Hey Kids, Meet Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
from the Hey Kid's, Meet the Composer Index

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) Russian Romantic Era Composer Preview and Print Preview and print this free printable composer biography by clicking on the green button.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born in 1844 in Tikhvin, a village east of St. Petersburg, Russia. Though Nikolai showed a talent for music at an early age, he pursued an education at the School for Mathematical and Navigational Sciences in St. Petersburg and later joined the Imperial Russian Navy. It was not until he met Mily Balakirev in 1861 that he decided to concentrate on developing his musical skills. When Rimsky-Korsakov was not at sea, Balakirev encouraged and taught him how to compose music. It also was through Balakirev that Rimsky-Korsakov met four other composers who later became known as the The Five.

In 1871, Rimsky-Korsakov took a post as the professor of composition and orchestration at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. During his first few years as a teacher at the Conservatory he also concentrated on developing his own skills as a composer.

In 1872, Rimsky-Korsakov married Nadezhda Nikolayevna Purgold (1848-1919), a pianist and composer. Modest Mussorgsky, another famous composer, was his best man at their wedding.

Rimsky-Korsakov died in 1908, having written some of our most celebrated music. His works include Flight of the Bumblebee from Tsar Saltan and the symphonic suite Scheherazade. He is also recognized for his talents as an orchestrator. It is his version of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain that has taken its place in the standard orchestra repertory.

Music Classroom Lesson Plans

Print a Worksheet
Learn about Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov with a free printable worksheet.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Word Search

Play a Game
Materials:
Recording of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee

Large group (13-24)
Ask half of the children to stand in a circle facing into the center. This group will be the hive. The other half of the class are the bumblebees.
When the music starts the bumblebees run in and out of the hive. When the music stops the hive members take the hands of the other hive members, trapping bumblebees inside the hive. These trapped bumblebees now become members of the hive.
Repeat the process until only one bumblebee remains. This bumblebee is the winner of the game.

During breaks in game play, the children can be asked about the things they learned about Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov or his music .

Homeschool Lesson Plans

Download a New Ringtone
Download Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee as your cell phone's new ringtone. Ask your kids who the composer is, or facts about the composer, when the phone rings. You may find yourself asking, "Is that my phone" often because you don't remember the ringtone, but your kids will be enriched.

Create a Wordfind
Create your own wordfind at puzzlemaker.com with the keywords from the biography. Take your scissors and cut off the part the shows the words used to create the search. Let them know how many words there are to find, and then ask your child to complete the the wordfind by identifying the keywords found in the biography, and then circling them in the puzzle.

Play a Game

Materials:
Masking Tape
Recording of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee (You can download Flight of the Bumblebee from iTunes for .99 cents to play the game, and enjoy it in the car as well.)

Small Group (2-12)
Create a tape line on the floor in the shape of a circle. This will serve as the bee hive. The children are the bumblebees.
When the music starts the bumblebees run in and out of the hive. When the music stops, the children caught inside the "hive" are out. Repeat the process until only one bumblebee remains. This bumblebee is the winner of the game.

Large group (13-24)
Ask half of the children to stand in a circle facing into the center. This group will be the hive. The other half of the class are the bumblebees.
When the music starts the bumblebees run in and out of the hive. When the music stops the hive members take the hands of the other hive members, trapping bumblebees inside the hive. These trapped bumblebees now become members of the hive.
Repeat the process until only one bumblebee remains. This bumblebee is the winner of the game.

During breaks in game play, the children can be asked about the things they learned about Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov or his music.

Watch a YouTube Video
Watch three YouTube videos of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee:

Banjo and Guitar performing Flight of the Bumblebee
Guinness World Record Tempo performing Flight of the Bumblebee
Swingle Singers performing Flight of the Bumblebee

Compare the three versions with a Venn diagram.

Listen to each recording and note the characteristics of each in the outer non-intersecting areas of circles one, two and three. Observations may include tempo (speed) of the performance, style of the performance, the instruments playing, and any other observation that students may make. After these areas are complete, fill in common characteristics between recording one and two, two and three, and all three recordings in the intersecting areas.

Note: Although Rimski-Korsakov's orchestration of Night on Bald Mountian is now the standard in orchestra repertory, it is conductor Leopold Stokowski's version that was recorded for Disney's animated classic Fantasia.

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