Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov spent most of his boyhood in a military school -- a naval school, to be exact. Once in the navy, however, he seemed more inspired by music than by mastheads. While on his first tour, he wrote a symphony that was refined and performed less than one year afte

Huge face, huge voice, huge presence: the distinguishing characteristics of Fyodor Chaliapin, Russian Basso of the early twentieth century's opera stage. At the same moment that film was gaining momentum as a medium, Chaliapin seemed to anticipate, and set the standard for, artists like Bela Lugos