Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade with Ballet.
This music is taken from the symphonic suite, Scheherazade, composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888, which was inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as The Arabian Nights.
According to the brief introduction written by the composer himself, "The Sultan Schariar, convinced that all women are false and faithless, vowed to put to death each of his wives after the first nuptial night. But the Sultana Sheherazade saved her life by entertaining her lord with fascinating tales for a thousand and one nights. The Sultan, consumed with curiosity, postponed from day to day the execution of his wife, and finally repudiated his bloody vow entirely."
The tender, sensuously winding melody we hear in this excerpt represents the character of the storyteller herself, Scheherazade.
This particular musical performance is excerpted from Barış Manço's album Sözüm Meclisten Dışarı.
I am uploading this video again without the content from Royal Ballet which blocked my first upload of this video.
Video scenes are taken from two ballet performances unrelated to this story:
1. La Bayadère: Ballet Ópera de Paris (1992) with Isabelle Guerin (Nikiya)
2. Arabian Dance from Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" performed by the IU Ballet Theater on Dec 5 2008. Caitlin Kirschenbaum and Ben Delony