Flight Of The Bumblebee
Bumblebee § FlightUS Army BandProblems playing this file? See media help.
“Flight of the Bumblebee” is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 18991900. Its composition is intended to musically evoke the seemingly chaotic and rapidly changing flying pattern of a bumblebee. Despite the piece’s being a rather incidental part of the opera, it is today one of the more familiar classical works because of its frequent use in popular culture.
The piece closes Act III, Tableau 1, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Prince Gvidon Saltanovich into an insect so that he can fly away to visit his father . Although in the opera the Swan-Bird sings during the first part of the “Flight”, her vocal line is melodically uninvolved and easily omitted this feature, combined with the fact that the number decisively closes the scene, made easy extraction as an orchestral concerto piece possible.
About Flight Of The Bumblebee:
“Flight of the Bumblebee” is a very famous music piece composed by a Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for an opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan as an orchestral ensemble piece. However, these days, a lot of people know about the music “Flight of the Bumblebee” better than the opera itself. And not only that, a lot of piano players are challenging the arrangement of this piece for piano solo created by another Russian composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff. It is not easy to play on the piano because they have to play so fast. But that’s what fascinates piano players. It is a short music piece that expresses chaotic bumblebee movements.
Flight Of The Bumblebee Arr Rachmaninoff
Rimsky-Korsakov originally composed his ultra-famous Flight of the Bumblebee as part of The Tale of Tsar Sultan, the opera he wrote in 1899 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian author Alexander Pushkin. The story of this fairy-tale opera involves three sisters, three wishes, three wonders, and three bee stings. The celebrated Flight of the Bumblebee is heard between scenes, after the swan shows the hero how he can turn himself into a bee, so he can fly home and meet his father. The composer creates the picturesque frenzy of a bee in flight with incredibly fast notes moving in a narrow range for the violins, clarinet, and flute in turn.
Like many others who were so fascinated by this piece as to arrange it for almost every conceivable instrument, Rachmaninoff made a piano arrangement early in 1929. He eliminated its central episode, altered the beginning and end of the outer sections slightly, and tinkered a bit with a couple of harmonies, but he kept close to the Rimsky-Korsakov in other ways, especially in spirit, arriving at a dazzling encore piece that he even recorded on his last piano roll in April of 1929.
Recommended Reading: How Much Are Electric Pianos
Concert Pianist Plays Flight Of The Bumblebee On A Childs Toy Piano And Its Really Really Good
1 September 2021, 16:08 | Updated: 1 September 2021, 16:23
One of classical musics most virtuosic piano pieces, expertly played on a tiny toy piano…
The rapidly flying notes of Flight of the Bumblebee are enough to challenge even the most seasoned virtuoso.
But here, the scurrying show-stopper is heard on an instrument that possesses its own considerable set of challenges.
Enter pianist , who departs from his usual concert grand and instead crouches at a small, red childrens toy keyboard.
Read more:
Note for note, with a few transpositions to accommodate the somewhat limited two-octave range of the toy, Julian expertly plays Rimsky-Korsakovs iconic presto as arranged by none other than .
Size of the keys, what we imagine is questionable action from the instrument, and that limited range, but boy its a remarkably virtuosic performance.
Just take a listen. Bravo!
Hes performed at Buckingham Palace, London, St Davids Hall in Cardiff and at the Dvorak Prague International Music Festival. Julian has also appeared as a soloist in Beethovens Triple Concerto with Classic FM’s Orchestra on Tour, The at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Clefs achievements are even more impressive when you consider that he had no formal piano tuition until he was sixteen years old.
What an astonishing talent .
From ‘the Tale Of The Tsar Saltan’
FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE is mostly known as a piano piece, but it was originally written as an orchestral interlude from Rimsky-Korsakovs opera The Tale of the Tsar Saltan, during a scene where Prince Gvidon is turned into a bumblebee by a magical swan. It was famously transcribed for piano the fellow Sergei Rachmaninov, and has since been performed on every instrument imaginable, from trombone to accordion!
Read Also: How To Play Bohemian Rhapsody On The Piano
About The Key Of A Minor
Flight of the Bumblebee is written in the key of A Minor. According to the Theorytab database, it is the most popular key among Minor keys and the 6th most popular among all keys. Minor keys, along with major keys, are a common choice for popular music. The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all minor chords .See the A Minor Cheat Sheet for popular chords, chord progressions, downloadable midi files and more!
You May Also Like To Check Out:
- To learn more about the Russian composer, Korsakov who composed The Tale of Tsar Saltan, please visit our page, “About Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.”
- To learn more about the Russian composer, Rachmaninoff who arranged “The Flight of the Bumblebee” for piano solo, please visit our page, “About Sergei Rachmaninoff.”
- To learn about the story part of The Tale of Tsar Saltan, please visit our page, “Story of The Tsar Saltan.”
- To find more sheet music for pieces by other Russian composers, please click these collection pages:
Read Also: How To Play Final Countdown On Piano
Insanely Fast Versions Of The Flight Of The Bumblebee
Want a mind-meltingly fast flurry of notes? You’ve come to the right place. Join the world’s most nimble-fingered musicians for this Rimsky-Korsakov extravaganza.
Presto. Let’s begin
Before we do anything, let’s check the score. As you can see, there are notes. Lots of notes. We all know how they sound. Actually, it doesn’t look terribly impressive on the page , but do note the tempo…
Two pianos at once…
Flute versionJaymee Coonjobeeharry on flute and pianist Frederic Bager play a fiendish arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s most famous piece.
Astonishing virtuosity with 7-year-old Tsung Tsung
The nimble fingers and beaming smile of this exceptionally talented youngster have already racked up millions of YouTube views. His awe-inducing readings of the piano’s most virtuosic pieces have to be seen to believed. This “Bumblebee” will leave you stunned.
Record-breaking David Garrett
The superstar violinist is here to kick things off. And he looks as cool, calm and collected as usual, but it all sounds as if Usain Bolt trod on a beehive, and now they’re after him. You nailed it, David.
The sensational Yuja Wang
In this concert from the cult piano star, the audience were going crazy and there was only one encore for it: an incredible hand-blurring, double-octave tour de force. Whammy.
Russia’s National Orchestra takes it on
Virtuoso expectations at the Los Angeles Guitar Academy
The feet of Dr. Carol Williams
Phew.
About This Music Sheet
Flight of the Bumblebee is a song by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.Use your computer keyboard to play Flight of the Bumblebee music sheet on Virtual Piano.This is an Easy song and requires practice.The recommended time to play this music sheet is 01:24, as verified by Virtual Piano legend,.The song Flight of the Bumblebee is classified in the genre ofClassicalon Virtual Piano.You can also find other similar songs usingFun,Russia.
Also Check: Red Head Piano Bar Chicago
Tips For Playing Level 6 Flight Of The Bumblebee:
This particular level of “Flight of the Bumblebee” in the original form that was arranged by Sergei Rachmaninoff. It is in the original key of A minor. Please notice that sometimes your left-hand needs to cross over right hand to play in the upper range. Clef signs also change a few times for the left-hand part. It is a fast piece as you probably already know. However, practice very slowly first and increase the tempo gradually. We didn’t provide any fingering numbers. However, you’ll notice that there are a lot of chromatic lines going up and down. There are some chords that are spread out wider than octaves. People who can’t reach those wide intervals can arpeggiate them . A lot of concert pianists play this piece way too fast to show off their skills. However, we don’t think it sounds musical. Therefore, we recommend you to play it around 145 through 155 which Korsakov intended when he composed this piece.
