Editing Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (section)

===Mentored by Balakirev; time with The Five===
{{see also|The Five (composers){{!}}The Five}}
Once back in Saint Petersburg in May 1865, Rimsky-Korsakov's onshore duties consisted of a couple of hours of clerical duty each day,<ref name="mfw21400"/> but he recalled that his desire to compose "had been stifled&nbsp;... I did not concern myself with music at all."<ref>Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', p. 55.</ref> He wrote that contact with Balakirev in September 1865 encouraged him "to get accustomed to music and later to plunge into it".<ref>Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', p. 56.</ref> At Balakirev's suggestion, he wrote a trio to the [[scherzo]] of the E-flat minor symphony, which it had lacked up to that point, and reorchestrated the entire symphony.<ref name="ReferenceA">Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', pp. 58–59.</ref> Its first performance came in December of that year under Balakirev's direction in Saint Petersburg.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="abng1628">Abraham, ''New Grove (1980)'', 16:28.</ref> A second performance followed in March 1866 under the direction of Konstantin Lyadov (father of composer [[Anatoly Lyadov]]).<ref name="abng1628"/>

Correspondence between Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev clearly shows that some ideas for the symphony originated with Balakirev, who seldom stopped at merely correcting a piece of music, and would often recompose it at the piano.<ref name="mfw21400"/> Rimsky-Korsakov recalled,
<blockquote>A pupil like myself had to submit to Balakirev a proposed composition in its embryo, say, even the first four or eight bars. Balakirev would immediately make corrections, indicating how to recast such an embryo; he would criticize it, would praise and extol the first two bars, but would censure the next two, ridicule them, and try hard to make the author disgusted with them. Vivacity of composition and fertility were not at all in favor, frequent recasting was demanded, and the composition was extended over a long period of time under the cold control of self-criticism.<ref name="rk29">Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', p. 29.</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Balakirev from 1914 Windsor Magazine.png|thumb|upright|alt=A man in his late 20s or early 30s with dark hair and a bushy beard, wearing a dark coat, dress shirt and tie|[[Mily Balakirev]] encouraged Rimsky-Korsakov to continue composing.]]
Rimsky-Korsakov recalled that "Balakirev had no difficulty in getting along with me. At his suggestion I most readily rewrote the symphonic movements composed by me and brought them to completion with the help of his advice and improvisations".<ref>Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', p. 30.</ref> Though Rimsky-Korsakov later found Balakirev's influence stifling, and broke free from it,<ref name="maes44">Maes, p. 44.</ref> this did not stop him in his memoirs from extolling the older composer's talents as a critic and improviser.<ref name="rk29"/> Under Balakirev's mentoring, Rimsky-Korsakov turned to other compositions. He began a symphony in B minor, but felt it too closely followed [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]] and abandoned it. He completed an Overture on Three Russian Themes, based on Balakirev's folksong overtures, as well as a [[Fantasy on Serbian Themes|Fantasia on Serbian Themes]] that was performed at a concert given for the delegates of the [[Pan-Slavism|Slavonic Congress]] in 1867.<ref name="mfw21400"/> In his review of this concert, nationalist critic [[Vladimir Stasov]] coined the phrase ''Moguchaya kuchka'' for the Balakirev circle (''Moguchaya kuchka'' is usually translated as "The Mighty Handful" or "The Five").<ref name="mfw21400"/> Rimsky-Korsakov also composed the initial versions of ''Sadko'' and ''[[Antar (Rimsky-Korsakov)|Antar]]'', which cemented his reputation as a writer of orchestral works.<ref name="abng1628"/>

Rimsky-Korsakov socialized and discussed music with the other members of The Five; they critiqued one another's works in progress and collaborated on new pieces.<ref name="mfw21400"/> He became friends with [[Alexander Borodin]], whose music "astonished" him.<ref name="rimsky57">Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', p. 57.</ref> He spent an increasing amount of time with Mussorgsky.<ref name="mfw21400"/> Balakirev and Mussorgsky played piano four-hand music, Mussorgsky would sing, and they frequently discussed other composers' works, with preferred tastes running "toward Glinka, Schumann and Beethoven's late quartets".<ref name="rk21">Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', p. 21.</ref> [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]] was not thought of highly, [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] and [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] "were considered out of date and naïve", and [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J.S. Bach]] merely mathematical and unfeeling. Berlioz "was highly esteemed", Liszt "crippled and perverted from a musical point of view&nbsp;... even a caricature", and Wagner discussed little.<ref name="rk21"/> Rimsky-Korsakov "listened to these opinions with avidity and absorbed the tastes of Balakirev, Cui and Mussorgsky without reasoning or examination". Often, the musical works in question "were played before me only in fragments, and I had no idea of the whole work". This, he wrote, did not stop him from accepting these judgments at face value and repeating them "as if I were thoroughly convinced of their truth".<ref name="rk21"/>

Rimsky-Korsakov became especially appreciated within The Five, and among those who visited the circle, for his talents as an orchestrator.<ref name="abng1628"/> He was asked by Balakirev to orchestrate a [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] march for a concert in May 1868, by Cui to orchestrate the opening chorus of his opera ''[[William Ratcliff (Cui)|William Ratcliff]]'' and by [[Alexander Dargomyzhsky]], whose works were greatly appreciated by The Five and who was close to death, to orchestrate his opera ''[[The Stone Guest (Dargomyzhsky)|The Stone Guest]]''.<ref name="abng1628"/>

In late 1871, Rimsky-Korsakov moved into Voin's former apartment, and invited Mussorgsky to be his roommate. The working arrangement they agreed upon was that Mussorgsky used the piano in the mornings while Rimsky-Korsakov worked on copying or orchestration. When Mussorgsky left for his civil service job at noon, Rimsky-Korsakov then used the piano. Time in the evenings was allotted by mutual agreement.<ref name="abng1628"/> "That autumn and winter the two of us accomplished a good deal", Rimsky-Korsakov wrote, "with constant exchange of ideas and plans. Mussorgsky composed and orchestrated the Polish act of ''[[Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov]]'' and the folk scene 'Near Kromy.' I orchestrated and finished my ''[[The Maid of Pskov|Maid of Pskov]]''."<ref>Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', p. 123.</ref>