The new concert series Symphonic Monuments is addressed to those brave and conscious adults who would like to know the true meaning of the adjective "symphonic" (so popular in recent years) and to hear live and understand the evergreens of orchestral works. Each concert will begin with a short, casual lecture introducing the composer and explaining the concept and form of the piece. The second concerts of the Symphonic Monuments series will be devoted to the Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
To this day, Arabian Nights remains the most famous collection of Arabic, ancient Indian, and Persian legends, woven together by the character of Scheherazade and her husband, Sultan Shahriar. Convinced of the infidelity and deceitful nature of women, Shahriar vowed to sentence each of his wives to death after their wedding night. Scheherazade, determined not to share the tragic fate of her predecessors, tells the Sultan tales captivating his curiosity so that he spares her life.
This story fascinated Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov so much that he dedicated his most famous work to it. He titled it after the heroine, whose story he even described in the introduction to the score.
At the very beginning, we hear the dark first theme – the theme of Sultan Shahriar; followed immediately by the second: a subtle, delicate theme played on solo violin – the theme of Scheherazade. Both themes will recur throughout the entire piece. Scheherazade is a musical study of passion and tension, love and fear. The piece captivates with its rich orchestral sound, as well as with magnificent solo passages and numerous references to folk and oriental melodies. It is an undisputed musical masterpiece that, since its premiere in 1888, has continuously won the hearts of successive generations of listeners.
Excerpt from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scherazade performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alyssa Wang:
