Variations for Oboe and Wind Orchestra Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Notes Following in the footsteps of Mikhail Glinka, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a musician who championed the music of Russia over the western European compositions in fashion at the time. A member of the prestigious group of composers known as ‘the Five’, Rimsky-Korsakov spent most of his life juggling his compositional and teaching careers with one in the imperial Russian military. In 1871, at the age of 27 and after having already served as a commissioned officer in the Russian Navy, he became Professor of Composition and Orchestration at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Then, in the spring of 1873, the navy created the post of Inspector of Naval Bands, which allowed him to resign his commission. In this role, Rimsky-Korsakov visited naval bands throughout Russia, supervised the bandmasters and their appointments, reviewed the bands' repertoire, and inspected the quality of their instruments. Although published in the United States as “Variations on a Theme of Glinka for Oboe and Military Band” the work’s true title by the composer is Variations for Oboe and Wind Orchestra. This concertante, the second of three written by Rimsky-Korsakov for the Russian Navy Bands, is a set of twelve variations on the melody of “What, Beautiful Maiden” by Glinka. It was first performed in March 1878 with Rimsky-Korsakov conducting and Russian Navy NCO Ranishevsky as the oboe soloist. In his autobiography, Chronicle of My Musical Life, the composer writes: "[The three compositions for solo instrument and wind orchestra] were written, firstly, with the goal of providing concert solo works for instruments not often afforded such roles, and secondly, for me to master the virtuosic concerto/concertante compositional style, with its solo, tutti, cadenzas, etc."
Errata The following errata are for the version of this work edited by Clark McAlister and published by Edwin F. Kalmus & Co. in 1987.
Measure 55: The oboe solo part is missing the first note (E eighth note) Measure 80: The alto clarinet part should be C# on beat two (score is also incorrect, it should be marked as B-natural) Measure 111: The bassoon II part is missing an accidental (should be B-natural) Measure 114: The bassoon II part is missing an accidental (should be A-natural) Measure 115: The oboe solo part has an incorrect rhythm (should match the score) Measure 119: The oboe solo part is missing a rehearsal marking [13] Measure 127: The Eb clarinet part is missing an accidental on beat 1 (should be F#) Measure 133: The flute I/II part is missing an accidental (should be A-natural)
© 2016 by Andrew McMahan The contents of this document may be freely used, for any purpose, without attribution.