![The Rhine Maidens (Met Opera)](https://interlude-cdn-blob-prod.azureedge.net/interlude-blob-storage-prod/2019/01/40bf13-20130402-the-rheinmaidens-in-a-scene-from-das-rheingold-300x212.jpg)
The Rhine Maidens (Met Opera)
Debussy: Children’s Corner: VI. Golliwog’s Cake Walk (Kyoko Tabe, piano)
to full-blown operas with casts of gods and demi-gods.
Wagner: Das Rheingold: Scene 1: Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle! (The Rhine Maidens: Eri Nakamura; Aurhelia Varak; Hermine Haselböck; Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra; Jaap van Zweden, cond.)
This series will look at the variety of ways that composers have sought and found inspiration in the characters that spring from authors’ imaginations.
![Mickey Mouse as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Disney’s Fantasia](https://interlude-cdn-blob-prod.azureedge.net/interlude-blob-storage-prod/2019/01/The-Sorcerers-Apprentice-300x221.jpg)
Mickey Mouse as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Disney’s Fantasia
Dukas: L’apprenti sorcier (Ireland RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra; Jean-Luc Tingaud, cond.
Richard Burton’s translation of the traditional folk stories in his 10-volume collection from 1885: The Book of the One Thousand and one Nights brought us characters such as Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad the Sailor, and even Scheherazade, the story teller, herself.
![Keller: Scheherazade und Sultan Schariar (1880)](https://interlude-cdn-blob-prod.azureedge.net/interlude-blob-storage-prod/2019/01/Sheherizade-und-Sultan-Schariar-1880-by-Ferdinand-Keller-300x238.jpg)
Keller: Scheherazade und Sultan Schariar (1880)
We’ll range far and wide on this search for fictional characters who inspired composers: from traditional fairy tales to modern comics. Little Red Riding Hood to Flash Gordon – there’s a world of inspiration everwhere!