Scheherazade

Rimsky-Korsakov's major musical output was devoted to a string of operas. Despite being little known in the West they are still in the repertoire of the major Russian opera-houses - incidentally one of these operas made it to King's Lynn last year when his "Mozart and Salieri" was performed at the Corn Exchange by the City of London Sinfonia. We know him more from his colourful, romantic orchestral pieces of which Schererazade is probably the best loved, although every virtuoso seems to have had a go at his "Flight of the Bumblebee", extracted from the little known "The Tale of Tsar Sultan". Scheherazade is based on a collection of Oriental stories of uncertain origin and history. The stories of Aladdin, Sindbad the Sailor and Baba and the Forty Thieves have passed into folk legend in the West. In my youth, no home library was complete without either Sir Richard Burton's "The Thousand Nights and a Night" or various abridgements based on that book complete with drawings by artists such as Dulac. Shahryar, King of somewhere unidentified in Central Asia, kills his unfaithful wife and all of her cronies, becoming so much of a misogynist that he marries and beheads a new wife every day until the possibilities begin to run out. Scheherazade, daughter of the King's Vizier, has devised a plan to stay the carnage and save not only her skin but also that of her sister. She persuades her father to give her in marriage to the King to whom she tells a story each bedtime leaving it unfinished with the anticipation of the denouement the following evening. She tells such wonderful tales that the King is captivated, delays her execution on a daily basis and finally repents of his cruel plan. Rimsky-Korsakov portrays Scheherazade with a series of beguiling, entreating violin solos which introduce the familiar themes - who could not fail to fall for such an appealing story-teller (played this afternoon, of course, by our wonderfully talented leader, Jane Foottit).

The music overflows with four movements of invention, masterful orchestration, colour, beauty and excitement. Let us be transported to the East, let the romance commence! Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was born in in Tikhvin, near Novgorod, Russia in 1844 into a family steeped in naval tradition. It was unremarkable that he should enter the Russian navy but quite remarkable that he should end up as the major party in the distinguished group of Russian composers - Balakirev, Borodin, Cui and Mussorgsky were the others - who formed the immensely influential group known throughout the world as "The Five". The early influences were there; his mother played the piano, his father was a government officer of liberal views, his uncle was an admiral and his elder brother a naval officer. When he was 12 Rimsky-Korsakov's family moved to St. Petersburg where he enrolled in the Naval Academy. At the age of 15 he started piano lessons and two years later, under the guidance of Balakirev, began writing his first symphony. Shortly after graduating from the Academy he began a three- year voyage on a clipper ship, the "Almaz", which visited the USA, Brazil, Spain, Italy, France and England. Not only was he promoted to midshipman during the voyage but also he assimilated a great love of the sea which became of the utmost significance in his future life as a composer. His juvenile symphony was soon completed on his return to St. Petersburg and the first performance well received.

He was still only 21 and still without the benefit of formal musical study and training! Thus it is even more noteworthy that his high reputation as a composer led to an appointment to teach composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory when he was only 25 years old and still a naval officer! He was the first to admit his lack of qualifications for such a position but, eager to complete his own musical education, embarked on a comprehensive programme of studies including the art of writing counterpoint and fugues. Those musicians who have been through this mill would acknowledge the necessity and the grind of these endeavours. As a rounding off to his studies, he sent Tchaikovsky 10 fugues which the great man found to be perfect. He held the St. Petersburg post until the end of his life apart from a skirmish with the reactionary directorate in 1905 when he was sacked temporarily for defending the students' right to strike. Rimsky-Korsakov's first appearance on the podium was in 1874 to conduct the first performance of his Third Symphony. In the same year he was appointed director of the Free Music School in St. Petersburg. Although it has been said that he was somewhat lacking in flair as a conductor, he was appointed chief conductor of the Russian State Concerts for four years, made a memorable visit to the Paris World Exhibition in 1889 and a further visit to Paris in 1907 to conduct two historic all-Russian concerts in connection with Diaghilev's Ballet Russe. In all matters artistic he was a strict disciplinarian even to the extent of his own music which he was constantly revising and "improving". The results speak for themselves.