Guided listening meant to help you hear a piece of music in a new way.
Scheherazade, Movement 1: The Sea and Sinbad's Ship by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
10 Minutes
Scheherazade is based on the famous story One Thousand and One Nights, also known as The Arabian Nights. It tells the story of a sultan who, after being betrayed by his wife, vows to marry a new woman every day and have her executed the following morning. Scheherazade volunteers to marry him and saves herself by telling him a story each night, always stopping at the most suspenseful moment so that he must keep her alive to hear the ending (gotta love the creativity and bravery!).
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade brings this story to life through music. We encourage you to start by listening to the first movement, The Sea and Sinbad's ship. In the opening movement, you can hear three distinct characters:
The Sultan, whose imposing theme sounds just about as angry as one might expect. It appears first at the start of the piece, demanding a story.
Scheherazade, heard in a solo violin line that is somehow both delicate as assertive. This line first appears right after the Sultan's demand.
The Sea, portrayed by undulating sounds from the orchestra, particularly the cello section, as it carries Sinbad’s ship through waves and adventure.
Your Challenge: As you listen, see if you can hear when each character takes the stage. Listen for Scheherazade weaving herself through the ocean waves in her story, keep an ear out for the Sultan as he aggressively interjects his questions and thoughts, and notice how once the ocean waves start, they never stop - a testament to Scheherazade's incredible storytelling powers.
Take A Listen
Some key moments:
0:00: Hear the loud first melody of the angry, demanding Sultan
0:56: Scheherazade arrives, clever and sultry
1:35: Welcome to the sea
4:12: Scheherazade appears again, weaving herself into the story
4:54: Hear the Sultan respond with his insistent melody in the brass
8:00: The story swells…Scheherazade is really a great storyteller, isn’t she?