Mikhail Gnesin entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1901 in the theory and composition department, where his principal teacher was Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Gnesin said that contact with Rimsky-Korsakov determined the fundamental principles of all his later work, and Rimsky-Korsakov remained his unquestioned ideal throughout his life.
Gnesin stayed faithful to the memory and traditions of his teacher. Soon after Rimsky-Korsakov's death, the composer's widow chose Gnesin to prepare and edit the posthumous edition of his literary legacy; Gnesin later wrote the book Thoughts and Memories of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. The first romance approved by Rimsky-Korsakov was Gnesin's "The Seagull" to words by Konstantin Balmont.
