Rotterdam Student Orchestra | Fantasies of an Orient

The Rotterdam Student Orchestra presents four exciting tales of faraway lands, mythical heroes, and eternal love.

• Camille Saint-Saëns – Bacchanale
• Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov – Caucasian Sketches no. 1
• Nikolai Tcherepnin – Prelude to ‘La princesse lointaine’
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Antar

Conductor: Coen Huisman

Parisian composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) was inspired by the great Romantic composers of his time, but more of a musical traditionalist in his own works. His most famous opera Samson and Delilah is based on a biblical tale from the Old Testament and was first performed in 1877. In three acts, the opera tells the story of the Israelite hero Samson and his lover Delilah. The Bacchanale in Act 3 is a wild dance performed by the Philistine priests in their temple, leading up to a sacrifice in celebration of their supposed victory against Samson. The orgiastic, ecstatic dance refers to the boisterous festivities in honour of the god Bacchus in ancient Rome.

Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859–1935) first developed his own style as a composer under the influence of his teacher Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in Saint Petersburg, before taking on the position of director of the music academy and conductor of the orchestra in Tbilisi. The composer spent seven years in Georgia, where he developed a strong interest in the region and extensively studied Caucasian folk music. This inspired a series of Caucasian Sketches, which he compiled in two orchestral suites in 1894 and 1896, respectively. Suite no. 1 consists of four movements: In a Mountain Pass, In a Village, In a Mosque, and Procession of the Sardar.

Nikolai Tcherepnin (1873–1945) grew up in a privileged family in Saint Petersburg and studied music while earning a law degree. During his studies under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Tcherepnin wrote the orchestral piece La princesse lointaine (‘The distant princess’) in 1896 as a prelude to the play of the same name by Edmond Rostand. The play tells the tragic story of the troubadour Jaufré Rudel and his love for the unattainable princess Mélissinde of Jerusalem during the crusades of the 12th century.

One of Russia’s most prolific composers, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) was a central figure of the Mighty Five, an influential group of composers in Saint Petersburg developing and shaping a distinct national style of music. He had originally published Antar as his second symphony in 1868, but later considered it a symphonic suite instead. In the underlying story, the Arab poet and knight Antar lives in reclusion in the desert, where he saves a gazelle from the attacks of a large bird. The gazelle is actually the fairy Gul-Nazar and Queen of Palmyra, who in turn grants Antar the experience of three joys missing from his life: vengeance, power, and love.

More information about RSO:

The RSO is a symphonic orchestra for students and young professionals from Rotterdam and its vicinity. See for more information: https://www.nu-rso.nl