New-York tribune., 1917-12-20
The Story

The story
Narouf is a cobbier OF Cairo. who IS
much hcnpccked by his wife. Fatlman.
Because he gives her cake sweetenei
with cane sugar, instead OF honey. she
dies into q rage and accuses her nus
band Of beating her, and Marout IS
doroed By order Of the Csdi. This is
The final straw, and the cobblcr joins
band of seamen and leaves his ma
tive city. The ship Is wrecked and
Narouf is picked up on the shore by
his old friend Ali. who has not seen
him in for twenty years and who has
become very rich. Ali introduces
Marouf to the Sultan as a rlcn mer'
chant awaiting his caravan, and the
Sultan marrics him to his daughter.
For forty days Marouf and the Prln-
cess live life Of luxurious delight,
but the caravan not arriving causes
the Nizier 10 suspect that Marouf IS
an impostor The Nizicr impresses
the Sultan with his suspicious, where
upon Narouf, realizing the game Is up,
flies with his bride. who disguises her-
self as d boy. In the desert they meet
o poor peasant who shelters them, IN
return for which Marouf takes turn
O.. the peasants plough. He upturns
an iron ring. which he pulls up, dis
covering a staircase, and suddenly the
peasant is transformed into a genii,
who offers to help the fugitives.
Arrival OF the Sultan
Presently arrive the Sultan and the
Yizier. They seize Marouf and are
about to punish him when a caravan
arrives. brought by the power o. the
gcnii. Ths cObbler is again supreme,
the Sultan returns to him his daugh-
ter. and the NiZ.er is sOundly whipped.
The possibilities for operate treat
ment offered by this story are manifest.
Il is simple in its main outlines. yet
filed with detail. comic. picturesque,
erotic. Il allows free play to the fancy,
il is rich with all the unlicensed rich
ness Of the East. through II the imagl-
nation can wander freed of prejudices
and inhibitions. The appeal OF the
Orient to the musician is ever power
full. TO the operate composer univer-
sal. Here are offered without effort the
bizarre, the unconventional. the exotic.
The tangle Of inherited morality does
not bother the hearer. The world he
enters is utterly of the senses.
The Princess Scheherazade dreamed
what she wished, said what she wished
and no one excluded her from the best
society. She regarded men and women
quite frankly as animals, as animals
complicated by the human gift OF de-
ceit In the Arabian Nights the reader
is in an expansive world. where all that
counts is natural action. The only
philosophy is an amaleam OF Ecclesi-
astes with the Song Of Songs. The
musician is entirely in his element. and
can deal with sentiments and actions
unencumbered by ideas.
The Music
As far as technical mastery can at
tain VI. Rabsud has attained. lie is
not n specialist. as are so many modern
French musicians. The diverse interests
of the East find in him an eclectic. To
ms palette he has brought rich colors.
lie knows the value Of odd harmonies
and strange rhythms. He has sat at
the feet of Dukas and drained the
spiced vodka Of the Russians. What
the masters OF the orchestra can teach
him ne has learned. He employs his
knowledge with variety, humor, charm.
One feels that he must be very
human, most likable personality, OF
broad and genial sympathies, who
would feel Uneasy among the Puritans.
As 10 any strong musical preJudlces,
his music does not reveal them. IL
would be TOO much to say that his
idiom is his own, IL would be unfair
20 say IL is that Of any one else. strains
of Dukas 20 shimmering through the
score, Moussorgsky and Stravinsky have
their echoes But why search for stems