Scheherezade by Rimsky-Korsakov

Based on One Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights) as told by Scheherezade Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed Scheherazade in 1888. The movements are based on some of the stories and scenes depicted in this famous collection of stories. The movements are named:
  
I. The Sea and Sinbad's Ship
II. The Kalendar Prince
III. The Young Prince and The Young Princess
IV. Festival at Baghdad. The Sea. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze Horseman.

From his blog "Classical Notes", Peter Gutmann offers up a summary of the beginning of the story:

Rimsky-Korsakov's 1888 Scheherazade [is] an exotic, ravishing, timeless, evocative fantasy brimming with awe, sensuality and sheer wonder based on The 1,001 Nights, the sprawling collection of ancient Arabian legends. The framing story is summarized in a prefatory note to the score: the Sultan Shahriar, who regards all women as deceitful, vows to take a virgin as his new wife each day, sleep with her, and then slay her the next morning. But the brilliant Scheherazade outwits him by spinning intriguing tales that she would halt at dawn and only conclude the next night. After the thousand and one nights of the title, she finally wins his love.

Rimsky-Korsakov's music inspired a ballet choreographed by Mikhail Fokin. Below are videos of two different versions:

This production is a little more dramatic and adapted for film :

Connections and Directions:

Persian Studies
Narratives
1001 Arabian Nights

Related Links:

• If you are curious about the original stories, you can read them for free at Project Gutenberg
• Read about "Romatic Orientalism" from the Norton Anthology of English Literature 
• The WikiPedia entry for Rimsky-Korsakov is quite detailed. Like Mussorgsky (the composers of Pictures at an Exhibition whom we studied a few weeks ago), Rimsky-Korsakove is one of the "Mighty Handful" (five famous composers) of Russia.
• Here is a handy guide to all of the characters of One Thousand and One Nights