Editing Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (section)

===Increased contact with Tchaikovsky===
{{see also|Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and The Five|Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the Belyayev circle}}
[[File:Porträt des Komponisten Pjotr I. Tschaikowski (1840-1893).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A middle-aged man with grey hair and a beard, wearing a dark suit and staring intently at the viewer|''Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky'' by Nikolay Kuznetsov, 1893]]
In November 1887, Tchaikovsky arrived in Saint Petersburg in time to hear several of the Russian Symphony Concerts. One of them included the first complete performance of his [[Symphony No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)|First Symphony]], subtitled ''Winter Daydreams'', in its final version. Another concert featured the premiere of Rimsky-Korsakov's Third Symphony in its revised version.<ref name="brfy91">Brown, ''Final Years'', 91.</ref> Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky corresponded considerably before the visit and spent a lot of time together, along with Glazunov and Lyadov.<ref name="brfy90">Brown, ''Final Years'', p. 90.</ref> Though Tchaikovsky had been a regular visitor to the Rimsky-Korsakov home since 1876,<ref name="taruskin31"/> and had at one point offered to arrange Rimsky-Korsakov's appointment as director of the Moscow Conservatory,<ref name="taruskin31">Taruskin, ''Stravinsky'', p. 31.</ref> this was the beginning of closer relations between the two. Within a couple of years, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote, Tchaikovsky's visits became more frequent.<ref>Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', p. 308.</ref>

During these visits and especially in public, Rimsky-Korsakov wore a mask of geniality. Privately, he found the situation emotionally complex, and confessed his fears to his friend, the Moscow critic Semyon Kruglikov.<ref>Taruskin, ''Stravinsky'', p. 39.</ref> Memories persisted of the tension between Tchaikovsky and The Five over the differences in their musical philosophies—tension acute enough for Tchaikovsky's brother Modest to liken their relations at that time to "those between two friendly neighboring states&nbsp;... cautiously prepared to meet on common ground, but jealously guarding their separate interests".<ref>As quoted in Holden, p. 64.</ref> Rimsky-Korsakov observed, not without annoyance, how Tchaikovsky became increasingly popular among Rimsky-Korsakov's followers.<ref>Poznansky, ''Quest'', p. 564; Taruskin, ''Stravinsky'', p. 39.</ref> This personal jealousy was compounded by a professional one, as Tchaikovsky's music became increasingly popular among the composers of the Belyayev circle, and remained on the whole more famous than his own.<ref>Holden, p. 316; Rimsky-Korsakov, ''My Musical Life'', p. 309; Taruskin, ''Stravinsky'', p. 39.</ref> Even so, when Tchaikovsky attended Rimsky-Korsakov's [[Name day|nameday]] party in May 1893, Rimsky-Korsakov asked Tchaikovsky personally if he would conduct four concerts of the [[Russian Musical Society]] in Saint Petersburg the following season. After hesitation, Tchaikovsky agreed.<ref>Brown, ''Final Years'', p. 465.</ref> While his sudden death in late 1893 prevented him from fulfilling this commitment in its entirety, the list of works he had planned to conduct included Rimsky-Korsakov's Third Symphony.<ref>Brown, ''Final Years'', p. 474.</ref>