What is "sadko"

Sadko (, the name of the main character) is an opera in seven scenes by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by the composer, with assistance from Vladimir Belsky, Vladimir Stasov, and others. Rimsky-Korsakov was first inspired by the Bylina of Sadko in 1867, when he completed a tone poem on the subject, his Op. 5. After finishing his second revision of this work in 1891, he decided to turn it into a dramatic work.

The music is highly evocative, and Rimsky-Korsakov's famed powers of orchestration are abundantly in evidence throughout the score. According to the Soviet critic Boris Asafyev, writing in 1922, Sadko constitutes the summit of Rimsky-Korsakov's craft. From the opus 5 tone poem the composer quoted its most memorable passages, including the opening theme of the swelling sea, and other themes as leitmotives - he himself set out to "utlize for this opera the material of my symphonic poem, and, in any event, to make use of its motives as leading motives for the opera".

Sadko is the principal character in a Russian medieval epic bylina. He was an adventurer, merchant, and gusli musician from Novgorod.

Sadko is a Russian mythical hero.

Sadko may also refer to:

• Sadko (musical tableau), an 1867 symphonic poem by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
• Sadko (opera), an 1896 opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, musically unrelated to the symphonic poem
• Sadko (film), a 1953 film by Aleksandr Ptushko
• Icebreaker Sadko, a Russian icebreaker named after the mythical hero that was built in 1912 and sank in the Kara Sea in 1941

Sadko, Op. 5, is a "musical tableau" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, written in 1867 and revised in 1869 and 1892. It is sometimes called the first symphonic poem written in Russia. It was first performed in 1867 at a concert of the Russian Musical Society (RMS), conducted by Mily Balakirev. Rimsky-Korsakov later wrote an opera of the same name which quotes freely from the earlier work. From the tone poem the composer quoted its most memorable passages in the opera, including the opening theme of the swelling sea, and other themes as leitmotives - he himself set out to "utilize for this opera the material of my symphonic poem, and, in any event, to make use of its motives as leading motives for the opera".

Sadko is a 1952 Russian fantasy film directed by Aleksandr Ptushko. The film is based on an opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, which was based on a Russian '' bylina ''(epic tale) with the same name, and scored with Rimsky-Korsakov's music from the opera.