Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov(1844-1908)

[Elgarian Redux]

Okay: who or what was William Ratcliff

It turns out to be the name of an opera by Cesar Cui!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ratcliff_(Cui)


The best I can find is a MIDI "performance" of the opening: the piano score is part of the video!

Oh well spotted. Thank you! (I was just as puzzled as you.)

[Karl Henning]

Indeed. And by comparison, I was rather struck by how keen R-K was to acknowledge all his borrowings and influences.

It also wrily amuses me that Igor Fyodorovich shared this affectation with Wagner, whom he so cordially abhorred.

[Brian]

Most interesting! (Oh! I said that before.) One of the things which has been brought home to me by making a better acquaintance with Antar is, how much Stravinsky (who, rather like Wagner, was vain about wishing to seem thoroughly original) owed to R-K in terms of musical dramatization, particularly in his first "smash hit," the ballet dialogué, L'oiseau de feu.

The "Danse infernale" from Firebird is a clever but very direct reworking of material from Rimsky-Korsakov's Night on Mount Triglav - specifically a "Ronde infernale". (I'm only aware of two recordings, by Pletnev on PentaTone and by a rustic ensemble on Marco Polo. Seeing now that Naxos has another.)