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| Flight of the Bumblebee | |
|---|---|
| Interlude byNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | |
| Native name | Полёт шмеля |
| Year | 1900 |
| Genre | Classical music |
"Flight of the Bumblebee" (Russian:Полёт шмеля) is an orchestralinterlude written byNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) for his operaThe Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900. Thisperpetuum mobile is intended to musically evoke the seemingly chaotic and rapidly changing flying pattern of abumblebee. Despite the piece's being a rather incidental part of the opera, it is today one of the more familiar classical works because of its frequent use inpopular culture.
The piece closes Act III, Tableau 1, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Prince Gvidon Saltanovich (the Tsar's son) into an insect so that he can fly away to visit his father (who does not know that he is alive). Although in the opera the Swan-Bird sings during the first part of the "Flight", her vocal line ismelodically uninvolved and easily omitted; this feature, combined with the fact that the number decisively closes the scene, made easy extraction as an orchestral concerto piece possible.[not verified in body][clarification needed]
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Following is the text of the scene where the Swan-Bird sings during this music:
| Russian | English translation |
|---|---|
| (Гвидон спускается с берега в море. Из моря вылетает шмель, кружась около Лебедь-Птицы.) ЛЕБЕДЬ-ПТИЦА: | (Gvidon goes down from the shore into the sea. Out from the sea flies a bumblebee, whirling around the Swan-Bird.) SWAN-BIRD: |
Although the "Flight" does not have a title in thescore of the opera, its common English title translates like the Russian one (Полёт шмеля =Polyot shmelya). Incidentally, this piece does not constitute one of the movements of the orchestral suite that Rimsky-Korsakov derived from the opera for concerts.
Those familiar with the operaTsar Saltan may recognize twoleitmotifs used in theFlight, both of which are associated with Prince Gvidon from earlier in the opera. These are illustrated here inmusical notation:
The music of this number recurs in modified form during the ensuing tableau (Act III, Tableau 2), at the points when the Bumblebee appears during the scene: it stings the two evil sisters on the brow, blinds Babarikha (the instigator of the plot to trick Saltan at the beginning into sending his wife away), and in general causes havoc at the end of the tableau. The readers ofAlexander Pushkin's original poem, upon which this opera is based, will note that Gvidon is supposed to go on three separate trips to Saltan's kingdom, each of which requires a transformation into a different insect.
"Flight of the Bumblebee" is recognizable for its frantic pace when played up totempo, with nearly uninterrupted runs ofchromaticsixteenth notes. It is not so much thepitch or range of the notes that are played that challenges the musician, but simply the musician's ability to move to them quickly enough. Because of this and its complexity, it requires a great deal of skill to perform. Often in popular culture, it is thought of as being notoriously hard to play.
In the "Tsar Saltan" suite, the short version is commonly played, taking less than two minutes. In the Opera version, the three-minute fifty-five-second version is performed.
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