Maestro: Independent Classical Spotlight

Maestro 008: feat. Impressionistic Piano Works, Part 1 1. Anthony Goldstone "The Bumble Bee" (mp3) from "A Night at the Opera - Liszt, Gluck, Chopin, et al." (Divine Art) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Rhapsody Buy at Napster Buy at appliedSB / Groupietunes Buy at Puretracks Buy at mTraks More On This Album "Flight of the Bumblebee" is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900. The piece closes Act III, Tableau 1, right after the magic Swan-Bird gives Prince Gvidon Saltanovich (the Tsar's son) instructions on how to change 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 is melodically uninvolved and easily omitted; this feature, combined with the fact that the number decisively closes the scene, made easy extraction as an orchestral concert piece possible. Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakov was