Classical Music: Scheherazade

We continue publishing these guiding commentaries on the classical music broadcast by Radio Orient at half past seven every Saturday and every Wednesday evening, in compliance with the wish of many of our honored listeners. This evening we again broadcast excerpts from Scheherazade, by Rimsky-Korsakov, but not the excerpts we broadcast last time. So we return with Rimsky-Korsakov to the atmosphere of Baghdad, with its feasts and its splendor in the age of al-Rashid, as it is pictured in the tales of the Thousand and One Nights.

We must say again that Shahriyar, when he came to doubt the faithfulness of women, swore to kill each one of his wives on the morning after her first night; but the Sultana Scheherazade was able to save herself by beguiling Shahriyar with her tales, which she went on reciting for a thousand and one nights, mingling tidings of war with tidings of love, with weddings and feasts, with marvels, with everything; and whenever he wearied of a tale she carried him to another, or into a new atmosphere, until at last he turned back from the sentence of death.

As for Rimsky-Korsakov, the Russian musician who lived until about half a century ago, he drew his inspiration from that tale, making the pivot of his music that contest between Shahriyar, who wishes to silence her so as to carry out the sentence upon her, and Scheherazade, who wishes to continue her tales so as to escape death. He expressed the voice of Scheherazade by the delicate solo violin, and the voice of Shahriyar by rougher strains from many instruments. And around these two voices the music pictures feasts and weddings and all manner of tidings from what the tales of Scheherazade contain.

For this evening we have chosen three excerpts:

The first excerpt is an opening in which the instruments are used all together to represent the voice of the Sultan in a tone of haughtiness and menace, pronouncing his barbarous sentence upon Scheherazade. Then we hear her voice working its art to beguile him and soften his heart.

The second excerpt carries us into an atmosphere of pure Arab song, with a musical accompaniment that joins with that song to form a richer beauty; and often we hear the voice of Shahriyar break in angrily, whereupon Scheherazade returns to win him over with something new.

And the third excerpt, which is the end of the piece, is where the Sultan is pleased and turns back from his decree; his voice, now grown calm, and hers move along together as in evening converse. We notice that her voice grows fainter little by little, but we go on hearing it to the very end of the piece.