The Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) had a penchant for fairy tales and devoted himself to such stories at an early age: to the character of the seafarer and gusli player Sadko in an orchestral work, or to legendary Arabian figures in Antar, later especially in his symphonic suite Sheherazade of course. The subject of the wandering minstrel Sadko who would rather be a rich merchant was taken up again in the opera of the same title: Before going off to distant places, he asks ...