THE music of this Suite is drawn from the score of the Ballet-Opera of the same name. The incidents of the plot are supposed to occur in the tenth century, and the place is a town on the Baltic coast, where many nationalities mix. This latter circumstance gives Rimsky-Korsakov just the opportunity that suited him of writing exotieal ly-coloure d music.
The Suite consists of five pieces-an Introduction, a Redova (in former days a popular ballroom dance, which came from Bohemia), a Lithuanian Dance, an Indian Dance, and a Procession, with Trumpets, Drums, and all the gay colours Rimsky-Korsakov loved to use.
