Sadko (musical tableau)

Sadko
Tableau musical, or Musical picture
Tone poem by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Sadko, painting by Ilya Repin (1876)
Opus5
Composed1867 (1867), revised 1869, 1892
Performed1867 (1867)
Scoring3 (+picc), 2, 2, 2–4, 2, 2+bass, 1, timp, harp, strings

Sadko, Op. 5, is a Tableau musical, or Musical picture, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, written in 1867 and revised in 1869 and 1892. It is sometimes called the first symphonic poem written in Russia.[1] It was first performed in 1867 at a concert of the Russian Musical Society (RMS), conducted by Mily Balakirev.[2] Rimsky-Korsakov later wrote an opera of the same name which quotes freely from the earlier work.[3] From the tone poem the composer quoted its most memorable passages in the opera, including the opening theme of the swelling sea,[3] and other themes as leitmotifs[4] – he himself set out to "utilize for this opera the material of my symphonic poem, and, in any event, to make use of its motives as leading motives for the opera".[5]

  1. ^ Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, 79 ft. 21.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference rimsky82 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Taruskin, R. Sadko. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
  4. ^ Abraham, Gerald. Rimsky Korsakov: A Short Biography. Duckworth, London, 1945, p96-97.
  5. ^ Rimsky-Korsakoff NA. My Musical Life. translated from the Russian by J A Joffe. Martin Secker, London, 1924, p292.