The Tales of One Thousand and One Nights

I don’t know how many of you have read the Persian fairy tales of A Thousand and One Nights, but I am sure most of you have heard the Symphony of Sheherezade. It is one of the most successful musical pieces conducted by Rimsky Korsakov. The story is about Sultan Shahryar who has been convinced of the perfidy and unfaithfulness of women. He has vowed to kill every girl that he is married the next day.

Tonight is Sultana Sherherezade’s turn. Is she beautiful? Breathtaking. Is she going to fall in the same path of dead as the previous queens? No.

The fact that she was able to occupy the Sultan’s mind by telling marvelous stories for One Thousand and One Night, It made Sultan to extend the execution date and eventually call it off.


Did Sheherzade told Sultan of Sinbad’s voyages at sea, of the knights turned into stone…? Yes, actually she weaved stories into stories and tales to tales and this way she bought her life back. Of course, if you look at the stories, they are like bedtime stories flourish on repetition. When you listen to the Symphony, you don’t find the line by line reproduction of every one of the tales in particular, but instead, the composer tries to put you in a test to picture to which the program refers.

The symphony starts with a prelude (E Major) as the initial movement, the second a narrative (B Minor), the third a Reverie (G Major) and the fourth “Baghdad Carnaval” (E Minor or E Major), A Letter to Glazunov, 1888.

The repetition is the result of Rimsky’s ingenuity in harmony and orchestration, and the picture of the simultaneous similarity and unpredictability of the sea. In the second movement, where slow tempos, there is a similarity with storytelling, and an approach in the wind solos which interrupts the movement, and emphasizes the episodic nature of the music (the start and the end of different adventure). With the help of solo violin throughout the work in the third movement, Korsakov suggested the romantic climax, Review of Matthew Shorter’s Article, BBC.

I haven't enjoyed a long symphony as much as this. Rimsky Korsakov makes a superb use of manifesto and metaphor to give us (Persians and authentic Arabs) the joy of still making the stories read naturally.

Rimsky was a well traveled man before he became a famous composer. He went on a cruise which lasted almost three years. During this time he visited many European, and South American countries including USA and Canada. The beautiful scenes he saw during this time left striking impressions in his memory. Later on, during his composing career these impressions were interpreted in his symphonies. He created wonderful images of the sea. After he had seen all the beauties, to me, he chose our authentic stories to express his appreciation of Middle Eastern culture, and the beauties of passion, love and hatred.
Alireza B.
September 18, 2004