SKU: CF.YPS207
ISBN 9781491152270. UPC: 680160909773. Key: C minor.
Factory Child is a protest song against child sweatshops. The piece depicts the factory life of children laboring many hours a day and manufacturing the shoes and clothes that end up in American retail stores. Young performers will find this thought-provoking piece an excellent way to use their musical voice to affect change.Factory Child is a protest song against child sweatshops. Written in memory of Mrs. Peterson, who loved children dearly, the piece depicts the factory life of children laboring 16+ hours a day, manufacturing the shoes and clothes that end up in American retail stores.Factory Child begins with factory sounds and an oppressive, repetitive pattern that supports the melody carried by the upper voices. The second section is composed of wistful, dream-like sounds and melodies that have traces of children’s songs that remind us that these children forced into labor would love to have the opportunity to play, attend school, and dream, but cannot and realistically have little hope for a life we consider normal. The middle section gives way to more sounds from the factory. The climax is a raucous circus-like waltz using themes from both sections.The percussion parts can be covered by six players. Some players will need to cover two parts. Use someone from the wind section if you do not have six, as some of the parts, although important, are not very difficult. The second clarinet never goes over the break and the bass line is usually doubled in the euphonium as well as in the low reeds.This piece is an excellent way for young performers to use their musical voice to affect change. It is a great discussion starter for researching where our apparel comes from and why to stay away from some brands. It can also make students aware of the fantastic opportunity they have to attend school that children in other parts of the world do not. Young students will find this piece very thought provoking.Ed Kiefer .
SKU: CF.YPS207F
ISBN 9781491152959. UPC: 680160910458.
SKU: HL.49045014
ISBN 9790001202114. 9.0x12.0 inches.
The Belgian composer Nicholas Lens presents extremely varied etudes, exercises and simple phrases with wonderfully telling titles from poetry and everyday world for children and adults. For the most part the studies are tonal and simple and have no constructed line. They are not based on any educational concept but leave the musical dramatization to the pupils and teachers: 'Notes and rhythms are just notes and rhythms, they do not have that many rules, they do not have any pretension, they are just tools for you to use to express what you want to share'.
SKU: CA.1244803
ISBN 9790007252687. German. Text: Hauff, Wilhelm / Liebenspacher-Helm, Sigrid.
This is the bizarre and fantastic story of the boy Jacob who is transformed into a dwarf with a huge nose by an mysterious fairy. He spends seven years in the fairy's palace, and during this time becomes a marvellous cook. The years go by as in a dream, and he does not imagine that he is in truth in the body of a loathsome dwarf. When he sees his parents again, they do not recognize him. He is mocked and rejected by everyone. But Jakob is not disheartened! He has to protect himself and survive setbacks and tests until at the end of the story he regains his true form. Zwerg Nase, based on the fairy tale of the same name by Wilhelm Hauff, is a story which gives courage and hope. It is a story which tells of self-confidence and friendship. There are the animals in the fairy's palace, who stand alongside Zwerg Nase, and above all his girlfriend the goose Mimi who is herself an enchanted maiden and is saved from the oven by Zwerg Nase. Mimi knows which magic herb can give him back his true form. And everything turns out well in the end. The text and music convey the magical content of the fairy tale in a playful, yet convincing way. The libretto is catchy in its verse and rhyme, comic ideas alternate with touching and atmospheric passages. Classic and contemporary elements mix together in the setting, oriental borrowings stand alongside rhythmic pieces such as boogie-woogie, tango, and waltz. Written for chorus and solo voices, the Singspiel is suitable for children and young people from 6 to 14 years. It is about an hour in length. This is the bizarre and fantastic story of the boy Jacob who is transformed into a dwarf with a huge nose by an mysterious fairy. He spends seven years in the fairy's palace, and during this time becomes a marvellous cook. The years go by as in a dream, and he does not imagine that he is in truth in the body of a loathsome dwarf. When he sees his parents again, they do not recognize him. He is mocked and rejected by everyone. But Jakob is not disheartened! He has to protect himself and survive setbacks and tests until at the end of the story he regains his true form. Zwerg Nase, based on the fairy tale of the same name by Wilhelm Hauff, is a story which gives courage and hope. It is a story which tells of self-confidence and friendship. There are the animals in the fairy's palace, who stand alongside Zwerg Nase, and above all his girlfriend the goose Mimi who is herself an enchanted maiden and is saved from the oven by Zwerg Nase. Mimi knows which magic herb can give him back his true form. And everything turns out well in the end. The text and music convey the magical content of the fairy tale in a playful, yet convincing way. The libretto is catchy in its verse and rhyme, comic ideas alternate with touching and atmospheric passages. Classic and contemporary elements mix together in the setting, oriental borrowings stand alongside rhythmic pieces such as boogie-woogie, tango, and waltz. Written for chorus and solo voices, the Singspiel is suitable for children and young people from 6 to 14 years. It is about an hour in length.
SKU: CA.1244805
ISBN 9790007250133. German. Text: Hauff, Wilhelm / Liebenspacher-Helm, Sigrid.
SKU: BR.DV-6140
ISBN 9790200460230. 13.5 x 10.5 inches.
Translation: Engl. (S. Wadsworth) (1988) / (Norbert Rubesaat) (1993); French (Jean-Pierre Wurtz) (1997) Place and time: Jail Munchen-Stadelheim, in the hour before the execution on 22nd February 1943 Characters: Sophie Scholl (soprano) / Hans Scholl (baritone or tenor) >>Weisse Rose<< (White Rose) was the name of the resistance group to which Hans and Sophie Scholl belonged. Udo Zimmermann's composition is characterized by the varying structure of its scenes: dramatic, visionary scenes, e.g. the remembered wartime experiences on the front, Sophie's anxiety about the removal of the children and the wish to see her parents one last time, contrast with contemplative monologues that are intended to provide insights into the individual's particular situation. The composer interweaves into the structure of the piece dream sequences with sudden bursts of anxiety that are not triggered by the execution that is about to take place but by the consequences of one's own actions. The result is a deliberate fusion of the various parts into one another. More than 100 different productions prove that the topic is as important as ever and that the work is both artistically rewarding and practicable. Udo Zimmermann About the piece Two young people, the siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl, are in a prison cell, one hour before they are to be put to death by their fascist executioners. Their christian convictions and sense of responsibility gave them the courage to put up resistance, resistance against the lies, the contempt for humanity and all human values. Sophie and Hans Scholl took their stand in the full knowledge that they were taking a deadly risk. They would simply not have been able to live with their feelings of shame had they not grasped the chance of fighting for what they believed in, even though it was a dangerous thing to do. Memories of past events, doubts, hopes and fears, justification of deeds and an acceptance of death, all these things happen and move in, and between, these two people during this representation of the hour before death. The orchestra provides a psycho-physical shorthand of their inner mental state. Musical effects and gestures search for their identity in human behaviour. The moments of stillness and silence provide moments of musical tension, which are just as powerful as the eruptions of fear and desperation. CDs: Gabriele Fontana (soprano), Lutz-Michael Harder (tenor), Instrumentalensemble, cond. Udo Zimmermann CD Orfeo C 162 871 Grazyna Szklarecka (soprano), Frank Schiller (tenor), musica viva-ensemble dresden, cond. Udo Zimmermann CD Berlin Classics Eterna BC 0120 060-2 CD (excerpts): Gabriele Fontana (soprano), Lutz-Michael Harder (tenor), Ein Instrumentalensemble, cond. Udo Zimmermann CD BMG 74321 73628 2 Bibliography : Kornel , Attila: ,,Tief unter uns nur Schweigen - Die Asthetik der Stille in Udo Zimmermanns Kammeroper ,,Weisse Rose, in: Die Tonkunst 11 (2017), pp. 368-377. Rheinlander , Matthias: Im Osten nichts Neues? Ostalgie ohne Kitsch am Beispiel von Udo Zimmermanns Oper Die weisse Rose, in: Musik und Unterricht, Heft 73 (2003), pp. 34-40.World premiere: Hamburg, February 27, 1986DV 1140 Awarded the German Music Edition Prize.
