Scheherazade for kids: the story and the music

Scheherazade is a piece for orchestra about a young woman who saves her life by telling stories. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a Russian composer, wrote it in 1888. It has four parts and lasts about 45 minutes. A child needs to know only two tunes to follow all of it.

Quick facts

• Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who lived from 1844 to 1908
• Written: 1888
• Length: about 45 minutes, in four parts
• Played by: a full orchestra with a solo violin
• Based on: The Thousand and One Nights, an old collection of tales from the Middle East and Asia

The story

A sultan had grown bitter and cruel. He believed no wife could be trusted, and each bride of his lived only until morning.

Scheherazade was clever. On her wedding night she began to tell the sultan a story. She stopped at the best part, just as the sun came up. The sultan had to know the ending, so he let her live one more day.

She did the same thing the next night, and the next. She told stories for a thousand and one nights: tales of sailors, princes, magic, and monsters. By the end, the sultan had changed his mind, and she was safe.

The two tunes

The sultan. The piece begins with his tune. Trombones and low strings play it loud and stern, all together.

Scheherazade. Then a solo violin answers, high and sweet, with a harp under it. This is the voice of the storyteller. It curls and winds like someone who says, “Once upon a time.”

Listen for the violin in every part. Each time it returns, she is telling a story.

The four parts

Part	Its name	What to listen for
1	The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship	The orchestra rocks like waves. The sultan’s tune becomes the swell of the sea.
2	The Story of the Kalendar Prince	A bassoon tells a tale alone, a bit sad and a bit funny. Later the brass shout a battle.
3	The Young Prince and the Young Princess	The strings play a gentle love song. A small drum taps under a dancing clarinet.
4	Festival at Baghdad, the Sea, and the Shipwreck	A wild party. Then the sea returns, and a ship breaks on a rock with a crash.

Rimsky-Korsakov later took the names away. He did not want listeners to hunt for an exact story in every bar. People still use the names, since they help.

The ending

After the shipwreck, the storm dies down. The solo violin climbs to a long, high note and stays there. Under it, the sultan’s tune comes back one last time, soft and calm. He is not angry now. She has won.

A composer who knew the sea

Rimsky-Korsakov served as an officer in the Russian navy as a young man and spent almost three years at sea. His waves sound real because he had watched them for years. He was also famous for knowing which instruments to combine, and he wrote a textbook about it. Read Rimsky-Korsakov for kids.

How to listen with a child

• Start with five minutes. Play the opening: the sultan, the violin, and the first waves.
• Take one part a day. Four days, four stories.
• Go straight to the storm. A child who likes loud music can start with the last five minutes of part 4.

Things to do together

• Thumbs up for the storyteller. Raise a thumb each time the solo violin plays her tune.
• Stop at the best part. Tell a bedtime story, stop at the best moment, and finish it the next night. That is how Scheherazade stayed alive.
• Draw the ship. Draw Sinbad’s ship on the waves for part 1, and the wreck for part 4.
• Name the storyteller’s instrument. Then ask why a composer would pick a violin for her and trombones for him.

Words to know

• Suite: a set of pieces that belong together
• Solo: music for one player
• Theme: a tune that stands for a person or an idea

Print and play

Write one line for each of the four stories on a listening journal page. For a short piece by the same composer, read the Flight of the Bumblebee guide. For more music with a plot, read classical music that tells a story. More guides are listed in classical music listening guides for kids.