Previous
Scheherazade - Rimsky-Korsakov (1887)
Next

Soundtracks:
Clockwork Orange
Man with One Red Shoe
Nijinsky
Lonely In America
Create with parts and themes
Music mall
Performers guide
Films with classics

Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite Opus 35

We all know the stories of "The Arabian Nights". These tales are indeed world-famous. However Rimsky-Korsakov thought of them not as fairy-tales but as excellent material for a programme piece. Being an officer on a ship in the Russian navy, he knew many places around the world, and he listened to the diverse music of different nations. In "Scheherazade" he decided to merge the magical sounds of the orient with some of the stories of the "Arabian Nights".

The story framework is about Scheherazade, the Sultan's wife. The sultan made it his habit to slay each of his wives after their wedding night. But Scheherazade tells him a new tale every night, and her stories are so beautiful that the sultan keeps postponing her execution again and again. Rimsky-Korsakov incorporates four of Scheherazade's tales. Thus he creates a symphonic suite that resembles a symphony in its structure, but one which is also a programme work, telling these four stories:

1
Sinbad's ship at sea
The sultan and Scheherazade are presented right at the beginning.
2
The story of Prince Kalender
A movement whose tempo keeps increasing, when from time to time, the motif of Scheherazade's (the story teller) appears.
3
A story of a young prince and a young princess
A slow movement, in which a charming melody is played at first by the violins, and later on other instruments which join them.
4
A festival at Baghdad. The ship shatters on a rock at sea.
In this movement the good Scheherazade will eventually overpower the sultan. Gradually, her motif will overcome the one representing him, when the description of the feast in Baghdad and the disaster at sea are played throughout the movement.
She deserve to live!

Years later, Rimsky-Korsakov tried to change several times, Scheherazade's being a programme piece. He argued it was better as a work with no content external to the music itself, but he was unsuccessful in that; the story behind it made the piece even more popular. Although he abandoned the above-mentioned contents (Sinbad, the prince etc.), and he gave these movements traditional musical titles (prelude, ballade, adagio and finale), the audience favored the programme offered by the composer in the beginning.

Go to the main menu
Home
Listen to a MIDI example
Example
The country in which it was written
Country
About the composer
Composer
The form of the work
Form
The period
Period

Back to last screenMusixCool© By Nadav DafniTo The Listening Guide