Grimm Tales

From Wind Repertory Project

Bruce Broughton

Bruce Broughton


Subtitle: A Symphonic Suite for Winds


General Info

Year: 2023
Duration: c. 30:45
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Murphy Music Press
Cost: Score and Parts (digital) - $600.00   |   Score Only (digital) - $150.00


Movements (may be played separately)

  1. Rapunzel – 5:25
  2. Little Red Riding Hood – 5:55
  3. The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces – 6:10
  4. Rumpelstiltskin – 6:05
  5. The Musicians of Bremen – 5:15


Instrumentation

  • Full Score
  • C Piccolo
  • Flute I-II
  • Oboe I-II (II doubling English horn)
  • Bassoon I-II
  • Contrabassoon
  • E-flat Soprano Clarinet
  • B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
  • B-flat Bass Clarinet
  • E-flat Contra-Alto Clarinet
  • B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
  • B-flat Soprano Saxophone
  • E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
  • B-flat Tenor Saxophone
  • E-flat Baritone Saxophone
  • B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
  • Horn in F I-II-III-IV
  • Trombone I-II
  • Bass Trombone
  • Euphonium
  • Tuba
  • Contra-Bass
  • Piano/Celesta
  • Harp
  • Timpani
  • Percussion I-II-III-IV
*Anvil
*Bass Drum
*Chimes
*Crash Cymbals
*Crotales
*Glockenspiel
*Guiro
*Marimba
*Quica
*Ratchet
*Snare Drum
*Snare Drum, Piccolo
*Suspended Cymbal
*Tambourine
*Tam-tam
*Temple Blocks
*Tenor Drum
*Thunder Sheet
*Tom-toms
*Triangle
*Vibraphone
*Wood Block
*Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, I was speaking with my friend Scott Stewart, conductor of the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, with whom I had multiple collaborations since 2006. We were reflecting on the surrealism of this early period of the shutdown, especially the isolation experienced around the globe. Holed up in Los Angeles, I asked Scott what music I might compose for him and his group. He told me he would think about this and the next day proposed an intriguing project: a suite of movements based on Grimm’s Fairy Tales, but not the “Disney-fied” versions with which many of us are familiar; rather, the sinister and grotesque vignettes as they were originally written. After reading through many of these dicey stories, I selected five for musical settings:

1. Rapunzel
2. Little Red Riding Hood
3. The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces
4. Rumpelstiltskin
5. The Musicians of Bremen

Movements may be played as a suite or excerpted in smaller collections as time allows.

W. H. Auden believed these fairy tales to be central texts in Western culture: “It is hardly too much to say that these tales rank next to the Bible in importance.”

- Program Note excerpted from composer


Unlike many iterations of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Grimm Tales (2023) is not the “Disney-fied” version of its literary origins. This work closely resembles the sinister and grotesque vignettes as they were originally written. Collected by the Grimm brothers and first published in 1812–1815, the tales were revised and translated, later becoming one of the most influential and famous collections of folklore in literary history. About Grimm Tales, Broughton recounts the following:

There are 211 stories in Grimm’s Fairy Tales, including Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, and Rumpelstiltskin, many of which have become well known in popular culture through animated features, live-action movies, operas, ballet, and theatre. In these recountings, we discover magic and trickery, murder and mutilation, talking animals, lost children, evil stepmothers, princes and princesses, giants and elves, and heroes and villains locked in fate and misfortune. First-time readers are often shocked to discover that these dark, twisted, and frequently gruesome tales, while appealing, do not match the “happily-ever-after” versions they’ve heard before bedtime or watched in popular cartoons.

- Program Note from University of North Texas Wind Orchestra concert program, 16 November 2023


Commissioned by and dedicated to the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, Dr. Scott A. Stewart, Music Director and Conductor

- Program Note from score


Grimms' Fairy Tales, originally known as the Children's and Household Tales, is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first published on 20 December 1812. Vol. 1 of the first edition contained 86 stories, which were followed by 70 more tales, numbered consecutively, in the 1st edition, Vol. 2, in 1815. By the seventh edition in 1857, the corpus of tales had expanded to 200 tales and 10 "Children's Legends". It is listed by UNESCO in its Memory of the World Registry.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Orchestra (Amy Woody, conductor) – 27 February 2026 (CBDNA 2026 Southwestern Division Conference, Denton, Tx.)
  • University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Orchestra (Amy Woody, conductor) – 19 February 2026
  • University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Orchestra (Andrew Trachsel, conductor) – 16 November 2023 *Premiere Performance*
  • Atlanta (Ga.) Youth Wind Symphony (Scott A. Stewart, conductor) – 9 June 2023 (Carnegie Hall, New York) *Partial Premiere Performance*


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

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