Flight of the Bumblebee

I am pretty proud of this picture taken on my iphone with a shaky hand from my walker. You can see the bee’s intriguing proboscis, the fuzz on its bumbling body, its legs that vibrate to extract pollen. As Will and I looked at the picture, we were reminded of Rimsky-Korsakov’s composition, “Flight of the Bumblebee.”

Why would Rimsky-Korsakov compose music featuring a bumblebee? “Flight of the Bumblebee” is a small part of the opera “The Tale of Tsar Saltan.” It is an interlude with no words but probably the most famous part of that opera. The opera, based on a fairytale by Aleksandr Pushkin, involves an eavesdropper disguised as a bumblebee. So I guess we’d have to consult with Pushkin to learn what inspired him to use a bumblebee, as well as a mosquito and a squirrel, in his fairytale. I think Rimsky-Korsakov was fascinated with the possibilities of using instruments to represent all those creatures. Violins, flutes, and even trumpets have played the frantic, buzzing music that really sounds like a buzzing bumblebee, yet is incredibly beautiful music. I do wonder if Rimsky-Korsakov made himself dizzy writing those thousands of fast little black notes to be played by instrumentalists.

Back to the bumblebee who has no fuzzy idea that his ancestor was in a fairytale or an opera. Here are a few interesting facts. Bumblebees have five eyes. I’m not approaching close enough to see all those eyes! They are not aggressive creatures so they don’t sting unless disturbed, such as by someone’s digging in their ground nest, or getting too close. They are fatter than honey bees and much more colorful. They don’t look as if they were made to fly, but they do fly, usually short distances near their nest but some have been known to fly as far as ten to eighty kilometers. Though they don’t make anything delightful like honey, they are good pollinators.

Some people have gotten close enough to bumblebees to learn that the queens live for about a year, long enough to start a new colony before they turn toes up. The workers, however, live only a few weeks to a month. They have to fulfill their life’s calling in a hurry!

The bumblebee whose picture I snapped was hovering like a helicopter over a subtle bloom of a Japanese maple. If I were a bumblebee I think I would have chosen to seek sweet nectar from the beautiful lavender wisteria blooms draped in several trees like Caleb’s grape clusters. But if he’d been up there I wouldn’t have had such a good look at him.

I’m blessed by my encounter with a bumblebee and by the music and story his forefathers inspired. And now I’m turning on YouTube to hear once again “Flight of the Bumblebee.”