• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born in the town of Tikhvin near Novgorod on March 6, 1844.  His father served prominently in the provincial government, and, although the boy demonstrated musical talent, he entered in the St. Petersburg Naval Academy at the age of 12.  There he studied cello and piano with Feodor Kanille (Théodore Canillé), who encouraged his efforts at composition.
• In 1861 Kanille introduced Rimsky-Korsakov to a talented musical group that would later become known as "The Mighty Five."  The members included Mily Balakirev (the leader), Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
• Rimsky-Korsakov began his musical career as an amateur, exactly as the other members of the famous "Five," but he was the only one of the group who later in life became a truly professional musician.
• He reluctantly left the group to embark on a world-wide cruise with the Russian Navy from 1862-1865.  It was during this trip that he wrote his first symphony.  The exposure to incredible sights remained in his memory and they would later be expressed in his orchestral 'tone-painting'.
• Upon his return to St. Petersburg, he kicked off his active composing career with the reorchestration of his first symphony at the suggestion of Balakirev.  Rimsky-Korsakov then completed the first version of his orchestral pieces Sadko (1867) and Antar (1868), plus the opera The Maid of Pskov (1872).  These early works were later revised.
• In 1871 he was asked to hold a position as professor of composition and orchestration at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.  He realized that had almost no knowledge of music theory, so he taught himself counterpoint, harmony, and music form, barely keeping ahead of the classes he taught.

"Had I ever studied at all, had I possessed a fraction more of knowledge than I actually did, it would have been obvious to me that I could not and not accept the proffered appointment, that it was foolosh and dishonest of me to become a professor. But I, the author of Sadko, Antar and The Maid of Pskov, compositions that were coherent and well-sounding, compositions that the public and many musicians approved, I was a dilettante and knew nothing. This I frankly confess and attest before the world. I was young and self-confident; my self-confidence was encouraged by others, and I joined the Conservatory. And yet at the time I could not decently harmonize a chorale; not only had I not written a single counterpoint in my life, but I had hardly any notion of the structure of a fugue; nay, did not even know the names of augmented and diminished intervals, of chords (except the fundamental triad), of the dominant and chord of the diminished seventh, though I could sing anything at sight and distinguish chords of every sort.... Of course, to compose Antar or Sadko is more interesting than to know how to harmonize a Prostetant chorale or write four-part counterpoint, which seems to be necessary for organists alone. But it is shameful not to know such things and to learn of their existence from one's own pupils," (Maes 170).

• His fellow nationalists scorned his studies and new approach, claiming that it stifled his freedom and betrayed the organicism of his works.  He would later publish a harmony text (1884) and an orchestration text (1896).
• 1871 saw another significant change.  He moved into an apartment that he would share with Mussorgsky.  With his new position in the Conservatory, Rimsky-Korsakov was able to bring home instruments that they would experiment with. Not only did their friendship grow stronger from this living arrangement, but also their understanding of the orchestra.  They now invited group to conduct the musical meetings at their home. 
• Rimsky-Korsakov married Nadezhda Purgold, a composer and pianist, in 1872.
• From 1873 to 1884 he served as the new post of Inspector of Music Bands of the Navy Department and from 1874-1881 he served as director of Balakirev's Free Music School.
• 1881 to 1888, his own compositional projects were set aside. During this period, he was actively editing and revising compositions that his friends Alexander Borodin and Modest Mussorgsky had left unfinished when they died.  Orchestras and opera companies usually perform Rimsky- Korsakov's version of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina, as well as his setting of Alexander Dargomyzhsky's Stone Guest. Borodin's opera Prince Igor is usually performed in the version completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and the Russian composer Alexander Glazunov.
• Rimsky-Korsakov began conducting the Russian Symphony concerts in 1884.  The same year, he worked alongside musicians Belayev, Glazunov and Lyadov in what would be known as the Belayev Circle.
• Throughout his career he competed in ideals (as far as formal training) and production with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. 
• He twice considered giving up composing during his career.
• Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov died on June 21, 1908.
• His musical activity and contributions are particularly known in four ways: the adaptor of Borodin's and Mussorgsky's works; the teacher of modern Russian musicians, advocate and composer of Russian folk music; one of the fathers of modern instrumentation (which links him with Berlioz, Wagner, and Richard Strauss).