The Little Mermaid

Although those who follow what I’m doing will already be aware, I thought I might just link anyway here to my “magnum opus”, a setting of the HC Andersen tale “The Little Mermaid”. Strongly influenced by Janacek (and to a lesser extent Suk and Martinu), it’s probably the most characteristic thing for me I’ve written as well as being the longest. With the somewhat eccentric intimate chamber orchestration including a glass harmonica, it’s unlikely to be practicable for human performance as it stands but was fun doing. The final scene (as invariably in Janacek operas) contains for me the best and most hopeful music in case anyone wants to try just a shorter sample. I can supply either the Dorico score or a pdf on request if anyone wants to seriously follow the text which is the largely unaltered original dialogue.

I don’t know of any other vocal/operatic settings of this, --one of the greatest of fairy tales. There is a ballet by Lera Auerbach in the Russian tradition, though containing some most striking and individual music with a prominent theremin

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Enchanting music, David! Bravo. A great example of what can be done.
(The [thread] title unfortunately makes Americans think of Disney.)
I would in fact be interested to follow along a PDF if you want to PM me.

much appreciated, Mark – glad you enjoyed it. PM’s you with the score.