Antar (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Encyclopedia
Antar is a composition for symphony orchestra in four movements by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
. He wrote the piece in 1868 but revised the work in 1875 and 1891. He initially called this work his Second Symphony. He later reconsidered and called it a symphonic suite. It was first performed in 1869 at a concert of the Russian Musical Society
.
and César Cui
. Antar, an enemy of all mankind, has become a recluse in the desert. He saves a gazelle from a large bird. Weary from fighting the bird, he falls asleep exhausted. He dreams he is in the palace of the Queen of Palmyra. The queen, the fairy Gul-Nazar, was the gazelle Antar saved from the bird. As a reward, she permits Antar to fulfill three of life's greatest joys — vengeance, power and love. He accepts these gifts with gratitude, then makes a request himself. He asks the queen to take his life if these pleasures become tiresome. He then falls in love with the queen. After some time, however, he becomes weary of his passion. The queen takes him in her arms, kissing him with such ferocity that his life ebbs away.
This legend on the whole is incorporated in the opening movement; the other three depict each of the three joys. As Hector Berlioz
did in his Symphonie fantastique
, Rimsky-Korsakov employs an idée fixe
or motto theme in various guises through all four movements to depict Antar. This theme is played by the viola
s in the introduction to the opening movement. Later in the same movement, flute
s and horns
play another important theme, this time depicting the queen.
Symphony his Third instead of his Second. Granted, he wrote the Third Symphony in 1874, before he may have changed his mind about Antar. (The first revision of Antar was in 1875.) However, he never changed this numbering even after redesignating Antar a suite. He also continued calling the C major Symphony his Third in his autobiography, My Musical Life.
In fact Rimsky-Korsakov designated another work his Second Symphony in My Musical Life. This is a Symphony in B minor
, which he started in 1867. He mentions B minor as a favorite key of Mily Balakirev
's, and that he wanted to use a scherzo
in 5/4 time and in the key of E-flat major. He adds that the opening of the first movement and some of its characteristics would have resembled Beethoven
's Ninth Symphony
.
He showed his work-in-progress to Balakirev. Balakirev did not approve of how Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the exposition of his themes but did not give concrete suggestions or solutions on how to proceed. As a result, Rimsky-Korsakov lost interest in the project: "I repeat I was disappointed in my musical offspring and soon abandoned or postponed indefinitely the idea of writing a second symphony." He started Antar after abandoning the B minor Symphony, finishing the first and fourth movements that winter.
Elaborating on this point, he cites Berlioz's Harold en Italie and Symphonie fantastique
as being symphonies as well as program music
, due to the symphonic development of their themes and sonata form
of their opening movements. Antar, in contrast, "is a free musical delineation of the consecutive episodes of the story." While the "Antar" theme links these episodes, the piece "has no thematic development whatsoever—only variations and paraphrases." Nevertheless, the composer was happy with Antar's form when he revised the score years later.
He was also pleased overall with the orchestration of Antar, which he described as being "full of color and fancy", mentioning especially his use of flute
s, clarinet
s and harp
in their lower registers. He scored the initial appearance of the "Antar" theme to viola
s to please Mussorgsky since he was especially fond of the instrument. He mentions several works whose influence made themselves felt in scoring Antar. These include Ruslan and Lyudmila, Liszt
's symphonic poem
s, Balakirev
's Czech Overture and Wagner
's Faust Overture.
We are left with three main versions of Antar; the second exists in two slightly different forms. Minor changes between the three main versions (1867, 1875 and 1897) include tempo markings, dynamic nuances and modifications of scoring. Major changes include cuts and insertion of passages, wholesale transposition
and complete recomposition of passages, along with reorchestration and amended harmony or melody.
paid his final visit to Russia between November 1867 and February 1868 to conduct six concerts of the Russian Musical Society. Rimsky-Korsakov was not able to meet Berlioz due to the French composer's ill health. He was, however, able to hear Berlioz conduct his Symphonie fantastique
on December 7, 1867, and Harold en Italie at Berlioz's final concert on February 8, 1868. Rimsky-Korsakov began work on Antar on January 21, between these two concerts. Further, he may have been influenced in using the Antar theme as an idée fixe by the way he heard Berlioz use it in his compositions.
's opera William Ratcliff
. He borrowed Gul Nazar's theme, as well as the other purely cantabile themes, from Salvador Daniel's Collection of Algerian melodies, a copy of which Alexander Borodin
happened to possess.
Rimsky-Korsakov mentioned receiving the principal theme of the fourth movement from Alexander Dargomyzhsky
; Dargomyzhsky, in turn, had taken it from Khristianovich's collection of Arab melodies. While Rimsky-Korsakov also claimed that Dargomyzhsky also supplied the opening theme of the Adagio and that he retained Dargomyzhsky's original harmonization of this theme. he is being overly modest. The autograph copy of this melody with Dargomyzhsky's harmonization is preserved in the Houghton Library of Harvard University. It shows that Rimsky not only did not use Dargomyzhsky's harmonization but altered the melody as well.
One member of "The Five" conspicuously absent was Mily Balakirev
. Rimsky-Korsakov wanted independence from Balakirev's influence, which he now found despotic and burdensome. Antar marked a cooling-off of their relationship. Balakirev's lack of enthusiasm with Antars progress probably did not help. While the completed first and fourth movements won praise from the rest of "The Five", Balakirev "approved them with reservations."
. This practice is not confined to using authentic Eastern melodies. More importantly, it is the musical conventions added to the oriental material—whether the music represents intoxication, sensuality, sexual longing or other themes. In this way, orientalism served as a safety valve for subjects otherwise not considered mentionable in society. It was also a way of expressing Western feelings of superiority in nations actively engaged in imperialism
. These nations included Russia as it expanded eastward under Alexander II
.
In telling the story of Antar, which is set in the East (Arabia), Rimsky-Korsakov highlights two different styles of music, Western (Russian) and Eastern (Arabian). The first theme, Antar's, is masculine and Russian in character. The second theme, feminine and oriental in melodic contour, belongs to the queen, Gul Nazar. The music reinforces a basic theme of orientalism—the superiority of the West—through misogynist symbolism—the rational, active and moral Western man versus the irrational, passive and immoral Eastern woman.
In Antar, Rimsky-Korsakov was able to soften this theme to some extent. He does not allow either the story or its musical depiction to become overtly misogynistic, as Balakirev later would with his symphonic poem Tamara. He does not pit his two themes in a major struggle for dominance. However, female sensuality does exert a paralyzing, ultimately destructive influence. With Gul Nazar extinguishing Antar's life in a final embrace, the woman overcomes the man.
in popularity, Antar was performed fairly frequently during the composer's lifetime, several times under his direction. One person who would not conduct it was Eduard Nápravník
. Asked more than once to do so, he finally replied, with apparent disdain, "[Rimsky-Korsakov] might as well conduct it himself." The composer did exactly that, at an 1876 concert of the Russian Musical Society
(RMS).
Hans von Bülow
also tried to remove himself from performing Antar, though this may have been due more to the conductor's famous irascibility than to the piece itself. When Bülow guest-conducted for the RMS in 1886, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that Bülow "was in a capricious mood at the rehearsal, testy with the orchestra, even suggesting irritably to me that I conduct it in his stead. Of course I declined. Presently Bülow calmed down and led Antar in excellent fashion."
In addition, there is the question of versions—namely, which edition of Antar is being performed. Until quite recently, conductors usually favored the 1903 re-working. The problem is that it does not reflect the composer's final thoughts on the piece. These amendments include changing the key of the second movement from C-sharp minor to D minor
plus several other refinements.
seems to have used the 1903 version. Yevgeny Svetlanov recorded the "1876 edition" (actually 1875) with the USSR Symphony Orchestra in 1993 for RCA Red Seal. Svetlanov has also recorded the 1897 edition on three occasions, first in 1978 with the USSR Symphony Orchestra for Melodiya
(arguably the best known recorded version), then with the same orchestra (renamed State Symphony Orchestra of Russia) for RCA and in 1989 with The Philharmonia Orchestra
for Hyperion Records
. Neeme Järvi
, Lorin Maazel
, Pierre Monteux
and Dmitri Kitayenko used the 1897 version.
Antar was the first classical music recorded in stereo by Decca Records
. This was in 1954 with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
under Ernest Ansermet
.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
. He wrote the piece in 1868 but revised the work in 1875 and 1891. He initially called this work his Second Symphony. He later reconsidered and called it a symphonic suite. It was first performed in 1869 at a concert of the Russian Musical Society
Russian Musical Society
The Russian Musical Society was an organisation founded in 1859 by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and her protégé, pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein, with the intent of raising the standard of music in the country and disseminating musical education.Rubinstein and the Grand Duchess's...
.
Form
The suite is in four movements:- Largo—Allegro giocoso
- Allegro—Molto allegro—Allargando
- Allegro risoluto alla marcia
- Allegretto vivace—Andante amoroso
The story
This work was inspired by an Arabian tale by Sennkovsky, suggested to Rimsky-Korsakov by Modest MussorgskyModest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
and César Cui
César Cui
César Antonovich Cui was a Russian of French and Lithuanian descent. His profession was as an army officer and a teacher of fortifications; his avocational life has particular significance in the history of music, in that he was a composer and music critic; in this sideline he is known as a...
. Antar, an enemy of all mankind, has become a recluse in the desert. He saves a gazelle from a large bird. Weary from fighting the bird, he falls asleep exhausted. He dreams he is in the palace of the Queen of Palmyra. The queen, the fairy Gul-Nazar, was the gazelle Antar saved from the bird. As a reward, she permits Antar to fulfill three of life's greatest joys — vengeance, power and love. He accepts these gifts with gratitude, then makes a request himself. He asks the queen to take his life if these pleasures become tiresome. He then falls in love with the queen. After some time, however, he becomes weary of his passion. The queen takes him in her arms, kissing him with such ferocity that his life ebbs away.
This legend on the whole is incorporated in the opening movement; the other three depict each of the three joys. As Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
did in his Symphonie fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties , Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences...
, Rimsky-Korsakov employs an idée fixe
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
or motto theme in various guises through all four movements to depict Antar. This theme is played by the viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s in the introduction to the opening movement. Later in the same movement, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s and horns
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
play another important theme, this time depicting the queen.
Suite or symphony?
When initially sketching Antar, Rimsky-Korsakov called it his Second Symphony, allowing it to be published as such. When he revised the work years later, he renamed it a symphonic suite. Adding to the confusion was his calling his C majorC major
C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....
Symphony his Third instead of his Second. Granted, he wrote the Third Symphony in 1874, before he may have changed his mind about Antar. (The first revision of Antar was in 1875.) However, he never changed this numbering even after redesignating Antar a suite. He also continued calling the C major Symphony his Third in his autobiography, My Musical Life.
In fact Rimsky-Korsakov designated another work his Second Symphony in My Musical Life. This is a Symphony in B minor
B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The harmonic minor raises the A to A. Its key signature has two sharps .Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major....
, which he started in 1867. He mentions B minor as a favorite key of Mily Balakirev
Mily Balakirev
Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev ,Russia was still using old style dates in the 19th century, and information sources used in the article sometimes report dates as old style rather than new style. Dates in the article are taken verbatim from the source and therefore are in the same style as the source...
's, and that he wanted to use a scherzo
Scherzo
A scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
in 5/4 time and in the key of E-flat major. He adds that the opening of the first movement and some of its characteristics would have resembled Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
.
He showed his work-in-progress to Balakirev. Balakirev did not approve of how Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the exposition of his themes but did not give concrete suggestions or solutions on how to proceed. As a result, Rimsky-Korsakov lost interest in the project: "I repeat I was disappointed in my musical offspring and soon abandoned or postponed indefinitely the idea of writing a second symphony." He started Antar after abandoning the B minor Symphony, finishing the first and fourth movements that winter.
Why a suite
Rimsky-Korsakov explained both the change of Antar from symphony to suite and his adamant stance on doing so: "The term 'suite' was then unfamiliar [when he initially wrote the work] to our circle in general, nor was it in vogue in the musical literature of western Europe. Still, I was wrong in calling Antar a symphony. My Antar was a poem, suite, fairy-tale, story, or anything you like, but not a symphony. Its structure in four separate movements was all that made it approach a symphony."Elaborating on this point, he cites Berlioz's Harold en Italie and Symphonie fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties , Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences...
as being symphonies as well as program music
Program music
Program music or programme music is a type of art music that attempts to musically render an extra-musical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience in the form of program notes, inviting imaginative correlations with the music...
, due to the symphonic development of their themes and sonata form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
of their opening movements. Antar, in contrast, "is a free musical delineation of the consecutive episodes of the story." While the "Antar" theme links these episodes, the piece "has no thematic development whatsoever—only variations and paraphrases." Nevertheless, the composer was happy with Antar's form when he revised the score years later.
He was also pleased overall with the orchestration of Antar, which he described as being "full of color and fancy", mentioning especially his use of flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s and harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
in their lower registers. He scored the initial appearance of the "Antar" theme to viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s to please Mussorgsky since he was especially fond of the instrument. He mentions several works whose influence made themselves felt in scoring Antar. These include Ruslan and Lyudmila, Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
's symphonic poem
Symphonic Poems (Liszt)
The symphonic poems of Franz Liszt are a series of 13 orchestral works by the Hungarian composer and are numbered S.95–107. The first 12 were composed between 1848 and 1858 ; the last, Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe , followed in 1882...
s, Balakirev
Mily Balakirev
Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev ,Russia was still using old style dates in the 19th century, and information sources used in the article sometimes report dates as old style rather than new style. Dates in the article are taken verbatim from the source and therefore are in the same style as the source...
's Czech Overture and Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Faust Overture.
Which Antar?
Because of Rimsky-Korsakov's continued revisions on Antar and difficulty with the publisher Bessel, textual complications are both rife and hopelessly confusing. Adding to the confusion are misstatements on two of the published scores. There are actually four published versions of Antar:- The first version of the score in 1868.
- This version was not printed in the composer's lifetime; it was published in 1949. This edition also contains the earliest version of the second movement, very different in material and in the key of B minorB minorB minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The harmonic minor raises the A to A. Its key signature has two sharps .Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major....
. This movement was removed and another substituted before the first performance.
- This version was not printed in the composer's lifetime; it was published in 1949. This edition also contains the earliest version of the second movement, very different in material and in the key of B minor
- A revised and reorchestrated version in 1875.
- Still called a symphony by Rimsky-Korsakov, this version was published by Bessel in 1880. It is considered by some more dramatically focused than the 1897 version.
- A second revised version in 1897.
- This is thought to be marginally the most cogent version, containing the composer's final thoughts on this work. Here Rimsky-Korsakov changed the work's designation to "symphonic suite". Bessel did not publish this version until 1913, under the supervision of the composer's son-in-law Maximilian SteinbergMaximilian SteinbergMaximilian Osseyevich Steinberg was a Russian composer of classical music born in what is now Lithuania.-Life:...
. Confusingly, this version is marked "Passed by censor. Spb.4 November 1903." This date actually belongs to the 1903 version.
- This is thought to be marginally the most cogent version, containing the composer's final thoughts on this work. Here Rimsky-Korsakov changed the work's designation to "symphonic suite". Bessel did not publish this version until 1913, under the supervision of the composer's son-in-law Maximilian Steinberg
- A 1903 re-working of the 1875 version.
- This is a compromise version made after Bessel refused during the composer's lifetime to scrap the engraving plates from the 1875 version or to make new ones for the 1897 version. It includes only what "suggestions" from the 1897 version could be incorporated onto the existing 1875 plates. This version was confusingly labeled "symphonic suite (Second Symphony)." It was also falsely described on Eulenberg and Breitkopt miniature scores as "Nouvelle rédaction (1897)."
We are left with three main versions of Antar; the second exists in two slightly different forms. Minor changes between the three main versions (1867, 1875 and 1897) include tempo markings, dynamic nuances and modifications of scoring. Major changes include cuts and insertion of passages, wholesale transposition
Transposition (music)
In music transposition refers to the process, or operation, of moving a collection of notes up or down in pitch by a constant interval.For example, one might transpose an entire piece of music into another key...
and complete recomposition of passages, along with reorchestration and amended harmony or melody.
Berlioz
Hector BerliozHector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
paid his final visit to Russia between November 1867 and February 1868 to conduct six concerts of the Russian Musical Society. Rimsky-Korsakov was not able to meet Berlioz due to the French composer's ill health. He was, however, able to hear Berlioz conduct his Symphonie fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties , Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences...
on December 7, 1867, and Harold en Italie at Berlioz's final concert on February 8, 1868. Rimsky-Korsakov began work on Antar on January 21, between these two concerts. Further, he may have been influenced in using the Antar theme as an idée fixe by the way he heard Berlioz use it in his compositions.
Dargomyzhsky and the Five
As was their practice at that time, other members of the nationalists' circle readily helped Rimsky-Korsakov in composing Antar. Their music helped to inflluence him, as well. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that he was influenced when he composed the Antar theme by themes from César CuiCésar Cui
César Antonovich Cui was a Russian of French and Lithuanian descent. His profession was as an army officer and a teacher of fortifications; his avocational life has particular significance in the history of music, in that he was a composer and music critic; in this sideline he is known as a...
's opera William Ratcliff
William Ratcliff (Cui)
William Ratcliff is an opera in three acts, composed by César Cui during 1861-1868; it was premiered on 14 February 1869 at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg under the conductorship of Eduard Nápravník...
. He borrowed Gul Nazar's theme, as well as the other purely cantabile themes, from Salvador Daniel's Collection of Algerian melodies, a copy of which Alexander Borodin
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
happened to possess.
Rimsky-Korsakov mentioned receiving the principal theme of the fourth movement from Alexander Dargomyzhsky
Alexander Dargomyzhsky
Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky was a 19th century Russian composer. He bridged the gap in Russian opera composition between Mikhail Glinka and the later generation of The Five and Tchaikovsky....
; Dargomyzhsky, in turn, had taken it from Khristianovich's collection of Arab melodies. While Rimsky-Korsakov also claimed that Dargomyzhsky also supplied the opening theme of the Adagio and that he retained Dargomyzhsky's original harmonization of this theme. he is being overly modest. The autograph copy of this melody with Dargomyzhsky's harmonization is preserved in the Houghton Library of Harvard University. It shows that Rimsky not only did not use Dargomyzhsky's harmonization but altered the melody as well.
One member of "The Five" conspicuously absent was Mily Balakirev
Mily Balakirev
Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev ,Russia was still using old style dates in the 19th century, and information sources used in the article sometimes report dates as old style rather than new style. Dates in the article are taken verbatim from the source and therefore are in the same style as the source...
. Rimsky-Korsakov wanted independence from Balakirev's influence, which he now found despotic and burdensome. Antar marked a cooling-off of their relationship. Balakirev's lack of enthusiasm with Antars progress probably did not help. While the completed first and fourth movements won praise from the rest of "The Five", Balakirev "approved them with reservations."
Orientalism
In both program and musical treatment, Antar is dominated by the theme of orientalismOrientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
. This practice is not confined to using authentic Eastern melodies. More importantly, it is the musical conventions added to the oriental material—whether the music represents intoxication, sensuality, sexual longing or other themes. In this way, orientalism served as a safety valve for subjects otherwise not considered mentionable in society. It was also a way of expressing Western feelings of superiority in nations actively engaged in imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
. These nations included Russia as it expanded eastward under Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
.
In telling the story of Antar, which is set in the East (Arabia), Rimsky-Korsakov highlights two different styles of music, Western (Russian) and Eastern (Arabian). The first theme, Antar's, is masculine and Russian in character. The second theme, feminine and oriental in melodic contour, belongs to the queen, Gul Nazar. The music reinforces a basic theme of orientalism—the superiority of the West—through misogynist symbolism—the rational, active and moral Western man versus the irrational, passive and immoral Eastern woman.
In Antar, Rimsky-Korsakov was able to soften this theme to some extent. He does not allow either the story or its musical depiction to become overtly misogynistic, as Balakirev later would with his symphonic poem Tamara. He does not pit his two themes in a major struggle for dominance. However, female sensuality does exert a paralyzing, ultimately destructive influence. With Gul Nazar extinguishing Antar's life in a final embrace, the woman overcomes the man.
Concerts
Though now eclipsed by ScheherazadeScheherazade
Scheherazade , sometimes Scheherazadea, Persian transliteration Shahrazad or Shahrzād is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights.-Narration :...
in popularity, Antar was performed fairly frequently during the composer's lifetime, several times under his direction. One person who would not conduct it was Eduard Nápravník
Eduard Nápravník
Eduard Francevič Nápravník was a Czech conductor and composer, who settled in Russia and is best known for his leading role in Russian musical life as the principal conductor of the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg for many decades...
. Asked more than once to do so, he finally replied, with apparent disdain, "[Rimsky-Korsakov] might as well conduct it himself." The composer did exactly that, at an 1876 concert of the Russian Musical Society
Russian Musical Society
The Russian Musical Society was an organisation founded in 1859 by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and her protégé, pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein, with the intent of raising the standard of music in the country and disseminating musical education.Rubinstein and the Grand Duchess's...
(RMS).
Hans von Bülow
Hans von Bülow
Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...
also tried to remove himself from performing Antar, though this may have been due more to the conductor's famous irascibility than to the piece itself. When Bülow guest-conducted for the RMS in 1886, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that Bülow "was in a capricious mood at the rehearsal, testy with the orchestra, even suggesting irritably to me that I conduct it in his stead. Of course I declined. Presently Bülow calmed down and led Antar in excellent fashion."
In addition, there is the question of versions—namely, which edition of Antar is being performed. Until quite recently, conductors usually favored the 1903 re-working. The problem is that it does not reflect the composer's final thoughts on the piece. These amendments include changing the key of the second movement from C-sharp minor to D minor
D minor
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has one flat ....
plus several other refinements.
Recordings
With respect to recordings, only Hermann ScherchenHermann Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen was a German conductor.-Life:Scherchen was originally a violist and played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens...
seems to have used the 1903 version. Yevgeny Svetlanov recorded the "1876 edition" (actually 1875) with the USSR Symphony Orchestra in 1993 for RCA Red Seal. Svetlanov has also recorded the 1897 edition on three occasions, first in 1978 with the USSR Symphony Orchestra for Melodiya
Melodiya
Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company/label of the Soviet Union.-History:It was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya"...
(arguably the best known recorded version), then with the same orchestra (renamed State Symphony Orchestra of Russia) for RCA and in 1989 with The Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
for Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...
. Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi is an Estonian-born conductor.-Early life:Järvi studied music first in Tallinn, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others...
, Lorin Maazel
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel is an American conductor, violinist and composer.- Early life :Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel , was...
, Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conductor. Born in Paris, France, Monteux later became an American citizen.-Life and career:Monteux was born in Paris in 1875. His family was descended from Sephardi Jews who came to France in the wake of the Spanish Inquisition. He studied violin from an early age,...
and Dmitri Kitayenko used the 1897 version.
Antar was the first classical music recorded in stereo by Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. This was in 1954 with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall...
under Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Swiss conductor.- Biography :Ansermet was born in Vevey, Switzerland. Although he was a contemporary of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer, Ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. Originally he was a...
.
Arrangements
In 1869-70, Nadezhda Nikolayevna Purgold arranged the original version of Antar for piano four-hands. In 1875, four years after her marriage to Rimsky-Korsakov, she also arranged the second version of Antar for piano four-hands. This arrangement was published by Bessel.Sources
- Abraham, Gerald, Slavonic and Romantic Music: Essays and Studies (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1968). Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number 68-13029.
- Abraham, Gerald, ed. Stankey Sadie, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 20 vols. (London: MacMillian, 1980). ISBN 0-333-23111-2.
- ed David Ewen, The Complete Book of Classical Music (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965). ISBN n/a.
- Maes, Francis, tr. Pomerans, Arnold J. and Erica Pomerans, A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2002). ISBN 0-520-21815-9.
- Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai, Letoppis Moyey Muzykalnoy Zhizni (St. Petersburg, 1909), published in English as My Musical Life (New York: Knopf, 1925, 3rd ed. 1942). ISBN n/a.
- Wallace, Roy, interview with Roy Haddy. Reprinted in liner notes for Decca 470 253-2, Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Antar; L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Ernest Ansermet.