By Michael Hopkins. Orchestra. Part(s); Score; String Orchestra. Belwin Beginning String Orchestra. Light Concert. Grade 2. 72 pages. Published by Belwin Publishing

Orchestra Cello, Contrabass, Piano, Viola, Violin 1, Violin 2, Violin 3 - Grade 4

SKU: CF.CAS98

Composed by Bud Woodruff. SWS FS. Carl Fischer Concert String Orchestra Series. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. 16+4+16+10+10+10+2+16 pages. Duration 2 minutes, 54 seconds. Carl Fischer Music #CAS98. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.CAS98).

ISBN 9781491146583. UPC: 680160904082. 9 x 12 inches. Key: G major.

Composer Bud Woodruff takes his musical inspiration for Adventurer's Dream from a rooster named Wally. Mr. Woodruff turns this charming four-note crow into the main thematic material for this piece that is reminiscent of classic movie scores.
The principal theme to this piece has an interesting history . We had a very young rooster named Wally . He had a quite rhythmic four-pitched crow, which was very unique and consistent . As he aged, his crow settled into pitches and the opening melodic figure of this piece is the very pitches and rhythm of Wally’s crow . However, Wally had a touch of a glissando between the last two pitches, which I chose to eliminate, for musicality’s sake . Wally's crow is spun out in different ways and used one way or another in all the sections of the piece . Wally was a very energetic, if not egotistical, young bird, and the piece should be performed accordingly, in a dashing, swashbuckling, heroic style, which Wally would appreciate greatly and agree that it was very appropriate!Rehearsal suggestions:The most difficult thing to accomplish in this work will be deciding if you want the repeated eight-note figure on the string or off the string . I don’t care as long as it sounds staccato . On the string, it needs to be played at or by the camber point; off the string, that point will change depending upon your tempo, but the stroke itself should remain consistent .Although the basses never have the melody, they are a critically important section and can make or break this piece . Their part counters the others and fills in rhythmic gaps in a number of places . It needs to be played aggressively and metronomically; they are the glue that makes the piece work . The cellos need to sing for all they are worth at m . 63 and do so with joy in their hands . Their theme needs to be very lyrical and smooth . The countermelody at m . 79 should be understated, yet not buried while being intertwined with the cellos’ theme . It harkens back to the main theme and needs a dreamy quality to it .The piece was written as a string orchestra piece . The optional harp part was added later and is not necessary for an effective performance of the piece . However, it does add some extra variety and color to the piece, and reinforces the basses when they fill in those rhythmic gaps to which I referred earlier .A very special thanks goes to harpist Jane Minnis for the great and insightful suggestions for this part .Thank you for playing this piece . I trust you will enjoy it as much as I do .

About Carl Fischer Concert String Orchestra Series

This series of pieces (Grade 3 and higher) is designed for advancing ensembles. The pieces in this series are characterized by:

• Expanded use of rhythms, ranges and keys but technical demands are still carefully considered
• More comprehensive bowing techniques
• Viola T.C. included
• Careful selection of keys and degree of difficulty for advancing musicians

C Edition. Fake Book (Includes melody line and chords). Size 9x12 inches. 816 pages. Published by Hal Leonard.

Chorus (with soloists) and piano (solos: SMezMez(A)ATTBarBBB - choir: SSAATTBB - picc.2.2.2.2. - 4.2.3.0. - timp - hp - str)

SKU: BR.DV-6081

Lyrical Opera in 3 Acts. Composed by Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowsky. Edited by Manfred Koerth / Wo Ebermann. Arranged by M. Koerth and W. Ebermann. Choir; Softbound. Deutscher Verlag. Opera; Music theatre; Romantic. Piano/Vocal Score. 300 pages. Deutscher Verlag fur Musik #DV 6081. Published by Deutscher Verlag fur Musik (BR.DV-6081).

ISBN 9790200460032. 9.5 x 12 inches.

Duration: full evening

Translation: German (W. Ebermann/M. Koerth), Engl. (D. Llyod-Jones), French (M. Delines)
Place and time: Partly on the estate, partly in Petersburg, in 20ies of the 19th Century

Characters: Larina, Owner of the Estate (mezzo-soprano) - Tatiana (soprano) and Olga (alto), her Daughters - Filipjewna, Wet Nurse (mezzo-soprano/alto) - Eugen Onegin (baritone) - Lenskij (tenor) - Prince Gremin (bass) - A Commander (bass) - Saretzkij (bass) - Triquet, a French Man (tenor) - Guillot, a Valet (silent part) - Country Folk, Ball Guests, Squire, Officers (chorus) - Waltz, mazurka, polonaise and Russian dance (Ballet )

There is an interesting parallel between the subject of the opera and Tchaikovsky's life during the year he wrote the work (1877): in each case, a letter provokes fateful developments in the lives of the protagonists. In the opera, Tatyana's love letter to Eugene sets off the tragedy, whereas in real life, the love letter of a pupil led the composer into a marriage, which lasted all of ... three months. Tchaikovsky took this doomed decision without love, solely because the circumstances want it and because I cannot act differently. Certain allusions made, for example, in a letter of January 1878 to Taneyev suggest that the composer's personal situation also flowed into the work: I did not want anything to do with the so-called 'grand opera.' I am looking for an intimate but powerful drama which is built on the conflict of circumstances which I myself have seen and experienced, a conflict which truly moves me. Partly for this reason the composer decided to call the work not an opera but lyrical scenes.Eugene Onegin, conceived by Tchaikovsky for limited resources and a small stage, is the most frequently performed Russian opera today along with Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, which represents a completely contrary aesthetic stance.

Tschaikowskys letzte Oper - auf ein Libretto seines Bruders Modest nach der Dramenvorlage des danischen Schriftstellers Henrik Hertz - lebt von den poetischen Momenten und den symbolbeladenen Charakterportrats der Hauptfiguren: Die junge blinde Jolanthe wird von ihrem Vater aus Sorge um ihren Makel und zum Schutz ihrer Jungfraulichkeit und vor den Widrigkeiten der Welt in einen paradiesischen Garten gesperrt. Er befielt zu ihrem Schutz sie um ihre Blindheit unwissend zu lassen. Ein Arzt warnt sehen werde sie nur konnen wenn sie es selbst wolle gleich welche Angste aus der vollstandigen Erkenntnis der Welt erwachsen. Als der junge Vaudemont in ihre Abgeschiedenheit einbricht und sich beide ineinander verlieben befreit er sie von ihrer Unwissenheit erklart was Farbe und Licht bedeuten. Erst die Liebe zu ihm macht sie sehend.

Die dunkle Welt der Jolanthe zeichnet Tschaikowsky zu Beginn musikalisch durch eine Introduktion ausschliesslich fur Blaser. Erst mit dem Eintritt in die unbekannte Welt der Liebe und des Sehens verwendet Tschaikowsky einen warmen Streicherklang. Gerade dadurch stiess die Oper wohl bei Zeitgenossen auf Verstorung. Tschaikowskys ,,Jolanthe nimmt in seinem Opernschaffen eine Sonderstellung ein: neben dem glucklichen Ende einer Apotheose des Lichts und der Liebe mit einem religios gepragten Schlusschoral ist es eines der wenigen Buhnenwerke Tschaikowskys ohne Bezug zur russischen Geschichte. Der ausgepragte Lyrismus des Werks verweist stattdessen auf Tschaikowskys Nahe zur franzosischen Kultur die im 19. Jahrhundert einen starken Einfluss auf Russland hatte. Die Oper wurde 1892 am Mariinsky-Theater in Sankt Petersburg als Auftragswerk zusammen mit seinem Ballett ,,Der Nussknacker uraufgefuhrt.

Neben der Produktion des Munchner Rundfunkorchesters wurde ,,Jolanthe szenisch erfolgreich bei den Festspielen Baden-Baden mit Anna Netrebko und Piotr Beczala als Liebespaar rehabilitiert. Ausserhalb Deutschlands lief die Opernraritat in Toulouse Tokyo San Sebastian und Monte Carlo. Zuletzt erneut die ,,Suddeutsche Zeitung: ,,Jolanthe ist eine Opernausgrabung die ,,wirklich zu Unrecht vergessen ist. Tchaikovsky's last opera - on a libretto by the composer's brother Modest based on the drama by the Danish author Henrik Hertz - derives its life-blood from its poetic moments and the symbol-laden portraits of the leading characters: the blind young Yolanta is kept prisoner in a paradisiacal garden by her father who fears for her purity and her virginity and seeks to protect her from the adversities of the world. To do so he orders everyone to keep her ignorant of the fact that she is blind. A doctor warns that she will only be able to see when she is ready to do so herself no matter what fears might result from a complete experience of the world. When the young Vaudemont breaks into her secluded world and the two fall in love he frees her from her ignorance and explains the significance of color and light. It is through her love for him that she is finally able to see. At the beginning of the work Tchaikovsky depicts Yolanta's dark world with an introduction scored exclusively for winds. It is not until her discovery of the unknown world of love and sight that Tchaikovsky uses a warm string sound. This is what many of the composer's contemporaries found disturbing about the opera.

Tchaikovsky's Yolanta occupies a special place in the composer's operatic oeuvre: for one it has a happy ending an apotheosis of light and love with a religiously stamped closing chorale; for another it is one of Tchaikovsky's few stage works without any reference to Russian history. Instead the work's pronounced lyricism points to the composer's closeness to French culture. which exerted a strong influence on Russia in the 19th century.

The opera was given its world premiere at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg in 1892. It had been commissioned along with the ballet The Nutcracker. Next to the production by the Munchner Rundfunkorchester Yolanta was also successfully rehabilitated in a recent staged production at the Baden-Baden Festival with Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala as the lovers. Outside of Germany the operatic rarity was performed in Toulouse Tokyo San Sebastian and Monte Carlo.

In closing another quote from the Suddeutsche Zeitung: 'Yolanta' is an operatic rediscovery of a work that was truly 'wrongly forgotten'.