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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions-Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade-are considered staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy tale and folk subjects. Rimsky-Korsakov left a considerable body of original Russian nationalist compositions. He prepared works by The Five for performance, which brought them into the active classical repertoire (although there is controversy over his editing of the works of Modest Mussorgsky). He also shaped a generation of younger composers and musicians during his decades as an educator. Rimsky-Korsakov is therefore considered "the main architect" of what the classical music public considers the Russian style of composition. (more...)

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March 18: Flag Day in Aruba (1976)

• 1229 - Sixth Crusade: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II crowned himself King of Jerusalem, although his wife Queen Yolande of Jerusalem had died, leaving their infant son Conrad as the rightful heir.
• 1892 - Canadian Governor General Frederick Stanley of Preston pledged to donate what would become the Stanley Cup (1893 version pictured), today the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, as an award for Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club.
• 1915 - World War I: In one of the largest naval battles in the Gallipoli Campaign, a joint British and French operation to capture Constantinople, the defences of the Ottoman Empire sank three Allied battleships and severely damaged three others.
• 1965 - Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov donned a space suit and ventured outside the Voskhod 2 spacecraft, becoming the first person to walk in space.
• 1985 - The first episode of the Australian soap opera Neighbours was first broadcast on the Seven Network, eventually becoming the longest running drama in Australian television history.

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