Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s apartment in St Petersburg, at 28 Zagorodny Prospekt, was famous for its hospitality. Twice a month, at fortnightly intervals, the composer’s family hosted musical evenings known as ‘Korsakov’s Wednesdays’. Here would gather friends and colleagues representing every aspect of the city’s vibrant artistic community: music, theatre, literature and art. Regular visitors included the composer Alexander Glazunov, the concert pianist and conductor Felix Blumenfeld, Vasily Yastrebtsev (Rimsky-Korsakov’s first biographer)1 and the art and music critic Vladimir Stasov (who first applied the term Moguchaya kuchka to ‘The Mighty Handful’), the painter Mikhail Vrubel’ and his wife, coloratura soprano Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel’ as well as the legendary bass Fyodor Chaliapin; both of these singers regularly performed at the Maryinsky Theatre in productions of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas.