SKU: A0.1090119

Described by the composer as emotional, tender, dramatic, and magical, The Fisherman's Tale recounts a classic tale of epic proportions. Based loosely on a theme by Debussy, its challenging winds and agile piano feature make it a perfect addition for any advanced-level ensemble!

SKU: LV.11995

The Adriatic Fisherman's Welcome. Ballad. Composed by N.P.B. Curtiss. Published 1848 by A. & J.P. Ordway, 339 Washington St. in Boston. Composition of strophic with piano and voice instrumentation. Subject headings for this piece include Sailors, Fishermen, Occupations, Love, Absences, Travel, Death, Symbols. First line reads When daylight ebbs oe'r the Adrian sea, and night spreads out her sombre pall..

About The Lester S. Levy Collection

The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music consists of over 29,000 pieces of American popular music. Donated to Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries, the collection's strength is its thorough documentation of nineteenth-century American through popular music. This sheet music has been provided by Project Gado, a San Francisco Bay Area startup whose mission is to digitize and share the world's visual history.

WARNING: These titles are provided as historical documents. Language and concepts within reflect the opinions and values of the time and may be offensive to some.

SKU: A0.1141957

“Allegories� is a five-movement composition based upon Aesop’s Fables. It was commissioned by and dedicated to Frank Meredith. The first movement “The Trumpeter Taken Captive� is a fable about how one’s actions affect the outcome. The trumpeter, who incites others to do battle, is as guilty as those who slay the enemy. The euphonium represents the trumpeter by playing battle tunes. Then the ensemble plays capture music, begging music, fatal music representing the slaying of the trumpeter (euphonium), and finally music representing the moral of the story. “The Boy Who Cried Wolf� is the basis for the second movement. The allegory is that nobody believes a liar. The flute plays a shepherd’s tune to represent the bored shepherd boy. The ensemble plays excited music three times as the boy cries wolf, the first two times just to amuse himself. After the third time when nobody responds to his cries, the flute plays a lament to end the movement. The third movement reflects the story of “The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg.� A golden euphonium melody accompanied by rich harmony represents the golden eggs laid by the goose. The ensemble then plays greedy music that is followed by a minor key lament as the farmer has killed his rich source of income because of his greed. A sweet dancing flute solo begins movement four appropriately named “The Fisherman and His Flute.� This short fable has the allegory of “timing is everything.� The poor fisherman expected the fish to jump out of the sea in response to his flute playing to no avail. When the ensemble plays a similar tune, it represents his success when he uses his net. The fisherman says “you bloody fish, when I played the flute you wouldn’t dance, but as soon I stopped, you started up.� The race between the “Tortoise and the Hare� is the subject of the last movement. The plodding euphonium represents the tortoise and the fast and agile flute represents the hare. The flute takes a nap in the middle of the movement and by the time the flute wakes up, it is too late to catch up with the slow and steady tortoise. The race is not always to the swift.

SKU: A0.1141962

“Allegories� is a five-movement composition based upon Aesop’s Fables. It was commissioned by and dedicated to Frank Meredith. The first movement “The Trumpeter Taken Captive� is a fable about how one’s actions affect the outcome. The trumpeter, who incites others to do battle, is as guilty as those who slay the enemy. The euphonium represents the trumpeter by playing battle tunes. Then the ensemble plays capture music, begging music, fatal music representing the slaying of the trumpeter (euphonium), and finally music representing the moral of the story. “The Boy Who Cried Wolf� is the basis for the second movement. The allegory is that nobody believes a liar. The flute plays a shepherd’s tune to represent the bored shepherd boy. The ensemble plays excited music three times as the boy cries wolf, the first two times just to amuse himself. After the third time when nobody responds to his cries, the flute plays a lament to end the movement. The third movement reflects the story of “The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg.� A golden euphonium melody accompanied by rich harmony represents the golden eggs laid by the goose. The ensemble then plays greedy music that is followed by a minor key lament as the farmer has killed his rich source of income because of his greed. A sweet dancing flute solo begins movement four appropriately named “The Fisherman and His Flute.� This short fable has the allegory of “timing is everything.� The poor fisherman expected the fish to jump out of the sea in response to his flute playing to no avail. When the ensemble plays a similar tune, it represents his success when he uses his net. The fisherman says “you bloody fish, when I played the flute you wouldn’t dance, but as soon I stopped, you started up.� The race between the “Tortoise and the Hare� is the subject of the last movement. The plodding euphonium represents the tortoise and the fast and agile flute represents the hare. The flute takes a nap in the middle of the movement and by the time the flute wakes up, it is too late to catch up with the slow and steady tortoise. The race is not always to the swift.

SKU: IZ.IMF1711

9 x 12 in inches.

Nineteenth-Century Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) is renowned as one of the great masters of German Lieder, having composed over 600 works in the genre. His Die Forelle (The Trout), based on a poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, tells the story of a clever and happy fish that is eventually caught by a duplicitous fisherman who muddies the water in order to trick the fish into being snared on his line. Schubert's playful accompanimental figures, originally set in the piano part, have long been interpreted as either the babbling of the brook or the gleeful swimming and leaping of the fish, and the sung melody has the natural strophic cadence of a folk song. It is only in the moment where the fisherman agitates the water and our protagonist fish is nearing his doom that we hear the harmony become darker and more complex; otherwise the material is bright, sunny, and full of playful chromaticism. This transcription for four clarinets employs a fluid exchange of the accompanimental motive across all four parts, and the original sung melody is also passed throughout the ensemble, allowing each player to have moments of both technical challenge and lyrical expressiveness.

SKU: A0.1347202

Gustav Holst: Japanese Suite Op.33

Mvt.I Ceremonial Dance
Arranged wind dectet/bass (double wind quintet)

2nd oboe plays cor anglais
Clarinet parts are in A

The Japanese Suite was written at the request of the dancer Michio Ito, who was working in London in 1915.

Most of the principal themes are traditional Japanese tunes, which Ito provided to Holst by whistling them.
The lone exception is the “Dance of the Marionette,� which is original to Holst.

Despite its origins, there is little that is “Japanese-sounding� about the resulting suite. Rather, Holst set these tunes in the same kinds of harmonies and textures that he was using in his other works, also taking the opportunity to experiment with other influences that were in the air at this time, an openness few of his British contemporaries shared.

It is not known if the suite was ever used for Ito’s dance performances, but in September 1919 it did become the first of Holst’s works to be performed at a Promenade Concert, after which it received a handful of performances in the British provinces.

The suite consists of six parts including a prelude and an interlude:

Prelude: Song of the fisherman

Ceremonial dance (This arrangement)

Dance of the marionettes

Interlude: Song of the fisherman

Dance under the cherry tree

Finale: Dance of the wolves

It is unknown whether Ito did indeed use the music. The first concert performance  was during the Proms of September 1, 1919 under the direction of Holst himself.

SKU: A0.1348703

Arranged wind dectet/bass

Flute 1 has some optional piccolo
2nd oboe plays cor anglais
Clarinets are in A/Bb

The Japanese Suite was written by Gustav HOLST at the request of the dancer Michio Ito, who was working in London in 1915.

Most of the principal themes are traditional Japanese tunes, which Ito provided to Holst by whistling them.
The lone exception is the “Dance of the Marionette,� which is original to Holst.

Despite its origins, there is little that is “Japanese-sounding� about the resulting suite. Rather, Holst set these tunes in the same kinds of harmonies and textures that he was using in his other works, also taking the opportunity to experiment with other influences that were in the air at this time, an openness few of his British contemporaries shared. 

It is not known if the suite was ever used for Ito’s dance performances, but in September 1919 it did become the first of Holst’s works to be performed at a Promenade Concert, after which it received a handful of performances in the British provinces.

The suite consists of six parts including a prelude and an interlude:

My arrangement is of the complete suite

Prelude: Song of the fisherman 

Ceremonial dance 

Dance of the marionettes

Interlude: Song of the fisherman

Dance under the cherry tree

Finale: Dance of the wolves

SKU: A0.1269890

This barbershop arrangement of the Fisherman's Friends popular hit will be a delight for audiences. Everyone loves a good sea shanty! The arrangement is available in TTBB, SATB and SSAA voicing. The TTBB and SATB are available both as contemporary and barbershop (no vocal percussion) style.