Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) was a Russian composer, and a
member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of
orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio
Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite
Scheherazade—are considered staples of the classical music repertoire,
along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade
is an example of his frequent use of fairy tale and folk subjects.
Rimsky-Korsakov left a considerable body of original Russian
nationalist compositions. He prepared works by The Five for
performance, which brought them into the active classical repertoire
(although there is controversy over his editing of the works of Modest
Mussorgsky). He also shaped a generation of younger composers and
musicians during his decades as an educator. Rimsky-Korsakov is
therefore considered "the main architect" of what the classical music
public considers the Russian style of composition.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rimsky-Korsakov>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1229:
Sixth Crusade: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II crowned himself King of
Jerusalem, although his wife Queen Yolande of Jerusalem had died,
leaving their infant son Conrad as the rightful heir.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1892:
Canadian Governor General Frederick Stanley of Preston pledged to
donate what would become the Stanley Cup , today the oldest
professional sports trophy in North America, as an award for Canada's
top-ranking amateur ice hockey club.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Cup>
1915:
World War I: In one of the largest naval battles in the Gallipoli
Campaign, a joint British and French operation to capture
Constantinople, the defences of the Ottoman Empire sank three Allied
battleships and severely damaged three others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_operations_in_the_Dardanelles_Campaign>
1965:
Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov donned a space suit and ventured outside the
Voskhod 2 spacecraft, becoming the first person to walk in space.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_2>
1985:
The first episode of the Australian soap opera Neighbours was first
broadcast on the Seven Network, eventually becoming the longest running
drama in Australian television history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighbours>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
friable (adj):
Easily broken into small fragments, crumbled, or reduced to powder
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/friable>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Candor is always a double-edged sword; it may heal or it may separate.
--Wilhelm Stekel
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Stekel>
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