Stanislav Kochanovsky Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Innumerable artists have been inspired by both the stories in One Thousand and One Nights and its frame story in which the brave and creative Scheherazade tells story after story in order not to be killed by the King. The orchestral work Scheherazade (1888), by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908), is the most famous musical example of this. The composer wanted to depict an atmosphere rather than focus on particular stories, but the two main characters clearly stand out right from the beginning in which Scheherazade is portrayed by a solo violin.