The Tale of Tsar Saltan (opera)
The Tale of Tsar Saltan is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky, and is based on the 1831 poem of the same name by Aleksandr Pushkin. The opera was composed in 1899–1900 to coincide with Pushkin's centenary, and was first performed in 1900 in Moscow, Russia.
The Merchants visit Tsar Saltan (Act 3), illustration of Pushkin's poem by Ivan Bilibin who would later provide designs for premieres by Rimsky-Korsakov
Aleksandr Pushkin (1799–1837)
Yelena Tsvetkova as Militrisa (Russian Private Opera, Moscow, 1900)
Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel as Tsarevna Swan-Bird. Portrait by Mikhail Vrubel
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov
was a Russian composer, 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 staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his fifteen operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects.
Rimsky-Korsakov's birthplace in Tikhvin
Rimsky-Korsakov family coat of arms
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1856
Rimsky-Korsakov in 1866, when he was a michman in the Russian Navy