RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF
(Nicolas Andrejevitch Rimsky-Korsakoff: born in Tikhvin, in the government of Novgorod, Russia, March 18,[121] 1844; now living in St. Petersburg)
"SADKO," A MUSICAL PICTURE: Op. 5
Rimsky-Korsakoff, who as a young man served as an officer in the Russian navy, has in his music shown a peculiar aptitude for delineating the moods and aspects of the sea. "Sadko," composed in 1867, and sometimes spoken of as "the first Russian symphonic poem," is music of the sea. It has this programme, which is prefaced to the score:
"The ship bearing Sadko [a hero of Russian legend, or, according to some, a historical character], a famous gusli [122] player, is becalmed on the high sea. He is thrown overboard by his fellow-travellers as a propitiatory offering to the Sea King, who receives him in his domain, while the ship sails on. There is a great company beneath the waves, for the Sea King is celebrating the wedding of his daughter to the Ocean. He compels Sadko to play on his gusli, and they all dance to the music. Spectres appear; the dance grows wilder and wilder; stormier and stormier are the billows. Sadko breaks the strings of his instrument; an end is put to the dancing, the sea grows calmer, and it is soon dark and still in the ocean depths." [123]
In the music there is first (Moderato assai) a suggestion of the quiet sea, the becalmed ship. Following that, the picturesque intent of the music, heard in the light of the programme, is easily followed.