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"Scheherazade", Op. 35, is a symphonic suite on episodes of oriental adventures based on "1001 Arabian Nights" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. It was composed in the summer of 1888 and heavily inspired by Rimsky-Korsakov's interest in the oriental, the ocean, and folk tunes from all around the globe.
Akin to "1001 Arabian Nights", Rimsky-Korsakov musically expresses a young woman named Scheherazade who attempts to flee execution by her husband, the Sultan Schahriar who is represented by the heavy brass opening of the piece, by telling stories for 1001 nights until she is eventually freed from her fate. Scheherazade, represented by the solo violin melody at the beginning of movements I. and II., begins by telling the story of Sinbad's Ship, then moves onto the story of Prince Kalender, next the story of a young prince and a young princess, and finally a story about celebrations in Bagdad which end in a shipwreck. These stories were initially used as titles for the work but were later dropped by Rimsky-Korsakov in favor of ordinary tempo markings as titles. According to the composer, his end goal in the composition was to evoke feelings of the orient, not to display a full programmatic work.
Movement III. is in variation ternary form (ABA) with a short interlude between part B and the second occurrence of part A. Each of the three parts includes variations upon one central theme, where all the themes presented in the work are very closely related motivically which creates a strong sense of unity between them (the motive of a two eight-note pickup, for instance). Programatically, it can be said that the passionate lyrical theme represents the young prince and the scale runs by the winds, string, and harp represent the young princes or vice versa (marked in purple and red respectively). Part B consists of a dance-like oriental melody (marked in green), with a more flowing and melodic counter-melody (marked in yellow). A coda based on the development of this dance-like theme and finally a play on the motive of the first theme closes off the movement in a quasi-fairy-tale fashion.
00:00 - A: Theme I + II.
01:15 - A: Theme I + II, Variation I.
02:24 - A: Theme I + II, Development.
03:17 - B: Theme III.
04:33 - B: Theme III, Variation.
05:14 - A: Theme I.
06:04 - Interlude.
06:40 - A: Theme I + II, Variation II.
07:46 - A: Theme I.
8:13 - Coda.
Orchestra: Decatur Symphony
Conductor: Michael Luxnor
Violin Solo: Georgia Hornbecker
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