The Youth of Rimsky-Korsakov

E was in every way quite an average boy: simple, pleasant, uncomplicated. The only unusual thing about him was his musical gift. Thousands of boys like him came from Russia's cultured, upper middle-class families. In the main, all of the young musicians of that time were children of one class, one rather small stratum of society that, aside from producing officers and civil servants, gave to Russia quite a few talented men in all the different branches of art. Such an abundance of talent in so short a period had not existed anywhere except in ancient Athens. In one halfcentury, literature, music, and painting grew by leaps and bounds, flashed like fireworks on the grey sky of Russia. Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov's childhood was the typical childhood of a boy of his class. It was spent in the quiet county town of Tikhvin. The small wooden house, complete with mezzanine, columns, and pitcher-shaped railings, stood on the outskirts of the town, right on the riverbank, and differed little from the houses of the country squires. Nicholas was the offspring of elderly parents. At the time of his birth (March 6, 1844), his father was sixty-one, his mother forty-three. His brother Voyin was twenty years his senior, and Nicholas grew up among adults. A spirit of love and kindness reigned in the house. His father had reached the position of civil governor under Alexander I, but proved too gentle for the times of Nicholas I. He had shown great kindness to the Polish exiles after the uprising of 1830, and was relieved of his duties in a most ungracious manner, but being a free-mason and a pietist took

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