Happy birthday to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)!

Wikipedia shows these dates: Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (18 March 1844 [N.S.] – 21 June 1908 [N.S.]) (new style dates because, as Wikipedia says, "Russia was still using old style dates in the 19th century, rendering his lifespan as 6 March 1844 – 8 June 1908.")

Wikipedia shows that Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a famous Russian composer, a member of a group of musicians called "The Five." They wanted to create a unique Russian style of music. He is very well known for writing a fast and difficult piece called "The Flight of the Bumblebee." He was an expert at choosing which instruments should play together in an orchestra. He wrote a famous book about how to arrange music for many instruments that students still use today. He also wrote many operas and pieces based on folk tales and legends. Rimsky-Korsakov spent many years as a teacher at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and taught other famous composers. His music is often described as colorful because he was very good at making the orchestra sound bright and exciting.

Some metal artists like Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov because his music is fast and technical. One of the most famous covers is Manowar’s "Sting of the Bumblebee." Have you heard tthe Manowar's cover?! I like it! It is a very fast bass solo played by Joey DeMaio on the 1988 album Kings of Metal. I also have seen Chris Barker and FamilyJules do fast heavy metal guitar versions. Other bands have done different styles. The cello-metal band Apocalyptica did "Flight of the Bumblebee" on their 2022 EP, Metal Classic, Classic Metal. They played it slower and it's doomy. Also, the death metal band Dark Lunacy uses Rimsky-Korsakov's dramatic style in their own music. By the way, below, in the live Dark Lunacy version, they have the symphonic elements prerecorded, but according to Metal Archives, on the original studio recording, the music was played by the band and guest musicians (Metal Archives shows all their names and what instruments they played), not sampled.

DARK LUNACY - Dolls (official Videoclip 4K)

Manowar - Sting of Bumblebee/Fighting the World (Live in Vladivostok, Russia, 03.03.2019)

Flight of the Bumblebee (Tetris 99 Ver.) METAL | FamilyJules

The Flight of the Bumble Bee