Scheherazade, Op. 35
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
(b. March 18, 1844 in Tikhvin, Russia; d. June 21, 1908 in Loubensk, Pskov Oblast, Russia)
Rimsky-Korsakov did not immediately embark on a musical career. Instead young Nikolai dreamed of going all the places his brother Voin (1822-1871) went in his role as a geographer for the Imperial Russian Navy. He yearned all the more because he grew into adolescence barely having ventured out of his home town. With his family's encouragement he resolved to follow in his brother's footsteps. After finishing his exams at the School for Mathematical and Navigational Sciences in Saint Petersburg in 1862, he was finally off to sea.
From an early age Nikolai had shown interest in music. Only after he had begun his naval career was music's outsized appeal clear. Powerful people inside and outside the navy appreciated the path he needed to take and so let him combine his music and naval duties. Creating a new post of Inspector of Naval Bands for him solved the problem neatly. He took the job seriously and, charged with responsibility for the quality of band instruments, he learned to play many of them—a big part of his mastery of orchestration.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s dreams of far places and his musical impulses met in “oriental” music. That label seems peculiar today as Asia was never monolithic, but it meant for him Arab melodies from North Africa and the distinctive sounds of Muslim towns of Asia Minor. A trip he made in 1874 seemed to give him everything he wanted. He described his experience later, “It was while hearing the gypsy-musicians of Bakhchisaray I first became acquainted with oriental music in its natural state, and I believe I caught the main feature of its character.”
Rimsky-Korsakov took the death of his fellow composer and friend Alexander Borodin very hard. It was February 1887 and Rimsky-Korsakov was just beginning to compose again in earnest after a creative drought. Nevertheless, when Borodin died, Rimsky-Korsakov made his next task the completion of Borodin's opera Prince Igor. In it was a world of Turkish invaders with accompanying harems—in other words a perfect setup to refocus Rimsky-Korsakov on his own oriental fantasies. As he worked to complete Prince Igor, he imagined his own fantasy based on 1001 Arabian Nights. Rimsky-Korsakov made them the story of Sultana Scheherazade who told the Sultan one tale every night, each a cliff-hanger. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote, in part, "The Sultan Schariar, convinced that all women are false and faithless, vowed to put to death each of his wives after the first nuptial night. [...] The Sultan, consumed with curiosity, postponed from day to day the execution of his wife, and finally repudiated his bloody vow entirely."
The themes that unify the entire work begin the first movement: First, the gruff Sultan's theme by full orchestra. A few hushed chords from the winds, reminiscent of Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream, then Scheherazade's insinuating theme by the solo violin. The Allegro non troppo, in 6/4 time, begins a gently rocking sea voyage with both themes interwoven in various guises. In this movement, as the ship comes to port, the Sultan must have fallen fast asleep.
Scheherazade's theme begins the rhapsodic second movement. Dreamy episodes and fiery outbursts come and go. Fire prevails.
The third movement is an ecstatic love story. Nocturnal in mood, only Scheherazade's theme gets a full hearing, late in the movement, in an arresting solo and cadenza punctuated by the harp. The movement tiptoes into silence.
Perhaps Rimsky-Korsakov's naval career is why the last movement returns to the sea. The two unifying themes, dressed up a bit, alternate twice until at the Vivo section we are off to the races. Like looking in a kaleidoscope, secondary themes from the previous three movements are tossed about. The sea returns, stormy and dangerous this time. The Sultan's theme rides the mammoth waves. The ship breaks apart but the waters calm again, the Sultan is subdued. Scheherazade's theme signals the happy ending.
© 2011, 2016, 2023 by Steven Hollingsworth, Creative Commons Public Attribution 3.0 United States License.