Rimsky-Korsakov's bee takes flight

Synopsis

The Russian composer Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov might be described as an operatic dynamo: not only did he compose fifteen of them himself, but he also had a hand in editing, orchestrating and promoting four important Russian operas written by others: Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” and “Khovantschina,” Borodin’s “Prince Igor,” and Dargomïzhsky’s “The Stone Guest.”

Of Rimsky-Korsakov’s fifteen operas, however, only his last, “The Golden Cockerel,” is staged with any regularity outside Russia, although instrumental suites and excerpts from several of them have proven immensely popular as concert pieces.

The familiar “Flight of the Bumble-Bee” is from a Rimsky-Korsakov opera that premiered in Moscow on today’s date in 1900, and, like most of his operas, is based on Russian fairytales. The opera’s full title is: “The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of his Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatïr Prince Guidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Swan-Princess.”

If you think the title is a bit long, consider the required cast of performers, which in addition to thirteen main characters calls for Boyars and their wives, courtiers, nursemaids, sentries, troops, boatmen, astrologers, footmen, singers, scribes, servants and maids, dancers of both sexes, 33 knights of the sea with their leader Chernomor, a squirrel, and – oh yes – a bumblebee.

You begin to see that staging a Rimsky-Korsakov opera is: a) not something one can do on the cheap, and b) potentially confusing to those not familiar from infancy with the intricacies of Russian fairy tales.

Music Played in Today's Program

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908) Flight of the Bumble Bee, from Tsar Saltan Philharmonia Orchestra; Vladimir Ashkenazy, cond. London 460 250

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumble Bee Budapest Clarinet Quintet Naxos 8.553427

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumble Bee Itzhak Perlman, violin; Samuel Sanders, piano EMI 54882

On This Day

Births

• 1587 - Baptism of German composer and organist Samuel Scheidt, in Halle-on-Saale;

• 1801 - Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini, in Catania, Sicily;

• 1911 - Russian-American composer Vladimir Ussachevsky, in Hailar, Manchuria;

Deaths

• 1939 - French composer and organist Charles Tournemire, age 69, in Arcachon, France;

• 1993 - Russian inventor Lev Sergeivitch Termen (anglicized to Leon Theremin), age 97, in Moscow; He invented the "theremin," an electronic instrument whose sound was either used or imitated (by specially constructed and easier to play electronic instruments) in any number of film scores ("Spellbound," "The Day the Earth Stood Still", etc.) and even in the Beach Boys' song "Good Vibrations";

Premieres

• 1726 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 49 ("Ich gehe und suche mit Verlangen")performed on the 20th Sunday after Trinity as part of Bach's third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27);

• 1844 - Verdi: opera "I due Foscari" (The Two Foscari), in Rome at the Teatro Argentina;

• 1888 - Rimsky-Korsakov: “Scheherazade,” in St. Petersburg (see Julian date: Oct. 22);

• 1898 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera “The Tsar’s Bride,” at the Solodovnikov Theatre in Moscow, with Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov conducting (see Julian date: Oct. 22);

• 1900 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera “The Tale of Tsar Saltan,” at the Solodovnikov Theatre in Moscow, with Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov conducting (see Julian date: Oct. 21);

• 1927 - Hindemith: "Kammermusik" No. 5, Op. 46, no. 2, in Berlin at the Kroll Opera, with Otto Klemperer conducting and the composer the viola soloist;

• 1943 - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8, at the Moscow Conservatory by the USSR State Symphony conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky, for an invited audience of musicians, artists, critics, and journalists; The first public performance took place the following evening;

• 1945 - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9, by the Leningrad Philharmonic, Yevgeny ravinsky conducting;

• 1946 - Prokofiev: opera "Betrothal in a Monastery" (or "The Duenna") in Leningrad;

• 1950 - David Diamond: Symphony No. 3, by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

• 1958 - Per Norgaard: "Constellations" for 12 solo strings, in Copenhagen;

• 2002 - Milton Babbitt: “From the Psalter,” David Lang: “how to pray,” and Shulamit Ran: “Supplications,” at Carnegie Hall in New York by soloists, the New York Virtuoso Singers and the American Composers Orchestra, Steven Sloane conducting;

Others

• 1783 - Mozart completes his "Linz" Symphony (No. 36 in C, K. 425) the day before its first performance in that Austrian town.