Yesterday I watched a ballet on the score of Sheherazade composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) , which brought back lots of childhood memories.

I used to listen to the tale of One Thousand and One Nights on BBC Persian radio each Friday night and go to sleep. The score was being played in the opening and the ending of each episode.

I can honestly say that along with the overture of Mozart's The Magic Flute, this is one of the most magnificent scores I've ever heard that is able to take you along exploring the mysteries of the Orient.

The book of One Thousand and One Nights is based on an old Persian book called Hezar-Afsaneh or Thousand Myths including many Persian, Indian and Arabic folklores. It seems that the fictional story teller Sheherazade (or Shahrzad) has been added to the storyline during 14th century while being translated into Arabic. Some of the famous stories of One Thousand and One Nights that have been translated into the western languages include Aladdin's Lamp, the Persian Sindbad the Sailor, and the tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; however Aladdin and Ali Baba were in fact inserted only in the 18th century by Antoine Galland, a French orientalist, who claimed to have heard them in oral form from a Maronite story teller from Aleppo in Syria.

Story begins when Shahryar (meaning "King" in Persian) and his brother discover that their wives have been unfaithful and they conclude that all the women are the same. From that day forward Shahryar marries a virgin each day and have her killed the next day for three years, until there were almost no qualified girls for him in the continent.

Shahrzad, the daughter of the king's counselor volunteers to spend the night with the king against his father's will. She begs king to let her see her sister one last time. As it has been planned, her sister asks Shahrzad for one of her stories, which remains unfinished by that dawn. Eager to hear the rest of her story, king pardons her life for another night. She never finishes a story by dawn and this goes on for 1001 nights, by that time she has three sons with the king. At the end of 1001 nights, king who has learned a lot from Shahrzad's tales and has fallen in love with her wit, knowledge and kindness, makes her his queen.

The score of Sheherazade lives up to the tale, so even if you are not interested in the medieval Middle-Eastern literary work, you still could enjoy this exotic classical masterpiece. Here you can hear a midi format:

Sheherazade midi

So, your name is - a myth?
That is a beautiful score, and the original classical choreography of this piece too. It runs in our theatre. Very nice that you like R-K. He is a great master of orchestra. Ravel was learning from him, but R-K is a genius.

Yes, a splendid piece of music--exciting, vibrant, always worth listening to. R-K also did several other worthwhile compositions, including Russian Easter and Capriccio Espagnol.
"Scheherazade" is often used as an introduction to "classic" music for children. Several recordings have been made with notable narrators telling the story of the Thousand and One Nights over R-K's score. When I was a kid, my parents gave me a wonderful recording (on 78 rpm records) by the Philadelphia Orchestra with the inimitable Basil Rathbone narrating. I gave my kids a recording with the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein narrating. He was no match for Rathbone.

Yes TB, and of course we should also note his 15 operas, all of them excellent. He is, mostly, known as operatic composer.

That's wonderful! I thought I'd be the only one here who has heard the stories as a kid.

While I hadn't heard any of these two narratings, it is strange to listen to it when a man narrates. After all You expect Shahrzad to have a dreamy feminine voice.

So, your name is - a myth?
[/b][/quote]Yes, and it is pronounced Af-saa-né, and not Af-sa-nah. Af-sa-nah is the way they pronounce my name in Arabic language, while my name is pure Persian.

BTW Turnbull, if you remember any of the tales, maybe you could tell me what the title of this story might be, because I remember I loved this one, but I'm having a hard time remembering the title... It is worth a shot, because I wish to read it again.

It was about a very beautiful boy and a dazzling girl, who had not ever fallen in love because each thought the opposite sex is deceitful in their commitment. Two genies took a bet that if the other party sees the one they know, would instantly fall in love with the other and give him/her a kiss. One of them took the bed of either the boy or the girl to the house of the other. During the night the boy woke up and saw the girl and melted with her beauty, took his ring, put it on her finger and went back to sleep. Then the girl woke up, saw the boy and the ring on her finger and gave him a kiss. Se the genie who had bet on the girl lost and they took the beds back in their place. Anyway, that morning when they saw that they were apart and a ring was missing/added they found out it was not a dream and started searching for each other and the rest that I can't remember, but I swear it was my most favorite story...

So do you remember the name of this one or any other hint so that I can search in the online copy?

I'm afraid I don't remember, Afsaneh. Sorry...