Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
From the beginning of the music, the instrumentation was the main characters vividly expressing themselves through the variations and melodies. Therefore, my focus was majorly on performing media, specifically the instruments. The music piece has an 8-measure theme presented in a full orchestra in four main families offering different instruments. At the very end of the music piece is the fugue; a combination of all the devices in the four families producing a full orchestra that was introducing the music piece at the very beginning.
The four families produce thirteen different variations of the central theme. The first family of woodwinds consist of four variations with a different musical instrument. The first variation in the first family is compost of flute and piccolo accompanied by violins, harp and triangle. The second variation consists of oboes, accompanied by strings and timpani. The third variation has clarinets accompanied by strings and tuba, and the fourth variation consists of bassoons accompanied by strings and snare drum. In the second family, five variations are ranging from variation 5 to 9. Variation 5 includes violins accompanied by brass and bass drums. Variation 6, consisting of violas complemented by woodwinds and brass. Variation 7 involves cellos supplemented by clarinets, viola and harp. Variation 8 consists of double basses accompanied by woodwinds and tambourine and finally variation 9 that has harp accompanied by strings, gong and cymbal. The third family is of brass, and it consists of three variations ranging from variation 10 to 12. Variation 10 consists of French horns accompanied by strings, harp and timpani. Variation 11 is of trumpets supplemented with strings and snare drums. Variation 12 involves trombones and tubes enhanced with woodwinds and high brass. The fourth family is of the percussion that consists of the 13th variation that is full of various timpani combinations.
References
Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the orchestra [Hd]. (2012). Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the orchestra [HD]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vbvhU22uAM.