The only way to stay alive, after all, is to tell.

It seems like an hyperbole, an unrealistic, pretentious and to some extent rhetorical observation. But for Shahrazād it mattered literally. Because, betrayed by his wife, King Shahriyār systematically kills his brides at the end of their wedding night. Until Shahrazād, brilliant and courageous, volunteers: every night she tells a breathtaking story, but interrupts the ending at dawn. So, for a thousand and one nights, she keeps the king glued to her stories, until he falls in love and saves her life. And Rimsky-Korsakov has set this story to music, the wonderful Symphonic Suite op. 35, Sheherazade, a hypnotic music that we would never want to end, which, from the very first chords, takes us to unknown and distant worlds.