Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Orin Richardson: Composer Biography Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born into a Russian noble family with an extensive history of military and government service on the 18th of March, 1844 in the small village of Tikhvin. Even though both of his parents were illegitimate children, his father, Andrei Petrovich Rimsky-Korsakov, used his connection with a Russian general to regain his family’s noble status, and later worked in the Interior Ministry of the Russian Empire. His older brother, Voin Rimsky-Korsakov, who was as much of an influence on Nikolai as his parents, decided that the best path for Nikolai to take would be to follow in his footsteps and pursue a career in the Russian navy. For more than half of his adult life Nikolai was required to balance his naval duties and independent…

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov begins Scheherazade with “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship.” To further demonstrate how Rimsky-Korsakov tells a story, the YouTube video will be added to aid in aural understanding, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNymNaTr-Y; time markings will refer to the listed video. At 0:18, the video begins with the strings in unison marked pesante, along with a deep, bellowing brass section. This marks the introduction of the sultan’s theme. This is followed by woodwinds holding a…

He was inspired to write this melody from a short story by Nikolai Gogol called St. John's Eve. The plot of the story refers to the witches' sabbath, which occurs on a bald mountaintop each year near the summer solstice. This was a hard piece for Mussorgsky to write because he often had ideas that he couldn't get out on paper. He took two old opera ideas, incorporated the story of St. John's Eve, and created an orchestral tone poem called "Night on Bald Mountain". He was quite impressed with…

Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake follows the story of a rebellious Bengali boy named Gogol who struggles to find his own identity. While searching for a new identity, Gogol sacrifices his former self and conforms to the beliefs of those around him, causing him to become disconnected from his family and his Bengali roots. The choices that Gogol makes, such as his decisions to change his name, push away from his family, and disconnect himself from his culture, establish the themes of identity, family,…

Gogol and Dostoevsky Theme Paper Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky are two remarkable Russian writers. They both write about Russian society during the 1800’s. Gogol‘s “The Nose” is a short story about Kovaloff who is a Collegiate Assessor that has an obsession with rank and appearance and how he wakes up and discovers that his nose is missing and goes in search of it. Ivan Jakovlevitch, his barber finds a nose in his bread and immediately realizes that it is Kovaloff and tries to conceal it.…

Stalin’s journey to the top could not be completed without allies. He found one with Kamenev and fellow pallbearer at Lenin’s funeral, Zinoviev who spoke out for him. His further rise to power is also attributed to Trotski’s decline “to take the fight to the ‘troika’ of Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev” (Service, Stalin 223). Although Stalin did not chair the Politburo after Lenin’s death, he strategized in how to secure his future. According to Robert Service, Stalin replaced his rivals if they…

In Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature like a Professor, Foster writes an entertaining guide of how to dig deeper into the metaphorical meaning of every piece of literature in hopes to inspire the minds of tomorrow not only to grow in their understanding of symbols but also to trust themselves and the knowledge they already have. In relation to Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, Foster lends understanding to such common symbols like sex not being at all about the actual act but representing the…

The objective of this essay is to explore the origins of conflicts in Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow. Although, both works differ drastically in tone and structure, the settings are comprised of similar elements. Still, the external effects of these tumultuous settings pale in comparison to the internal conflicts which ensue. As the reader accompanies the protagonists through their lives made of crucial decisions, the philosophical depth in both…

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, born in St. Petersburg, Russia on 22 April 1899, was a Russian-American novelist who was also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin. Nabokov originally began writing in Russian and wrote his first nine novels in Russian. However, Nabokov achieved international prominence after he started writing in English. Vladimir's finest novel Lolita is also considered his most controversial work because of the criticism it received due to its deep and warped erotic theme.…

believed that “ No nigger woman ain’t never been treated no better, Naw suh! He worked like a dog for her and nearly killed himself saving her in the storm, then soon as he got a little fever from the water, she had took up with another man” (186). Society not knowing the entire truth is convinced Janie is at fault. Society 's perception of Janie is evidently different than who she really is. Thus, Janie is unable to express her true self as everyone else judges her based solely on her…