Western — Classical & Romantic
Late Romantic / Russian · 1900

Flight of the Bumblebee

N. Rimsky-Korsakov

Key
Am
Time
2/4
Tempo
♩=152
AO focus
AO3

Incipit

Form

Orchestral interlude from the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan. Frantic chromatic semiquaver figuration.

Teaching points

  • Chromatic perpetual motion
  • Programmatic — Prince transforms into bumblebee
  • AO3: showpiece writing
Full score ↓Public domain

Bessel + later urtext, PD.

Topic T9