Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai - Scheherazade, Op. 35Scheherazade, Op. 35Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. b.

• Rimsky Korsakov Music

Rimsky Korsakov Music

Tikhvin, Russia / March 18, 1844; d. Lyubensk, Russia / June 21, 1908Surely it was destiny that led Rimsky-Korsakov to compose a piece inspired by the Arabian Nights legends. He spent decades acquiring the necessary skills to do the material justice, above all a mastery of colorful orchestration and a flair for composing sweeping, exotic melodies. During a summer holiday in 1888, he set down the music that had been burning feverishly within him since the previous winter. Three weeks was all the time he needed to finish the symphonic suite Scheherazade to the last note.Like many composers who write music inspired by outside sources, he suggested that audiences not listen too closely for specific events or characters in the music.

He gave each movement a sub-title, but then he removed them. However he did include in the printed score the following introduction, drawn from the original Arabian Nights stories: “The Sultan Shakriar, convinced of the falsehood and inconstancy of all women, had sworn an oath to put to death each of his wives after the first night. However the Sultana Scheherazade saved her life by arousing his interest in the tales which she told during the 1001 nights. Driven by curiosity, the Sultan postponed her execution from day to day, and at last abandoned his bloodthirsty design.”The orchestration of Scheherazade is masterly, drawing from what is a not particularly large ensemble the maximum in color.

Much of this brilliance is achieved by continuously dotting the score with passages for solo instruments. The suite is bound together by a recurring motive, a bewitching melody sung by the solo violin: the voice of Scheherazade.The first movement gives a strong impression of the sea, complete with the swell of ocean breezes, the roll of the waves and the adventurous call of foreign ports. Rimsky knew such an atmosphere well, having served in the Russian navy for several years.At the start of the second movement, Scheherazade’s theme again declares “Once upon a time.” Solo bassoon launches the tale, sinuously, like the chant of an ancient storyteller.

A war-like fanfare introduced by trombones and tuba plays an important role in the fantastic proceedings.The third movement can’t be anything but a love scene. A dance, tinged with light percussion, appears at the core. The Scheherazade violin theme puts in an appearance, leading to a brief, ecstatic climax – a first kiss? The central dance theme returns, warmed by recent experience, before the tranquil close.The finale opens with alternations of furious orchestral outbursts and passionate violin solos.

Rimsky then kicks off a boisterous carnival, where themes heard earlier in the suite jostle for attention. At the height of festivities we appear to return to the sea, sailing majestically until a colossal climax is reached. The Scheherazade theme returns one last time, keening softly in the heights to close her storytelling – for tonight.Program Notes by Don Anderson © 2019.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)Scheherazade. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship. The Kalendar Prince. The Young Prince and the Young Princess. Festival at Baghdad. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze HorsemanDuration: 15'Publisher:KSO performed:, 1994In the wake of Glinka came a generation of Russian composers who redefined what Russian music was.

The most revolutionary of them was the group of five composers led by Mily Balakirev, who became known as “the Mighty Handful”, or simply, “the Five”. Solidworks 32 bit crack. In the 1860s this group of mostly amateur composers - Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Musorgsky, Borodin and Cui - developed a new aesthetic which celebrated the distinctive sounds of Russian folk-music and rejected what they saw as the overly Western European influenced teaching prevalent in the Conservatoires. Of the “Five”, Rimsky-Korsakov was probably the most accomplished. He was the only one other than Balakirev himself who made a living as a composer.In 1871 he became a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire. Giventhe group’s hostility to the musical establishment, this naturallycaused some fiction.

By this stage however the group had largelydrifted apart. Musorgsky died that year from alcoholism, while Cuideveloped a career as a critic and Borodin concentrated on his maincareer as a research chemist, working intermittently on an opera, Prince Igor, that remained incomplete at his death. Rimsky-Korsakov’sown programme note for the first performance is remarkable for itsrefusal to be drawn into the specifics of the suite’s programme: “TheSultan Schariar, convinced that all women are false and faithless, vowedto put to death each of his wives after the first nuptial night.

Butthe Sultana Scheherazade saved her life by entertaining her lord withfascinating tales, told seriatim i.e. With the conclusion held backuntil the next night, for a thousand and one nights.

The Sultan,consumed with curiosity, postponed from day to day the execution of hiswife, and finally repudiated his bloody vow entirely. He did not intend to portray specific tales, but rather an impression of the variety of folk stories to be found in the 1001 Nights. In his memoirs, he recalls that his conception of Scheherazadewas 'an orchestral suite in four movements, closely knit by thecommunity of its themes and motives, yet representing, as it were, akaleidoscope of fairy-tale images and designs of Oriental character.' It was his former pupil; and colleague Anatoly Lyadov who suggested thetitles for each of the movements. Rimsky-Korsakov at first acquiescedwith these suggestions and even allowed them to be printed in the score,but later had them removed. “I meant these hints to direct butslightly the listener's fancy on the path which my own fancy hadtraveled, and to leave more minute and particular conceptions to thewill and mood of the individual listener,' hecrecalled.

'All I haddesired was that the listener, if he liked my piece as symphonic music,should carry away the impression that it is beyond doubt an Orientalnarrative of some numerous and varied fairy-tale wonders.” Certainaspects of the music do nevertheless seem to represent particular ideasclearly: the terse opening theme seems to embody the sultan, while thesolo violin that follows and recurs throughout the piece stands forScheherazade herself. Whetherthe opening movement really does represent “the Sea and Sinbad’s Ship”is therefore a matter for the imagination of the listener, althoughthere is a salt-flecked taste to it entirely in keeping with a composerwhose younger years had been spent in the Russian Navy. Likewise, theTale of the Kalendar Prince (a fakir who turns out to be a nobleman indisguise). The third movement meanwhile certainly has the feel of aromantic scene, even if it cannot really be tied too tightly to the Taleof Prince Kamar al-Zanna and Princess Budur (“created so much alikethat they might be taken for twins”).Lyadov’sproposed programme falls apart completely in the final movement, andconflates elements of several tales. Ironically, this perhaps reflectsbest Rimsky-Korsakov’s intention that Scheherazadebe taken as a kaleidoscope of implied stories rather than any specificrepresentation. One very clear influence on this movement is Borodin’sPolovtsian Dances from Prince Igor; Borodin had died only a year beforeand Rimsky had worked on completing and orchestrating his friend’sunfinished opera prior to composing Scheherazade.What is clear by the end is that Scheherazade’s story-telling hassaved her: in the closing moments we hear the sultan’s theme calmed bythe solo violin.