Editing Russo-Japanese War (section)

=== Music ===
On either side, there were lyrics lamenting the necessity of fighting in a foreign land, far from home. One of the earliest of several Russian songs still performed today was the waltz "Amur's Waves" (''Amurskie volny''), which evokes the melancholy of standing watch on the motherland far east frontier.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qKajPAQuYo ''Amur's Waves''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413072557/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qKajPAQuYo&gl=US&hl=en |date=13 April 2020 }} performed by the Red Army Choir under the direction of Gennady Sachenyuk (in Russian with English subtext).</ref>

Two others grew out of incidents during the war. "[[On the Hills of Manchuria]]" (''Na sopkah Manchzhurii''; 1906)<ref>{{cite web |title=Ilya Shatrov: On the Hills of Manchuria, Waltz |website=Editions Orphée |url=https://www.editionsorphee.com/repertoire/shatrov.html |access-date=4 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307102739/http://www.editionsorphee.com/repertoire/shatrov.html |archive-date=7 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> is another waltz composed by [[Ilya Shatrov]], a decorated military musician whose regiment suffered badly in the Battle of Mukden. Originally only the music was published, and the words by [[Skitalets|Stepan Petrov]] were added later.

The second song, "Variag", commemorates the [[Battle of Chemulpo Bay]] in which [[Russian cruiser Varyag (1899)|that cruiser]] and the gunboat ''Korietz'' steamed out to confront an encircling Japanese squadron rather than surrender. That act of heroism was first celebrated in a German song by Rudolf Greintz in 1907, which was quickly translated into Russian and sung to a martial accompaniment.<ref>German text in {{cite web |title=Rudolf Greins. 'Auf Deck, Kameraden, All Auf Deck!' |trans-title=Rudolf Greintz. 'On Deck, Comrades, All on Deck!' |website=РУКОНТ |url=https://rucont.ru/efd/11224 |access-date=17 January 2018 |archive-date=17 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117132158/https://rucont.ru/efd/11224 |url-status=live }} See also a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I60IrRMntWk multimedia enactment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102024802/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I60IrRMntWk |date=2 January 2016 }} of the song on YouTube (in Russian).</ref> These lyrics mourned the fallen lying in their graves and threatened revenge.<ref>See some translations at [https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=155598#3661604 Mudcat Café] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806225332/https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=155598#3661604 |date=6 August 2020 }}, and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_720020&feature=iv&src_vid=fWDgs34wilk&v=6ZsK0pSbSIo ''On The Hills of Manchuria''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309025345/https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_720020&feature=iv&src_vid=fWDgs34wilk&v=6ZsK0pSbSIo |date=9 March 2021 }} performed by Maxim Troshin (in Russian).</ref>

[[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]] also reacted to the war by composing the satirical opera ''[[The Golden Cockerel]]'', completed in 1907. Although it was ostensibly based on a verse fairy tale by [[Alexander Pushkin]] written in 1834, the authorities quickly realised its true target and immediately banned it from performance. The opera was premiered in 1909, after Rimsky-Korsakov's death, and even then with modifications required by the censors.