1844 – 1908

An accomplished orchestrator and a member of ‘The Five’, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is perhaps best-known today for the operatic excerpt Flight of the Bumblebee and his symphonic suite, Scheherazade. Rimsky-Korsakov’s compositions display an interest in the magical, often featuring folk subjects and fairytales. Orientalism and nationalism are united within his works, combining musical signifiers of ‘the East’ with Russian lore and folk song.

img: Karl Fischer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons