Flight of the Bumblebee

Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is a famous orchestral interlude written in 1900 for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan. In the century since its composition, the piece has become a standard showcase for instrumental virtuosity, whether on the original violin or on any other instrument.

Related Topics:
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - The Tale of Tsar Saltan - Virtuosity - Violin

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"Flight of the Bumblebee" is recognizable for its frantic pace when played up to tempo, with nearly uninterrupted runs of notes. It is not so much the pitch or range of the notes that are played that challenges the musician, but simply the musician's ability to move to them quickly enough.

Related Topics:
Tempo - Notes - Pitch - Musician

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The piece was used as the theme song for the radio show The Green Hornet. Perhaps the most well known version of the piece is the virtuoso trumpet recording by Al Hirt. This version was used as the theme song of the 1960s television series version of The Green Hornet, starring Bruce Lee, and the Al Hirt version was used by Quentin Tarantino as an homage to the genre in his 2003 movie .

Related Topics:
Theme song - The Green Hornet - Trumpet - Al Hirt - 1960s - Television series - Bruce Lee - Quentin Tarantino - 2003

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"Flight of the Bumblebee" was also played on an electric guitar with accompanying orchestra, on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's third album, Beethoven's Last Night. Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen have also been known to perform it live. The heavy metal band Extreme recorded a solo guitar interlude titled "Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee" on 1990's Pornograffiti, in which guitarist Nuno Bettencourt uses a delay pedal to double his apparent picking speed.

Related Topics:
Electric guitar - Orchestra - Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Album - Beethoven's Last Night - Joe Satriani - Yngwie Malmsteen - Heavy metal - Extreme - Pornograffiti - Nuno Bettencourt - Delay pedal

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In addition to these instruments, "Flight of the Bumblebee" has been played on tuba and even a near-impossible novelty version played on trombone on Spike Jones' first LP, Dinner Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry. In the 2003 President's Star Charity of Singapore, "Flight of the Bumblebee" was performed on the erhu, a Chinese orchestral instrument that resembles a violin. The singer Barry Manilow has also performed it on a kazoo with an accompanying orchestra. It has also been played by Joey DeMaio on the electric bass on "Kings of Metal" by ManOwar (this version was re-named "Sting of the Bumblebee).

Related Topics:
Tuba - Trombone - Spike Jones' - LP - Dinner Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry - Singapore - Erhu - Violin - Barry Manilow - Kazoo - Orchestra

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Bee, a remix of the song by Banya, appears on the music video game Pump It Up.

Related Topics:
Banya - Music video game - Pump It Up

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Rimsky-Korakov's orchestral interlude has also been transcribed for piano by Sergey Rachmaninov.

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