Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade, mov I

In the household of the Rimski-Korsakov, in the small town of Tihvin, 120 miles east of Saint Petersburg, all the family was fond of music. The mother of the future composer Nikolai played the piano a little and the father a little less. An uncle who lived with the family liked to walk around the rooms singing popular songs. Despite all this, in 1850, little Nikolai began serious musical studies at age six with a much older neighbour who made him know the first musical rules. Then a governess would come and then the daughter of a neighbour who put him in touch with Beethoven's works.

The family, somewhat aristocratic, had a military background. An uncle of Nikolai was admiral of the Russian imperial fleet. His older brother, also a sailor, sent letters from the Far East that excited the child's imagination with the mysteries and adventures of the sea and the matters of navigation. And there being no other musicians in Tihvin who encouraged the boy to pursue a musical career, in 1856 he left the town and arrived in St. Petersburg to join the Imperial Russian Navy.

Midshipman Rimski-Korsakov, in 1864

The future composer left the naval school in 1862 as a midshipman and was assigned to a frigate that was preparing for a long cruise. However, throughout his training as a sailor, Nikolai never abandoned his musical studies, which disgusted his older brother who constantly scolded him for being more interested in music than in the marina.
Mili Balakirev, future member, as Rimski, of the Five mighty (Balakirev, Musorgsky, César Cui, Rimski and Borodin) had encouraged him to write music while he was not on the open seas. He did so producing in these conditions at least one symphony. Perhaps Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov is the only musician in the world been taught "under the wing" of a military institution.

Symphonic Suite "Scheherazade", opus 35 - First movement
Composed during the summer of 1888, the suite is a work in four movements inspired in some way in One Thousand and One Nights. Or at least that was the first intention if we look at the guidelines that originally headed each movement. In a second edition, the author suppressed them because, according to his own confession, he only intended to show some oriental scenes and so orientate the listener's fantasy. Nevertheless, these indications are kept up to date in handheld programs.
The first movement of the suite is entitled: "The Sea and Sinbad's ship." A musical motif is maintained throughout the work: the voice of Scheherazade, represented by the solo violin.

The rendition is by the Leipziger Gewandhausorchester, led by the German conductor Kurt Masur.

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