Flight of the Bumblebee

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"Flight of the Bumblebee" (short version)

Performed by the US Army Band

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"Flight of the Bumblebee" (Russian: Полёт шмеля) is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900.[1] This perpetuum mobile is intended to musically evoke the seemingly chaotic and rapidly changing flying pattern of a bumblebee.[2] 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.[3]

The piece is recognizable for its frantic pace when played up to tempo, with nearly uninterrupted runs of chromatic sixteenth notes.[1] This rapidity, measured at 144 beats per minute, evokes the skittish and frenetic activity of a bumblebee.[1]

Because of music's speed and complexity, it requires a great deal of skill to perform and is often chosen by musicians wishing to showcase their ability.[3]

The piece closes act 3, 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, the tsar.

Following is the text of the scene where the Swan-Bird sings during this music:

In 2021, researchers examined the enduring popularity of the piece by investigating its statistics within the musical service Spotify.[1] They found that the piece was represented by more than 1000 different recordings.[1] Among those recordings, the two most popular were performed by Columbia Symphony Orchestra in 1963, and London Symphony Orchestra in 2008.[1] Between them, these two recordings had an audience of 8,000,000 listeners.[1]

• "Flight of the Bumblebee" (act 3): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Robert Cummings. The Flight of the Bumble Bee, musical picture for orchestra (from The Tale of Tsar Saltan) at AllMusic