Thomas F. Harney

[Eva Elisabeth]

(11-22-2014 09:54 PM)L Verge Wrote:  BTW: Part of the Russian fleet wintered in San Francisco, and among the sailors on board was a future famous composer by the name of Rimskii-Korsakov.

Thanks, Laurie - fascinating!! As you may know, I love classic music, and found this:

In 1862 Rimsky-Korsakov, born in 1844, graduated from the St. Petersburg naval academy, and soon afterward sailed on the clipper ship Almaz to the US. The vessel anchored in New York City; Baltimore, Maryland; and Washington, D.C. (and due to your info I guess San Francisco). Further subsequent ports of call were Brazil (where he was promoted to the rank of midshipman), Spain, Italy, France, England, and Norway. The ship returned to its home port of Kronstadt (Kronshtadt) in May 1865. Then began his career as composer. He died in 1908.

For Rimsky-Korsakov the voyage confirmed a fascination with the sea, in which aquatic scenes in his operas and symphonic works rooted: the ocean in "Scheherazade" (1888), Sadko (1898), "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" (1900), and the lake in "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia" (1907).

Allow me this aside: The "Scheherazade" music was used for a ballet by the divine and groundbreaking dancer and choreographer Michel Fokine in 1910. BTW, Mikhaíl Mikháylovich Fokín, born in Saint Petersburg in 1880, became a US citizen in 1932, and died in NYC in 1942. (Left: Rimsky-Korsakov, right: Michel Fokine: )
       
Finally, Sunday is the perfect day for some culture and classic music - especially dedicated to my friends from the Sahara of the Bozart (forgive me, no tar and feathers, please - I simply love this metaphor [and the Sahara!!!!], comes right after Twain's "porch time leisure"...and despite Antoine De Saint-Exupéry said: "What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well, " - and if one knew then he!), here's "Scheherazade": http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s1aFrAV3d1o Enjoy!

(I'll be shown the red card one day for always drifting apart that much...but the next time I see this in a ballet gala, I'll remember that the inspiration in the end came from the 1863 voyage of the Russian fleets to the US.)