Brief Listening Guide: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade by Linda Shamoon

1. Important information to keep in mind while listening to Scheherazade a. Rimsky gave the following explanation: “All I desired was that the hearer, if he liked

my piece as symphonic music, should carry away the impression that it is beyond a doubt an Oriental narrative of some numerous and varied fairy-tale wonders and not merely four pieces played one after the other and composed on the basis of themes common to all the four movements.”

b. Rimsky tried to find a middle ground between “Program” music and “Absolute Music” by calling Scheherazade a ‘suite’ instead of a symphony, but writing it in four movements like a symphony, and by invoking the frame of the 1001 Arabian Nights tales, but asking the audience not to put the details of the stories into each movement.

c. Rimsky did not follow the structure of the Sonata form, and relied on repeated, slowly evolving thematic melodies to add unity passed from instrument to instrument to add unity. He used unresolved harmonic sequences to add tension.

2. Listen for how Rimsky preserves the 1001 Arabian Nights’ framing story of the Sultan vs.

Scheherazade. Listen for this from the opening notes of this symphonic suite to its final closing notes, listen for the Sultan’s threatening signature melody, usually played immediately before or after Scheherazade’s sweet, but increasingly sophisticated signature line. Here  are  some  excerpts:      

• Sultan’s  wicked  voice,  Scheherazade’s innocent  voice:    0  –  1:16,        • Scheherazade at the start of the 2nd movement, wait  for  the  double  stops:    9:05-­

9:41,        • The  final  movement,  when  the  Sultan  insists  on  the  hearing  the  stories’  endings,  

right  now!    And  listen  to  Scheherazade’s  response:    32:40  –  33:55  • Who  will  have  the  final  word?  Listen: 42:00  –  to  end

3. Rimsky was a master of orchestration and instrumentation, and he also liked to use layers of

melodies and suspended harmonies to evoke moods and scenes. • Listen to these evocative,  layered  and  elongated  passages:    Sinbad  at  sea    3:00  –  

5:10;    the  new  love  of  the  young  prince  and  princess:  20:37  –  22:37  • Listen for the evocation of adventure and danger in these passages: 12:50  –  15:10;  

and  38:00  –  40:14 • As  you  listen  and  watch  on  Saturday  evening,  keep  your  eye  on  the  harp,  the  

bassoons,  oboes,  flutes,  clarinets,  triangle  and  snare  drum.  Enjoy  the  way  Rimsky  handles  these  to  evoke  a  faraway  place,  an  imagined  land.    

4. Ultimately, this is Scheherazade’s story. Which Scheherazade do you hear? (next page):