ON THE. Rimsky-Korsakov "Scheherazade" (Scheherazade)

N. Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite "Scheherazade" crowns the list of wonderful works of the middle and late XIX century, based on oriental themes. Among them is “ Khovanshchina"Mussorgsky, " Ruslan and Ludmila"Glinka, and " Prince Igor"Borodin, and many more chamber vocal and symphonic works. During this period, Russian composers were especially attracted to the motifs of the mysterious East, and they willingly included them in their creations. But Rimsky-Korsakov was able to feel this theme most deeply and embody its subtlest nuances in his suite.

History of creation

In letters to a close friend Glazunov Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov admitted that the idea of ​​​​an orchestral suite based on the fairy tale “1000 and 1 Night” was born to him a long time ago, but he decided to start it only in 1888. At this time, the composer and his family were on the estate of a close friend near St. Petersburg. According to the author, the first bars were given to him with great difficulty, but soon he began to achieve approximately what he had in mind. This could not but please Nikolai Andreevich, whose writing activity in Lately faded into the background.

In the 80s Rimsky-Korsakov took the position of one of the most authoritative and sought-after musical figures. On his shoulders lay both the work of a professor at the Conservatory and participation in the management of the Court. singing choir, and collaboration with the publisher M.P. Belyaev. In addition, he could not ignore the unfinished works of many of his musician friends, and undertook to finish them.

On own creativity There was not always enough time, but, nevertheless, the suite was successfully started and completed in less than a month. This can be easily established by the dates indicated by the author on the score: part 1 - July 4, part 2 - July 11, 3 and 4 - July 16 and 26, respectively. Initially, each part had a title that partly revealed its content, but in the first edition the titles disappeared at the request of the composer himself. Thus, it still remains unclear exactly which fragments of Scheherazade’s tales underlie parts of the suite.

“Scheherazade” was first presented to the public in October 1888 at the first Russian Symphony Concert. The composer himself conducted the orchestra.

Interesting Facts

• The “Scheherazade” suite became one of the works presented in the “Parisian Seasons” of the Russian ballet school in 1910. The production captivated French connoisseurs both with its musical structure and the oriental flavor superbly conveyed with the help of L. Bakst’s costumes.
• After the second production of the ballet “Scheherazade” to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov in the “Paris Season” of 1911, V.A. Serov created an incredibly large curtain measuring 12 by 12 meters for subsequent performances.
• The ballet production received a second life in 1994 with light hand Andris Liepa. Not only was M. Fokine’s choreography completely recreated, but also the characters’ costumes were re-sewn based on L. Bakst’s sketches. Since then, “Scheherazade” has been regularly performed on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and other leading theaters in the world.
• The oriental motifs of “Scheherazade” excited the minds of musicians in the 20th-21st centuries: there are several options for processing excerpts from it. For example, in 1968 legendary group Deep Purple in one of her albums she presented a version of the first part performed on an electric organ. In 1971, a revised version of the suite was released as part of the album of the group Collegium Musicum. In 2005, “Scheherazade” was adapted for wind instruments and presented in this form by the M. Patterson Orchestra. In 2010 at jazz festival“Scheherazade XXI” was performed in Moscow - an arrangement by jazzmen I. Butman and N. Levinovsky.
• The source of the plot for "Scheherazade" is a monument of Arabic literature based on folk tales India, Iran and the Arab peoples, became widely known in the 17th century. “1000 and 1 Night” was translated into Russian from French in the 1760s - 1770s. Rimsky-Korsakov became the first composer who was not afraid to turn to this plot - he frightened many with his cruelty and excessive frankness in some episodes.
• Rimsky-Korsakov was a participant in a round-the-world sea voyage, and this allowed him to become a master in creating the image of the water element musical means. This unrivaled skill of his is also presented in Scheherazade.
• Initially, “Scheherazade” acquired, under the pen of the author, the classical form of a suite, because each part received its own program commentary and name. But after the composer abandoned naming the parts in favor of simple numbering, the work became more like a symphony. This is where the current full name of “Scheherazade” came from - a symphonic suite.
• You can see a show in the Olympic Park in Sochi dancing fountains to the music of "Scheherazade". A fragment of this suite was also performed at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games 2014.
• IN creative heritage Prokofiev there is “Fantasy on the Theme of Scheherazade”, created on the basis of an essay by his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov.
• Maurice Ravel always said with pride that he reference book is the score of “Scheherazade” by Rimsky-Korsakov, from which he often learns instrumentation. In 1903, he wrote his “Scheherazade” - a vocal cycle of three poems for voice and orchestra.
• In 1907, German astronomer A. Kopff discovered an asteroid, which was named “Scheherazade”.

Content

The suite consists of four parts, representing completely complete individual episodes, but united by certain leitmotifs. For example, the theme of Sultan Shahriar, as it is commonly called, is represented by sharp, menacing unisons of brass and string instruments. Scheherazade's theme, on the contrary, is voiced by a solo violin accompanied by a harp - it enchants and bewitches, forcing you to listen to the oriental sound intricacies. Both themes will change as the story progresses, but will remain recognizable even at the end, when Shahriar’s heart softens along with the strings moving to pianissimo.

First part was called by the author “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship.” The introduction is marked by the appearance of Shahriar, and then of the narrator herself, Scheherazade. Next comes the turn nautical theme- the strings are complemented by wind chords conveying the rumble of waves, and then a gentle flute depicts the running of a ship across the sea. The storm develops with the alarming sound of the strings, sharper cries of the winds, and the interweaving of themes in the chaos of the storm. But soon a peaceful calm returns.

Second part– “The Tale of Prince Kalender” begins with the theme main character, and gradually turns into a bright oriental melody. It is quite intricate - the author plays with timbres, simulating a tense and fascinating narrative. In the middle of the movement, a battle theme arises, reminiscent of Shahriar's theme, but in no way connected with it. The flight of the legendary roc bird appears in the background battle scene the sound of a piccolo flute. The end of the movement is the transition from the theme of the battle to the theme of the prince, interrupted by cadences.

At the core third part, called “The Tsarevich and the Princess,” there are two themes that characterize the main characters of the story. One of them, the Tsarevich's theme, is more lyrical and melodic, the second complements it with playful intonations and an intricate rhythmic pattern. Themes develop, intertwine with each other, acquiring new ones bright colors, however, at one point they are interrupted by Scheherazade's theme performed by a solo violin.

Part four, called by the composer “Baghdad holiday. Sea. The ship crashes on a rock with bronze horseman"includes a combination of almost all the main themes of the suite from the previous movements. Here they are intricately intertwined, filled with new shades, and create a picture of frantic fun. The holiday gives way to a sea storm, in the depiction of which Rimsky-Korsakov achieved perfection. In the conclusion, Shahriar's theme appears, but it is clearly not as sharp and harsh as at the beginning - the formidable sultan nevertheless succumbed to the charms of the beautiful Scheherazade.

Use of music in cinema

Rimsky-Korsakov's magnificent imitation of oriental motifs remains to this day one of the great musical works that film directors take as their main theme. Almost everywhere it sounds quite appropriate, giving the film or an individual episode depth and some understatement.

List of films in which excerpts from “Scheherazade” can be heard:

• “El Baisano Jalil” - Mexico, 1942.
• "Lost in the Harem" - USA, 1944
• “Song of Scheherazade” - USA, 1947.
• "The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb" - UK, 1964.
• « Caucasian captive" - USSR, 1967
• "A Clockwork Orange" - UK, 1971
• "Nijinsky" - USA, 1980
• “The Man in the Red Shoe” - USA, 1985.
• “Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown” - Spain, 1988.
• “Shadow Dancing” - USA, 1988
• “Tom Toumbas meets Thumbelina” - USA, 1996.
• “The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky” - Australia, 2001.
• “The Master and Margarita” - television series, Russia, 2005.
• “Gradiva is calling you” - France, 2006.
• “Cleanliness beats everything” - Denmark, 2006.
• “Trotsky” - Russia, 2009.
• "TO the last moment" - Germany, 2008

Abstract on the topic:

Scheherazade (suite)

Scheherazade tells tales to King Shahryar

Musical theme of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

"Scheherazade"- symphonic suite “Scheherazade”, one of the best symphonic works Russian composer N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, written in 1888. Rimsky-Korsakov created “Scheherazade” under the influence of the Arabian fairy tales “A Thousand and One Nights”. The work falls within the framework and traditions of the “East” in Russian music, coming from “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by M. Glinka. Creation oriental flavor by quoting oriental melodies, creating themes in the oriental spirit, imitating the sound of oriental instruments and tones, “Scheherazade” in its form and style is a symphonic suite, that is, a multi-part cyclic musical work written for a symphony orchestra. Also, the form of “Scheherazade” as a suite is due to the fact that the composer, in the process of working on it, created parts of a musical work, each of which had its own programmatic character and its own name. But later “Scheherazade”, as a suite as a whole, acquired more and more the character of a symphony form. As a result, Rimsky-Korsakov writes a single general program for the symphonic suite “Scheherazade”, removing the proper names of the parts of the symphonic suite and making the latter numbered.

• In 1910, Mikhail Fokine staged the ballet “Scheherazade” to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov, with scenery and costumes by Bakst.

Consists of 4 parts:

1. The sea and Sinbad’s ship - Sonata form with introduction and coda (without development).

2. The story of the Kalandar prince - Complex three-part form with introduction and coda.

3. Tsarevich and the princess (The young prince and the young princess) - sonata form with a coda without introduction or development.

4. Festival at Baghdad - Rondo (Alternating all parts from the first three parts).

Treatments

Scheherazade is one of the most popular works Rimsky-Korsakov. It is not only performed by academic musicians, but has also undergone many adaptations by pop artists.

• English rock group Deep Purple has reworked the first movement of "Scheherazade" as an electric organ composition " Medley: Prelude to Happiness", with a Hammond organ solo performed by Jon Lord. The composition was included in the 1968 album Shades of Deep Purple.
• An arrangement of the suite appears on the 1971 album Konvergencie by the Slovak group Collegium Musicum
• The Merlin Patterson Symphony Wind Orchestra (Houston, Texas, USA) created an unusual arrangement of “Scheherazade” for wind instruments, presented in 2005.

A fragment of “Scheherazade” was used in the film “Prisoner of the Caucasus”

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This abstract is based on an article from Russian Wikipedia. Synchronization completed 07/10/11 09:35:24
Similar abstracts: Scheherazade , Scheherazade (ballet) , Scheherazade (film) ,

Symphonic Suite

Orchestra composition: 2 flutes, 2 piccolos, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, tambourine, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, tom-tom, harp, strings .

History of creation

“In the middle of winter (1887-1888 - L.M.), among the work on “Prince Igor” and others, I had the idea of orchestral piece on the plot of some episodes from "Scheherazade"..." - we read in Rimsky-Korsakov's "Chronicle". The composer and his family spent the summer of 1888 in Nezhgovitsy - the estate of his friend in the Luga district of the St. Petersburg province. From there he wrote to Glazunov: “I decided to carry out, at all costs, the orchestral suite for “1001 Nights” that I had started a long time ago; I remembered everything I had and forced myself to study. At first it went slowly, but then it went quite quickly and, in any case, even if illusory, it filled my meager musical life.”

The sad tone of the letter is due to the fact that the 80s were for the composer difficult time. There was a growing family that needed to be supported. An extraordinary number of different responsibilities - professorship at the conservatory, acting as assistant manager of the Court Singing Chapel, participation in the publishing business of M.P. Belyaev, in concerts of the Russian Musical Society, editing the music of deceased friends - all this left almost no time or mental strength for creativity. Nevertheless, it was during these years that he created wonderful works, including “Scheherazade,” which became one of the peaks of the composer’s symphonic work. The autograph of the score contains the dates of composition of each of the four parts of the suite: at the end of the first part - July 4, 1888, Nezhgowice. At the end of the second - July 11, at the end of the third - July 16, at the end of the entire score - July 26. Thus, the entire work was written in less than a month.

Rimsky-Korsakov based the suite dedicated to V. Stasov on some of the Arabic tales from the collection “1001 Nights,” widely distributed in various (both complete and abridged and adapted) editions. This collection is a monument of medieval Arabic literature, the sources of which go back to Persian legends of the 9th century, finally took shape in the 15th century, and from the 17th century it became quite widespread in the East in lists. In 1704-1717 his first translation into French A. Gallan. Translation into Russian from the French edition was first carried out in 1763-1777. Thus, for more than a hundred years, Russian readers have been widely aware of fairy tales based on Indian, Iranian and Arab folklore, united by the image of the formidable Shahriar and his wise wife, the daughter of the Sultan's vizier Scheherazade.

The composer prefaced the score with a program he himself compiled at the beginning of the collection: “Sultan Shahriar, convinced of the treachery and infidelity of women, vowed to execute each of his wives after the first night; but Sultana Scheherazade saved her life by managing to keep him busy with fairy tales, telling them to him for 1001 nights so that, prompted by curiosity, Shahriar constantly postponed her execution and finally completely abandoned his intention.

Scheherazade told him many miracles, quoting poets’ poems and song lyrics, weaving fairy tales into fairy tales and stories into stories.”

Initially, the composer gave the title of each part: “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship”, “ Fantastic story Prince Kalender", "Tsarevich and Princess", "Baghdad holiday. Sea. The ship crashes against a rock with a bronze horseman. Conclusion,” but nowhere did he give any indication of which fairy tales the listeners were being referred to. Subsequently, he decided to remove these additional explanations for the program: “The search for an overly definite program in my work, which was undesirable for me, forced me subsequently, during the first edition, to destroy even those hints about it (the program. - L.M.) that were in the titles before each part...” Following the composer’s wishes, researchers of his work have never been involved in clarifying the program for the fairy tales of “1001 Nights”. According to the most authoritative researcher of the composer’s work, A. Solovtsov, “it remains unclear exactly which episodes of the famous edition of Arabic tales inspired Rimsky-Korsakov and how, in what musical images they are embodied in the suite.<...>Rimsky-Korsakov quite rightly emphasizes... that “Scheherazade” was based on “separate, unrelated” episodes... Indeed, the paintings chosen by Rimsky-Korsakov are not united by a common plot, this is not a story about any from the heroes of One Thousand and One Nights.

The first performance of “Scheherazade” took place in St. Petersburg on October 22 (November 3), 1888, in the first of the Russian symphony concerts, held in the Assembly of Nobility under the direction of the author.

Music

Prologue The suite opens with powerful and menacing unisons, depicting, as is commonly believed, the image of Shahriar. After soft, quiet chords of wind instruments, a whimsical melody of a solo violin enters, supported only by individual harp arpeggiatos. This is a beautiful Scheherazade. The violin has sounded, and against the background of the measured figurational movement of the cellos, the violins again appear opening theme. But now she is calm, majestic and paints not a formidable sultan, but the vast expanses of the sea, the unsurpassed singer of which was the author - a sailor who committed circumnavigation and, like no other composer, he knew how to embody images of the water element. The second theme, sounding in the chordal presentation of the winds, for a moment (only four bars) interrupts the measured movement of the rolling waves. The gentle flute solo follows the same movement. This is the ship of Sinbad the Sailor gliding smoothly over the waves. Excitement gradually rises. The elements are already raging menacingly. Previously heard themes are intertwined, and the figurations of the strings become alarming. The picture of the storm is complemented by exclamations of brass, full of despair. But the storm subsides. The first section of the movement (reprise) is repeated. In its conclusion, the theme of the sea sounds calm and gentle.

Part two The theme of Scheherazade begins, after which the solo bassoon performs a whimsical oriental melody, richly ornamented, developing variations in the timbres of other instruments. This is a story of oriental wonders, increasingly exciting and captivating. The central section depicts the events that the narrator narrates. A picture of a battle unfolds, in which the main theme is former topic Sultana, who has now lost touch with the original image. The rhythmically sharp cry of the trombones, intonationally similar to it, is the theme of the battle. The battle episode is interrupted by an extended clarinet cadenza. With a piercing whistle of high wooden instruments, the sound of which is covered by a piccolo flute, the next episode begins: fairy bird Rukh. The picture of the battle is repeated, and in the final section the theme of Prince Kalender is interrupted by cadences. “It seems as if the listeners cannot contain their excitement and are heatedly discussing the events described” (A. Solovtsov).

The third part at a calm tempo, Andantino quasi allegretto has two main themes: the Tsarevich - lyrical, smooth, dance-like with simple harmonies on a sustained organ point, with suddenly intruding scale-like passages - and the Tsarevna, similar to the first intonation, but more lively, flirtatious, with the characteristic accompaniment of a snare drum, beating out whimsical rhythmic figures. These themes are repeated, varied, and enriched with new orchestral colors. The development is interrupted by Scheherazade's theme, performed by a solo violin, but its story about the Tsarevich and the Princess continues, which ends with the fading sonority and a gentle arpeggiato of the strings.

Fourth part- the longest and richest in various ways. Her introduction is the first theme of the Prologue, which here again changes its meaning. This is no longer the formidable Shahriar and not the expanses of the sea, but a joyful signal for the beginning of the holiday. After a general pause, his last motive sounds. Another general pause. And the capricious, complicated cadence of Scheherazade with the solo violin is not in one voice, as before, but in two voices, with chords at the conclusion. The first theme enters even more violently and furiously. Now it sounds longer and more detailed. The second conduction of Scheherazade's theme also becomes more excited (in three- and four-voice chords of the solo violin). And then, on an ostinato rhythm, a picture of a holiday unfolds with various themes replacing one another. IN general movement previously heard themes are also woven in: a motif from Kalender’s story, the Princess’s melody, the warlike cry of the battle scene - as if familiar characters are flashing among the merry crowd. Suddenly, at the culmination of the holiday, the picture changes: a storm begins. The waves rise even more menacingly than in the first part. Passages of harps rise and fall, chromatic scales of high wooden ones. The battle theme from the second part plays. A powerful, fortissimo brass chord, supported by the booming sound of a tom-tom, depicts the moment when the ship crashes on a rock. The movement of the waves calms down, everything gradually calms down. The violin thoughtfully and calmly performs Scheherazade's cadenza. Shahriar's once formidable but now softened theme runs through the strings pianissimo. And the suite ends with the theme of the beautiful sultana, which no longer appeared in full, but in echoes, gradually dissolving in the upper register.

	Op. 35
	Holiday in Baghdad
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"Scheherazade"- symphonic suite, one of the best symphonic works of the Russian composer N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, written in 1888. Rimsky-Korsakov created “Scheherazade” under the influence of the Arabian fairy tales “One Thousand and One Nights”. The work falls within the framework and traditions of the “East” in Russian music, coming from “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by M. Glinka. Creating an oriental flavor by quoting oriental melodies, creating themes in an oriental spirit, imitating the sound of oriental instruments and tones “Scheherazade” in its form and style is a symphonic suite, that is, a multi-part cyclic musical work written for a symphony orchestra. Also, the form of “Scheherazade” as a suite is due to the fact that the composer, in the process of working on it, created parts of a musical work, each of which had its own programmatic character and its own name. But later “Scheherazade”, as a suite as a whole, acquired more and more the character of a symphony form. As a result, Rimsky-Korsakov writes a single general program for the symphonic suite “Scheherazade”, removing the proper names of the parts of the symphonic suite and making the latter numbered.

• In 1910, Mikhail Fokine staged the ballet Scheherazade to music by Rimsky-Korsakov, with sets and costumes by Bakst.

Consists of 4 parts:

1. The sea and Sinbad’s ship - Sonata form with introduction and coda (without development).
2. The story of the Kalandar prince - Complex three-part form with introduction and coda.
3. The Tsarevich and the Princess (The young prince and the young princess) - sonata form with a coda without introduction or development.
4. Festival at Baghdad - Rondo (Alternating all parts from the first three parts).

Treatments

Scheherazade is one of Rimsky-Korsakov's most popular works. It is not only performed by academic musicians, but has also undergone many adaptations by pop artists.

• The English rock band Deep Purple arranged the first part of “Scheherazade” in the form of an electric organ composition “ Prelude: Happiness/I'm So Glad", with a Hammond organ solo performed by Jon Lord. The composition was included in the 1968 album Shades of Deep Purple.
• An arrangement of the suite appears on the 1971 album Konvergencie by the Slovak group Collegium Musicum
• The Merlin Patterson Symphony Wind Orchestra (Houston, Texas, USA) created an unusual arrangement of Scheherazade for wind instruments, presented in 2005.
• A fragment of “Scheherazade” was used in the film “Prisoner of the Caucasus”
• Music from "Scheherazade" was used in the cartoon "The Little Mermaid (cartoon, 1968)"

Works of Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov
Operas (by creation time)	Pskovite May Night Snow Maiden Mlada The Night Before Christmas Sadko Mozart and Salieri Boyarina Vera Sheloga The Tsar's Bride The Tale of Tsar Saltan Servilia Kashchei the Immortal Pan Voivode The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia The Golden Cockerel
Symphonic works	Symphony No. 1 Symphony No. 2 “Antar” Symphony No. 3 Overture on the themes of three Russian songs Suite "Scheherazade" Spanish capriccio Bright Holiday (Sunday Overture) Sadko Serbian fantasy Fairy tale Symphonietta on Russian themes Little Russian fantasy Over the grave Dubinushka Zdravitsa Neapolitan song
Cantatas	Svitezianka Song about the prophetic Oleg From Homer
Instrument with orchestra	Concerto for trombone Variations on a Theme of Glinka for oboe Concertstück for clarinet Concerto for piano Fantasia for violin Mazurka on three Polish themes for violin Serenade for cello

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