Rimsky-Korsakov was born near Saint Petersburg, in a small town called Tikhvin, on March 18, 1844.
He was in a rather wealthy family, with his twenty-two year older brother a successful explorer and navigator, and his father being a distinguished officer.
Despite having extreme originality in music, he actually preferred literature over music. This hindered his musical studies, and even though he was very talented, he had a rather wan interest in musical studies.
After trips to the opera, his love for music grew. Soon he was being taught by a very prestigious man in music, and learned many new styles and forms of Russian folk music.
As he grew and grew as a composer, he started to discuss, critique, and share music with a group commonly known as “The Mighty Handful.” This group included five of some of the most original and blooming Russian composers of the time, including Alexander Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky, Mily Balakirev, Cesar Cui, and himself.
On the 21 of June, 1908, he died of angina.
He left a highly original and exotic legacy of music, and his orchestrated works, such as Scheherazade and the Russian Easter Festival are still performed widely today.