Aesop's Fables
General Info
Year: 1999 / 2005
Duration: c. 9:50
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Alfred Publications
Cost: Parts and Score: $80.00 | Score Only: $10.00
Movements
1. The Hare and the Tortoise - 2:45
2. The Boy Who Cried Wolf - 3:10
3. The Dog and the Bone - 1:05
4. The Wolf and His Shadow - 2:15
Instrumentation
Full Score
Narrator
Flute I-II
Oboe I
Bassoon I
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contra-Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:
- Bass Drum
- Claves
- Crash Cymbals
- Orchestra Bells
- Slap Stick (or Whip)
- Sleigh Bells
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tam-Tam
- Tambourine
- Timpani
- Triangle
- Vibraphone
- Wind Chimes
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Aesop's Fables, for narrator and band, musically portrays four tales attributed to the ancient moralist. The first two movements, The Hare and The Tortoise, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf, are based on two of Aesop's better-known stories. The Hare and the Tortoise is a fast chromatic caccia with a slight pause in the activity for a certain overconfident rabbit's brief nap! In The Boy who Cried Wolf the calm musical accompaniment provides a haunting counterpoint with a fatal drama.
The later two movements, The Dog and the Bone and The Wolf and his Shadow, are settings of two of Aesop's lesser-known fables. The Dog and the Bone is a brief, transparently scored instrumental sigh that mirrors the story's moral: the disappointment of coveting. The final movement, The Wolf and his Shadow, features the happy gigue of a wolf that mistakes his long shadow for actual stature and struts about in unfounded pride. Much to the wolf's dismay, it is the true king of beasts, the lion, who takes the last promenade!
- Program Note by composer
Media
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Rancho Cordova (Calif.) River City Concert Band (Tom Seaton, conductor; Dennis Cain, narrator) - 19 March 2023
- Heart of Texas (San Antonio) Concert Band (R. Mark Rogers, conductor; J. Damian Gillen, narrator) - 30 January 2022
- Capitol Region Wind Ensemble (Schenectady, N.Y.) (Brett Wery, conductor; William Bennett, narrator) - 20 May 2018
- Vassar College and Community Wind Ensemble (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) (James Osborn, conductor) – 29 April 2018
- Palisades High School (Nathaniel Kirby, conductor) - May 2008
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Escape from Thunder Mountain (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Rock Solid (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
All Wind Works
- Aesop's Fables (1999)
- Appalachian Hoedown
- Aquatica (2014)
- At the Feast of Stephen (2009)
- Awake the Iron (2010)
- Balkan Seven (2018)
- Celebratory Fanfare (2017)
- Country Dance
- Concert Piece (Horn and Band)
- Dorian Haiku (2014)
- Dragonship (2018)
- El Cid (2014)
- Escape from Thunder Mountain (2020)
- Extraordinary Machines of Clockwork and Steam (2019)
- Fantasy on an Old English Air
- Figurations
- Freedom Brigade
- Galliard (2019)
- Ghosts in the Graveyard
- Golden Legacy
- Hanukah Is Here
- Joyful Rock
- Lion of Ireland (2011)
- Magic Valley
- Morning Star (2005)
- Night Journey (Watson)
- On Holiday
- Rock Solid (2020)
- Siege of Badon Hill
- Slam Jam! (2004)
- Terracotta Warriors (2017)
- Walkin' Cool
Resources
- Scott Watson website
- Watson, S.; Clark, M. (2005). Aesop's Fables [score]. Alfred Publishing: Van Nuys, Calif.