Piano Quartet - Level 1 - Digital Download SKU: A0.548633 Composed by Gruber. Arranged by James M. Guthrie, ASCAP. Christmas. 11 pages. Jmsgu3 #3405403. Published by jmsgu3 (A0.548633). Silent Night for piano quartet. The final verse features a surprise re-harmonization of the melody.  Origins Father Joseph Mohr wrote the lyrics for a new Christmas Carol. He wanted the new carol for his Christmas Eve Mass. With only a couple of hours until the service, He asked organist and schoolteacher Franz Gruber to write a melody and simple accompaniment to accompany the lyrics. The result is probably the most famous Christmas carols – Silent Night. First Performance Perhaps because the organ was undergoing repairs or to ensure the accompaniment was easy enough, Mohr asked Gruber to write it for the guitar. Mohr played the guitar, and Mohr and Gruber gave the world premiere performance at the Christmas Eve Mass in 1818 at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf in Salzburg. Original Score Eventually, the original score became lost, and Mohr's name was largely forgotten.  Though the public initially recognized Gruber as the composer, many people began rumors that a more famous composer was responsible over time. Thus, they floated the names of Haydn, Mozart, and even Beethoven. Authorities eventually settled the matter when a manuscript in Mohr’s handwriting turned up in 1820. Consequently, we learn that Mohr wrote the lyrics in 1816, and Gruber composed the melody in 1818. Popularity Nonetheless, Silent Night is still very popular. Singers have performed this song in nearly every genre and multiple languages. Perhaps the most famous version is the one Bing Crosby crafted. This version is the third best-selling physical single recording in the history of recorded music. This recording was released in 1935 and sold at least 30 million copies. Only two songs have ever sold more. Elton John released Candle in the Wind 1997 and sold 33 million copies. The record for most copies ever sold goes to Bing Crosby. He released White Christmas in 1942 and sold 50 million physical copies.

Piano Quartet,String Ensemble - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.987845 Composed by Robert M. Greenberg. 20th Century,Contemporary. Score and parts. 105 pages. Robert M. Greenberg #90267. Published by Robert M. Greenberg (A0.987845). Preferred Contact Information: RMonteverdi@comcast.net Performing Rights Organization: BMI Website: robertgreenbergmusic.com Facebook Band Page: facebook.com/RobertGreenbergMusic Video: movement 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abie7jcHVA0 movement 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b__yWnl7LcU movement 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8V3g4AC0eM Duration: ca. 17 minutes Year of composition: 2001 Program Note: I. Knock Yourself Out II. Flutterby III. Morph (with apologies to J. B.) Funny Like a Monkey is one of the many phrases coined by my then 16 year-old daughter in order to address the actions and well-intended attempts at humor by both her younger brother and her hopelessly antiquated father. What I love about these phrases – of which Funny Like a Monkey is but one of many – is their use of nonsequitur elevated to high verbal art. They are at once biting and humorous, and are filled with the sort of over-the-top verbal bravado that only a teenager, as the self-acknowledged epitome of hip, can get away with. Though Funny Like a Monkey is scored as a traditional piano quartet, it is in reality composed for string trio PLUS piano. Along with being part of the larger ensemble, the piano has a featured role in the piece: it is narrator, commentator, curmudgeon, critic, and emcee, as it introduces and comments upon the relative merits of the musical materials that comprise the work. The first movement is entitled Knock Yourself Out. The movement’s energy and exuberance, as well as its mercurial-shift-on-a-dime nature is a rather personal reference to the dedicatee. The second movement is entitled Flutterby. A spoonerism created (or at least favored) by my daughter, the reference is to a sort of macro- butterfly, a mega-mariposa, if you will, one of extraordinary beauty and delicacy that floats and drifts and shimmers in some imagined place. The third movement, Morph, With Apologies to J.B. refers to the rather obvious fact that the music keeps morphing in and out of the finale of Johannes Brahms’ (J.B.’s) Piano Quartet in G Minor, Op. 25. I’m crazy about Brahms’ piano quartets, and I have surrendered to the urge to mess with his pitch collections and thematic motives. The movement, with its musical puns, metamorphoses, and attempts at humor, is a perfect example of what might be referred to as funny like a monkey. Funny . . . is dedicated, with love, to Rachel Amy Greenberg on the occasion of her 16th birthday.