Hidden treasures at Rimsky-Korsakov museum

https://www.artsy.net/article/lidia-ader-hidden-treasures-at-rimsky-korsakov-museum

For many years now 28, Zagorodny Prospekt, a quiet corner of the historical centre of St Petersburg, has been the location of the Rimsky-Korsakov apartment museum.

The five-story building is surrounded with greenery and remote from the noise of the passing traffic, but in general it is unremarkable and very similar to many other apartment houses built in the then Russian capital in the 19th century. Professor Rimsky-Korsakov of the St Petersburg Conservatory Moved into an apartment here in the autumn of 1893 and spent the last 15 years of his life here, until his death in 1908. After the 1917 revolution the composer’s widow, Nadezhda, was forced to leave the apartment and moved in with her son Andrei in early 1918. For a long time the apartment on Zagorodny Prospect served as a ‘kommunalka’, with ten families (over twenty people in total) living there for a long time.

Before she moved out, Nadezhda sorted and catalogued her husband’s manuscripts, music library, posters, programmes, photographs, treasured gifts, tributes and family heirlooms. This large collection later formed the basis of the museum. At the beginning of the 1920s, Rimsky-Korsakov’s children transferred the composer’s creative output to the Public Library’s Manuscript Department. The dream of setting up a museum only became a realistic idea in 1967 when a decision was taken by the state to found an apartment-museum, following the untiring efforts of three generations of Rimsky-Korsakovs for over fifty years. Major repairs were made to the whole building and the apartment restored. Inside there remained originaltiled corner stoves, an elegant marble fireplace, tall folding doors, and window fanlights with bronze handles and bolts. The patterns and colour of the original wallpaper were revealed underneath subsequent layers of wall coverings.

More than 250 items, carefully preserved by the composer’s family, were given to the museum and put back in their original places in the study, hall, drawing room and dining room. The completeness and authenticity of these rooms make the museum particularly invaluable. The other rooms in the apartment were renovated to create an exhibition room and concert halls in homage to the composer.

On 27th December 1971 a museum was founded in memory of the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in his final St. Petersburg home.

The materials in the exhibition room give an idea of the diverse activities of Rimsky-Korsakov as composer, teacher and conductor. Various documents tell about his work at the Free Music School, Court Capella and the St. Petersburg Conservatoirewhere he was involved for thirty-seven years. The calibre of the composer’s students — Glazunov, Lyadov, Arensky, Grechaninov, Cherepnin, Myaskovsky, Prokofiev and Stravinsky — attests to his gift for teaching. The most precious exhibit is the ‘golden pen’, given to the composer in 1880 on the première of his opera May Night. From then on Rimsky-Korsakov used this pen to write all his compositions, letters, and his journal My Musical Life.

The last period of Rimsky-Korsakov’s life was his most creative. During this time he composed eleven of his fifteen operas, including Christmas Eve, Sadko, Mozart and Salieri, The Tsar’s Bride, Kaschey the Immortal, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya, The Golden Cockerel, and over 40 romances. The composer’s study does not contain a piano: Rimsky-Korsakov usually worked at a writing desk, trusting his unique inner ear. At another desk would sit Nadezhda, faithful assistant in all her husband’s musical undertakings, making corrections and piano arrangements of his symphonic and operatic works. In her youth Nadezhda had herself composed music and was a brilliant pianist.

Musical soirées would take place in the drawing room. By 1905 these had become such regular events as to be known as the “Korsakov Gatherings”. Despite there being no forward planning for these evenings, they always proved entertaining. Composers such as Glazunov, Lyadov, Stravinsky, Taneyev, Scriabin and Rachmaninov gave premières of their own works, and the singers Fyodor Shalyapin, Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel and Yevgeniya Mravina performed, accompanied by Rimsky-Korsakov’s wife. A Becker piano, acquired by Rimsky-Korsakov in 1902, now stands in the drawing room as it did then. The customary “Korsakov Gatherings” still take place to this day, with concertgoers attracted by the warm intimate atmosphere.

Of particular interest in the dining room are the portraits of Rimsky-Korsakov’s forebears,painted by unknown artists in the 18th to early 19th centuries. The composer belonged to an ancient noble family descended from Ventseslav Korsak, who came to Russia from Lithuania and whose progeny later russified their surname to ‘Korsakov’. In 1677 Tsar Fyodor Alekseyevich allowed a number of Korsakovs the highest concession of adding the prefix ‘Rimsky’ (meaning ‘Roman’ in Russian) to their surname, on the basis that their ancient forebears had been subjects of the Roman state. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov belonged to the fourteenth generation descended from Ventseslav Korsak and was the sixth descendant of the original Rimsky-Korsakov.

The museum’s intimate chamber concert hall is popular with both novice musicians and established performers. Thanks to its recently opened new concert hall on the ground floor, the museum now attracts large audiencesand has significantly increased its activities.

关于故居博物馆

里姆斯基-科萨科夫故居博物馆是作曲家在圣彼得堡的最后定居处，其家人于1893年秋季入住于此。这是个外形其貌不扬，坐落于庭院深处的五层小楼，周围绿化环抱，远离市区喧嚣。作曲家在这栋楼的第三层住宅里度过了他多产的余生15年。 在1917年革命后，作曲家的遗孀被迫离弃此宅。此后很久，此宅被转化为公用房屋——上世纪50年代时，有10家人家，多余20人居住于此宅内。 幸而其遗孀逃难之前，得以将作曲家的原稿归纳整理。因此，其庞大的收藏规模成为了此博物馆的坚实奠基。但创建故居的构想到1967年才得以初具规模。而这个梦想通过3代作曲家后代，50多年孜孜不倦的努力才终于得到实现。 博物馆随后经历了大规模翻修装潢，故居原物得以重回原位。因作曲家的后裔将多于250件珍藏的物件转交于此馆，现今馆内不仅藏有作曲家的个人物什，亲笔原稿，同时还有属于19世纪独一无二的日常实物，以期访客们能够更加深刻地体会其故居的环境氛围和作曲家的创作精神。 演奏厅不大但温馨，无论是在青年音乐家，还是知名演奏家中都很受欢迎；展览厅内的展品充分展现了作曲家多向全能的一生——作曲，教授，指挥。这些文件见证了作曲家在无偿音乐学校的贡献，在皇家音乐团内的职务，以及其在圣彼得堡音乐学院37年的教学生涯。 在展品中具有十分特殊意义的则是“金鹅毛笔”，它是在作曲家所创歌剧“五月夜”（1880）首演时赠与他的礼物。从那时起，作曲家所有的音乐创作，信件，回忆录都是用这只笔写的。这最后一段岁月是作曲家最多产的时期——15部歌剧中的11部创作在此时。但是，在作曲家的书房内并没有钢琴，而是全凭其不同寻常的想象听感。他时常在书桌前工作，而书桌的另一头则是他的妻子 ——作曲家所有音乐活动的贤内助。她年少时也曾有过音乐创作，并是一位出类拔萃的钢琴家。 作曲家生前，在他们的客厅里曾常常举办音乐晚会。从1905年起这种晚会渐成习惯，并被人称为“科萨科夫的星期三”。传统的“科萨科夫的星期三”至今仍存在——博物馆内每周都会举办各种形式的音乐活动，除了吸引更多听众和访客外，更加希望作曲家的音乐创作精神能够得以传承发扬。

基本信息

地址： 28, Zagorodny Prospekt 到达方式： 搭乘地铁红线至Vladimirskaya站，或至橙线Dostoyevskaya站后可步行，也可搭乘公交K-177； 如搭乘地铁紫线至Zvenigorodskaya站，可步行至博物馆 开放时间： 周四至周日11:00-18:00（17：30停止售票） 周三 13：00-21：00（20：00停止售票） 每周一，每周二以及每月最后一个周五闭馆 门票： 100卢布 电话： +7 (812) 713-3208 网址：

Новости

基本信息

地址： 28, Zagorodny Prospekt 到達方式： 搭乘地鐵紅線至Vladimirskaya站，或至橙線Dostoyevskaya站後可步行，也可搭乘公交K-177； 如搭乘地鐵紫線至Zvenigorodskaya站，可步行至博物館 開放時間： 周四至周日11:00-18:00（17：30停止售票） 周三 13：00-21：00（20：00停止售票） 每周一，每周二以及每月最後一個周五閉館 門票： 100盧布 電話： +7 (812) 713-3208 網址：

Новости