Music and Time Annotation << Back Peculiarities of the plot of Robert Schumann’s oratorio «Paradise and the Peri» I.D. Medrish, L.V. Gnatjuk The article looks at different opinions on the issue concerning the origin of the plot of the poem «Paradise and the Peri» by Thomas Moore, a romantic Irish poet. «Paradise and the Peri» is one of the four narrative poems which an Oriental romance Lalla Rookh consists of and also the one which Robert Schumann’s oratorio of the same name is based on (in German translation). The authors present the version of the source of the plot that has never been considered before. According to the authors, this source is the text of the Hebrew parable “The Highest Value” found in the collection of ancient oriental parables and analyzed in the article. This version is based on comparing the text of the poem and the text of the supposed origin as well as on explaining the differences between them. The article also explores reasons why Robert Schumann decided to choose this oriental story for creating his oratorio. Keywords: Thomas Moore, Robert Schumann, poem «Paradise and the Peri», oratorio, ancient parable. Pp. 48-50.