsman who prodigiously turned out good work (like Dvorak, Faure…). And he was among the most admirable of great composers as a human being, as the video did a good job explaining: always ready to learn and grow, and to help others learn and grow and shine.

Wow, such a great video! I couldn't help but notice, though, that you played music by Dvorak (9th symphony) - it clearly said that on the score - instead of Anton Rubinstein 🙃🤭 Probably an accident

Thanks for putting in a plug for Antar.

Your amazing informative and educational video just made me a new subscriber 😊Thank you for the efforts and work. And for not ignoring Russian culture at these times. ♥️

THANK YOU, IT VERY ILLUMINATES ME.

I've always loved Rimsky Korsakov's music. I always listen to it to lift my spirits and feel like a hero.

I love them all, its hard to choose. This has helped me to understand Russian music much more. Thanks.

I wish the Metropolitan Opera in NY would have the spine to produce a Korsakov show.

Would Rimsky-Korsakov had predicted his influence on the definition of virtuosity to the main stream ( and sacrilegious to Twoset fans)?😂

REALLY nice to see my friend R-K receiving a bit of well-deserved credit; I ha never heard of Antar and now..... I will search for it from east of the Sun to the west of the Moon.

It would be highly interesting to compare "Antar" directly with Tchaikovsky's "Manfred." "Antar" was earlier, I believe, so it could theoretically have been one of the models for "Manfred." The "program" of Tchaikovsky's "Manfred" was delineated by Balakirev - who, however, directed Tchaikovsky's attention to Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" and "Harold in Italy," not to "Antar."

Great video. Keep up.

Greatful of this short stream regarding most influenced Russian composers accross the world

What recording of the Russian Easter Festival Overture are you using in the background? I really like the interpretation.

Scheherazade is legit my favorite symphony.

Sheherazade is my favourite piece hands down. But I love the passion of all the Russian composers!

You mispronounce "Cui" (it's more like Kyui). But it's an insignificant detail. Great video about one of my favorite composers.

True that many Russian composers left during the Revolution, but worth noting that Prokofiev, after initially moving to Paris, returned to the Soviet Union and had a contentious relationship with the commissars. Also of note that he died the same day that Stalin did.

why on min 4:30 is there a piece by dvorak when talking about rubenstein?

At 4:30 you intend to show a score of the Rubenstein's music but instead show a piano reduction of Dvorak's 9th symphony. The opening notes are similar... is that how you found the wrong example?

Blooper: narrator says piece by Rubenstein but image of of Dvoraks New world symphony

Extraordinary video… a music master class on RK

Great video!

Soviet composers are more underrated IMO. Especially speaking of 1920's and 1930's experimental music.