Museum
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Rimsky-Korsakov Museum

Details

St.Petersburg
28 Zagorodny Pr., St. Petersburg
Phones: +7(812) 713–32–08
Web site: https://theatremuseum.ru/filial/memorialnyy_muzey_kvartira_rimskogo_korsakova

Expositions

The memorial part of the apartment is presented in four rooms: Rimsky-Korsakov's study, the living room, the dining room and the hall. The rest of the apartment had been reconstructed: here there is an exhibition hall where lots of items related the composer's life and work are displayed, and a concert hall.

In the study there is Rimsky-Korsakov’s favorite armchair, an old writing desk made by Tikhvin cabinet makers, a memorial address designed by Mikhail Vrubel for the 35th anniversary of the composer's work. The main attraction of the living room is a Becker grand piano, which used to be played by Sergei Rakhmaninov, Alexander Skriabin, Alexander Glazunov, Igor Stravinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov himself. The walls of the dining room are hung with painted portraits of the composer's ancestors. He belonged to an old Russian family, renowned since late 14th century. On the dining table there is family silverware.

The Museum restores not only the interiors of the apartment, but also its creative atmosphere. Throughout many years it has been one of the cultural hubs of St.Petersburg. Rimsky-Korsakov's guests, the composers Alexander Glazunov, Sergei Rakhmaninov, the painters Valentin Serov and Ilya Repin, the singers Fyodor Chaliapin and Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel were enthusiastic participants of the musical soirees, which got to be known as "Korsakov's Wednesdays". When Chaliapin attended these soirees, about a hundred people gathered in the living-room, and the neighbours' children (who lived upstairs) lied down on the floor trying to hear the famous singer. After the concerts the guests used to move to the dining-room to have a cup of tea, and frequently hadn’t leave until early morning.

Now, following the tradition, musical evenings on Wednesdays are still being held here, involving the city’s opera singers and symphony orchestras musicians.

History

At present, this is the only composer's memorial museum in St.Petersburg. It occupies a wing of the house 28 on Zagorodny Prospekt, where Rimsky-Korsakov had spent his last 15 years, from 1893 to 1908. It was here that he composed 11 of his 15 operas, among them are: Sadko, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Golden Cockerel, The Tsar’s Bride, Kashchey the Deathless and others.

On December 27, 1971, after the years of reconstruction and restoration works, the museum was opened due to the efforts of the composer's descendants. They managed to keep all the composer’s private belongings, as well as the original furniture pieces. Everything has been kept exactly as it was when the composer died.