Rimsky's 100th Birthday

In its full nationalistic stride, the Soviet Union last week got around to honoring the man who did more than any other to make Russian music Russian--genial, bush-bearded Nikolai Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakov. The occasion was the 100th anniversary of his birth. The composer of Scheherazade and 15 operas (Coq d'Or, the Snow Maiden, etc.) was the most scholarly member of the famed "Five" (the others: Mussorgsky, Balakireff, Borodin, Cui) who in the '60s weaned Russian music from the influence of German Romanticism and Italian opera. He was also the author of important treatises on harmony and orchestration, the teacher of a whole generation of other Russian composers, the tireless performer of countless editorial and ghostwriting jobs, and a powerful propagandist for Russia's great composer, Modest Mussorgsky (Boris Godunov, Pictures At an Exhibition).

Commemorating these achievements, the Council of Peoples Commissars last week directed: 1) publication of a new complete edition of Rimsky-Korsakov's work; 2) erection of his statue in Leningrad; 3 ) renaming the Leningrad Conservatory in his honor; 4) reopening the Rimsky-Korsakov Museum in Tikhvin where he was born; 5) establishment of eight "Rimsky-Korsakov" scholarships for young Soviet composers; 6) designation of his library and archives as State treasures; 7) sponsorship of a Soviet film based on his life; 8) establishment of lifelong pensions for his two sons and daughter (500 rubles a month) and granddaughter (300 rubles a month).

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.