Flight of the Bumble Bee ——　野蜂飞舞

My daughter Little J is learning this piece by composer Rimsky Korsakov lately, the practice of which is hard and no perfection comes easily. I searched around and found my favorite for little J - Maksim's piano version, hoping she enjoys the legend pianist playing the legend piece the same as I have always been. :)

MTV version

Maksim World Premiere Performance version




Story of the piece (English intro written by Betty Fry):

The fairy tale opera from which it comes ‘The Tale of Tsar Salta' is based on a poem by the Russian poet, Alexander Pushkin. Tsar Saltan's son, Guidon, is washed up on a desert island. Even so, he rescues an enchanted princess, and all ends happily.

In this famous orchestral interlude, Guidon has turned into a bumblebee to pursue and sting two villainous aunts who have persecuted him.

Technically it is a wonderful study in the use of chromatic runs – using all the notes in the octave. Violins and then flutes portray the magically transformed Guidon, sounding just like the little furry creature with these dizzying sequences.

Besides the orchestral version, ‘Flight of the Bumblebee' has been arranged for almost every instrument from the accordion to the xylophone. One of the most renowned performances was recorded by the virtuoso pianist Gyorgy Cziffra.

When the opera first appeared in English on a New York stage in 1937, it was renamed ‘The Bumblebee Prince' after this well know extract from the work.


《野蜂飞舞》是人们在音乐会上经常能听到的器乐独奏曲。可是里姆斯基·科萨科夫当初并不是作为独奏曲来写它的。它原来是歌剧《萨尔丹王的故事》第三幕第二场里的一段戏剧音乐。

四幕歌剧《萨尔丹王的故事》写成于1900年。它是根据俄国著名诗人普希金的神话小说改编而成的。故事说的是：从前，在民间有三姐妹，大姐和二姐都好吃懒做，爱虚荣，还幻想有一天能当上皇后。她们什么重活都不干，全部推给三妹米利特利莎来做。萨尔丹王娶了米利特利莎后，让她的两个姐姐一个在皇宫做织布工，一个当厨娘。两个姐姐嫉妒妹妹，决心害死妹妹。

不久，米利特利莎有了身孕，而萨尔丹王因为出征，没能见到小王子出生。两个姐姐给萨尔丹王写信，诬告皇后生下的是一只怪兽。萨尔丹王听信谗言，以为是妖魔脱胎，紧急派使者回宫，降旨将皇后母子装进木桶投入大海。

这个木桶被投进大海之后，没有沉下去，却漂到一个叫布阳岛的孤岛上。王后母子死里逃生，在这个孤岛上相依为命，生活了十几年，母亲给孩子起名叫格维冬。
　
王子长成为一个漂亮、勇敢的青年。有一天，空中有一个兀鹰正袭击一只天鹅，王子发现后立即营救。他用弓射中了兀鹰，这时天鹅竟变成了一个美丽的公主，并向救他的青年表示要报恩。原来，她是中了魔法才变成天鹅的。王子表示希望能见到父王，公主前来相助。根据她的建议，王子化作一只野蜂，随一艘开往特摩塔拉康尼的轮船飞去了。
　　
萨尔丹王认识到错误后，派人到各海岛寻找无辜的王后和王子，但是织布工和厨娘千方百计阻止萨尔丹王派人寻找。于是，化作野蜂的的格维冬痛蜇她们。《野蜂飞舞》这支曲子是野蜂袭击织布工和厨娘时的戏剧音乐，它是a小调，活泼的快板，乐曲从快速下行的半音阶开始，然后是上下翻滚的音流，生动地描绘了野蜂振翅疾飞，袭击那两个坏人的情景。

现在歌剧《萨尔丹王的故事》很少上演。但是，它里面的这首戏剧配乐却成为音乐会上经常出现的独奏曲目，因为演奏它能表现快速技巧。