“The music of Scheherazade is like a magic carpet: It can transport you to another world.”—Musicologist Paul Serotsky
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born on March 18, 1844 in Tikhvin, Russia, to aristocratic but poor parents, who after tracing their roots back to the Holy Roman Empire, added Rimsky (“Roman” in Russian) to their surname. His only sibling was a brother, 22 years his senior, who was in the navy, a family tradition for generations; his stories of life at sea ignited a passion in Nicholai for travel and an ocean he had yet to see.
As a child, Nicholai lived a shy, sheltered life, immersed in books and all things navy. He began piano lessons at 6, although his interest wasn’t keen. At 10, he began composing. Until age 12, Nicholai had ventured outside of Tikhvin only three times, but that year, he enrolled in the Naval Academy in St. Petersburg where his brother was now the director, and where he began cello lessons (later returning to piano).
In his early teens, Nicholai’s interest in music remained marginal, but those around him recognized his talent and encouraged him, especially his brother. At 15, Nicholai began studying with a new teacher who prodded him to take composing seriously.
At 18, Rimsky-Korsakov graduated from the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences; he also met César Cui, Aleksandr Borodin, Mily Balakirev, and Modest Mussorgsky, major young composers who joined forces to create a specifically Russian kind of music, rather than one influenced by European traditions. Along with Rimsky-Korsakov, the group became known as The Russian Five or The Mighty Five, and even “The Mighty Little Heap”—but also just The Five.
While on a 32-month naval commission at sea, Rimsky-Korsakov was able to continue studying music. After seeing the Orient (as it was known then) in 1868, he tried to capture its essence in his symphony, “Antar,” based on Arab melodies—his first attempt at musically illustrating his travels.
He later revised the work, after visiting Crimean towns where he experienced foreign cultures buzzing with sounds: “…the coffee houses, the shouts of...vendors, the chanting of the muezzins on the minarets, the services in the mosques, and the oriental music.”
From 1871-1880, despite little formal training, Rimsky-Korsakov became a professor of composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He then entered a period of revising his earlier works.
When Mussorgsky died in 1881, Rimsky-Korsakov dedicated himself to finishing his friend’s compositions. Upon the death of Borodin in 1887 he dedicated himself to completing Borodin’s opera, Prince Igor. The music, inspired by distant Russian realms and Polovtsian folklore, rekindled Rimsky-Korsakov’s musical wanderlust, and so he began an “oriental fantasy” called Scheherazade.
Based on The 1001 Arabian Nights, Scheherazade is an epic collection of ancient Arabic, Persian and Indian stories arranged into an orchestral suite of spectacular symphonic scale. Filled with exotic, provocative melodies, colorful scoring, and bewitching harmonies conjuring faraway lands, the work tells the story of the beautiful Scheherazade as she captivates her husband, Sultan Shahriyar, with vibrant tales of sultans, princes and the voyager Sinbad. Her resourcefulness and charm both saves her life and the sultan from his bitterness.
The tone poem’s four movements are named after specific Arabian Nights’ scenarios. The narrative, more general than detailed, sweeps the audience off to a dazzling setting brimming with thrilling displays of orchestral virtuosity.
To begin, “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship,” introduces two contrasting themes—an overbearing, brass-dominated depiction of Shahriyar and a beautiful violin theme (Scheherazade), which is introduced by a woodwind choir and etched in melancholy before blossoming into her storytelling. Below the surface of both themes is the rollicking sea.
Opening with a loud, ominous warning and a Middle Eastern-sounding chromatic melody, all are hushed, yielding to Scheherazade’s ethereal voice: a lone violin backed by gossamer-like harp chords.
In “The Tale of Prince Kalendar,” an “oriental” melody journeys through the orchestra, alternating with tutti iterations played in unison. Brasses provide brightness and draw attention to the textures and colors of other orchestral choirs. A theme by a solo clarinet captures the whirling motion of the Kalendar tribal dervishes.
Surging lyricism in “The Young Prince and the Young Princess” evokes burgeoning romance, displayed in clever contrapuntal melodies countering between high and low strings, woodwinds, and harp. This fusion of themes culminates in a short succession of muted notes on the verge of bursting.
Finally, “The Festival in Baghdad” is highly episodic, with riveting dynamics and scoring. Tambourine and cymbal spice up the dance rhythms, further emphasized with bass and snare drums as momentum builds as Sinbad’s sea-tossed ship breaks apart. Final reprises of the two themes lead to resolution: Shahriyar is pacified and Scheherazade has saved herself.
Rimsky-Korsakov composed three of his greatest orchestral works (all musical pictures of exotic lands) between 1887-1888: Capriccio Espagnol, his portrayal of Spain, Russian Easter Overture, exploring his Orthodox religious heritage, and Scheherazade.
Serotsky called Rimsky-Korsakov (who died on June 21, 1908) “...the Master Magician of orchestration, surpassing even Wagner and Berlioz.”
Jayce Keane, who began her career as a journalist for The Rocky Mountain News, has been working in the orchestra industry and writing about music for 18 years. A longtime resident of California, she now lives in Colorado.