Score (43 pp.) + Parts (91 pp.)

Format: PDF

Duration: 18 1/2 min.

Catalogue No.: 020

Program Note

Le Tombeau de Saint-Saëns is modeled in many respects after Le Carnaval des Animaux by Camille Saint-Saëns. In the case of the latter work, it is fascinating to note how Ogden Nash’s witty poems about animals, written in the early 1950’s, fit so perfectly the music that had been composed sixty-five years earlier in 1886. When I discovered, a few years ago, that Ogden Nash had written dozens of other, equally witty poems about animals, it occurred to me that a similar combination of poetry and music might be possible, but in the reverse order, using the poems as the point of departure. Quite a lot of time lapsed after this idea came to my mind before I was able to commence working on the composition. The important catalyst for me was realizing that the key to the success of Le Carnaval was, besides the poetry, the eclectic--one might even say plagiaristic, nature of the music itself. Once I knew that my compositional method was not to be 12 tones or whole tones, but rather borrowed tones, the rest was easy.

Whereas Saint-Saëns quoted music by Offenbach, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Rossini, French folk music, and even his own music (including La Danse Macabre), I quote in my composition the following well-known melodies:

Dies Irae; Brahms’ 6th Hungarian Dance; Chopin’s C# Minor Scherzo and Fantasy Impromptu; Strauss’ opening horn solo from Till Eulenspiegel; How Dry I Am; By the Beautiful Sea; Tea-For-Two; Gaudeamus Igitur; the Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony; The Girl from Ipanema; the Swan from Saint-Saens’ Carnaval des Animaux; Bye, Bye, Blackbird; Home Sweet Home; Christmas, Don’t Be Late, as sung by the Chipmunks; and finally two of my own compositions, Ducks’ Ditty (a treble chorus piece using poetry by Kenneth Grahame), and A Brief History of Musical Time, composed in 1996 for the Hampshire Consort of U.N.H.. Some of the quotes are large and obvious (e.g. the Brahms Hungarian Dance), but some are more difficult to detect. The listeners will hopefully forgive my attempts at rhymed commentary at both ends of the work. As Ogden Nash died in 1971, I was not able to commission him to provide me with a brilliant prelude and postlude as he had done for the Saint-Saëns piece years ago.

Finally, the first version of this piece was for brass quintet and narrator in 2002. This was followed by a version for chamber orchestra in 2003, concert band in 2013, woodwind quintet in 2013 and, most recently in 2020, versions for Marimba, Clarinet in B flat and Piano, and also for Piano Four-Hands.

----Christopher Kies, 2020