La flûte enchantée (Shéhérazade) by Maurice Ravel- Performance
This performance took place on November of 2016 at Peabody Institute of Muisc Johns Hopkins University
Shéhérazade by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
La flûte enchantée
Ravel’s song cycle for soprano, Shéhérazade gives us an example of
three focus areas, Emphasis on words or text, tonal color and
rhythmic variety. This work is based on three
poems by Tristan Klingor: Asie, La flûte enchantée, and L'indifférent.
The legendary Arabian Nights, or A Thousand and One Nights as they are also called.
It is a collection of Arabian, Indian, and Persian stories written in Arabic
between the 9th and 16th centuries. They became well-known in Europe
after they were translated into French in the early 1700s, giving the
Western world Aladdin, Sinbad, Ali Baba, and a lasting cultural and
literary cliché: magical, exotic Asia.
La flûte enchantée the romantic yearning of lovers, separated by servitude, discover a connection through music.
Some of these tales trace their roots back to ancient medieval arabic, Persian, Greek, Indian and Jewish folklore and literature. Common throughout the tales is the initial story of a ruler and his wife, Sheherazade.