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| Marthe Davelli as Princess Saamcheddine |
Bet you don't know this one!
I haven't heard this music for 45 years when a conducting teacher I had, who knew its composer, Henri Rabaud, and plunked it from his library and told me to learn it. I'm drawn to this type of music like a moth to flame but back then, even Tower Records didn't have a recording of it. So it crops up this morning on the Internet radio, richer and more unusual than I ever remembered although we only learned it on the piano, which is in black and white and the orchestra in color. Here is a synopsis:
"The hen-pecked cobbler Mârouf decides to join a group of sailors and travels to Khaïtân where he pretends to be a rich merchant awaiting the arrival of his caravan. The sultan is impressed and offers him the hand of his daughter Saamcheddine. Mârouf's deception is discovered and he flees, followed by the princess, who has fallen in love with him. They find a mysterious ring which gives Mârouf power over a magician. The magician grants Mârouf's wish for the caravan he boasted about to become reality. The sultan is appeased, pardons Mârouf and allows him to marry Saamcheddine".
Trust me. The music is far more plausible (written in 1914).