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.
Rimsky-Korsakov remained Gnesin's unquestioned ideal throughout his life, and Gnesin stayed faithful to the memory and traditions of his teacher. The first romance approved by Rimsky-Korsakov was Gnesin's "The Seagull" to words by Konstantin Balmont.
