Scores for Orchestra

ENTWEDER ODER, POLKA SCHNELL, Op. 403 is a polka by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899), using themes from his 1881 operetta DER LUSTIGE KRIEG (THE FUNNY WAR). One of several short pieces based on this work...

Originally composed for piano, this orchestration from Lecuona's celebrated Andalucia Suite by Morton Gould is a sure crowd-pleaser! Instrumentation: 2(1dPicc).2.2+BCl..1: 4Sax(opt.): 2.3.3.1: Perc(2)...

The Cuban composer and pianist Ernesto Lecuona (1896-1963) wrote many works labelled as "Afro-Cuban," and sorting them all can be difficult. While some are lost and others are scattered about, the 193...

The melody we know today for "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" was originally written by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) in 1840 as secular music for his Festgesang or Gutenberg Cantata to honor the creati...

Fresh from the loss of his oldest daughter Maria Mahler, and knowing he had a serious heart condition, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) crafted Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) in the years 1908...

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) had originally intended for Images pour orchestre to be a sequel to the first set of Images for solo piano. However, around 1905, he had decided to orchestrate the compositi...

Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894), the French lawyer-turned-self-taught-composer wrote his LARGHETTO for Horn in 1875. Resembling an opera aria for French Horn, the work is very lyrical and achingly expre...

Hilding Rosenberg (1892-1985) has been described as the first Swedish modernist composer. Influenced by Sibelius in his early years, he later absorbed the work of Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Hindemith...

While his Symphony No. 9 is better known, Antonín Dvorák's (1841-1904) Symphony No. 7 is argued by many to be his best symphonic work. Inspired in part by his friend Johannes Brahms' new Symphony No....

The first of a few works that Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) wrote for wind band, ORIENT AND OCCIDENT, subtitled "grand march," better resembles a tone poem. Inspired by the world travels he undertoo...

Carl Emil Paul Lincke (1866-1946) served as a composer and theater conductor. Thought of as the "father" of the Berlin operetta, he was best known for his operetta Frau Luna, though his Berliner Luft...

Two series of "Slavonic Dances," each of them consisting of eight numbers and separated by eight years, were composed by Antonín Dvorák. The idea was suggested to the composer by the publisher, N. Sim...

The piano trio version of La muse et le poète, Op. 132 was written by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) in 1910 during a vacation to North Africa, and that version premiered at Queen's Hall on June 7, 1...

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's (1844-1908) path to completion of his Symphony No. 1, Op. 1 was less direct than is usual. While he had sketched ideas for the symphony as a result of his compositions lesson...

Count d'Ogny commissioned Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) to write three symphonies for the Concert de la Loge Olympique, which was then recognized as one of the finest orchestras in Europe. He complet...

Popularly known as the “New World Symphony,” Antonín Dvorák's (1841-1904) Symphony No. 9 in E minor was composed in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. A m...

The Chandos Anthems, HWV 246-256, are a collection of eleven anthems composed by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) when he was composer in residence at Cannons, the court of James Brydges, newly the...

The well-known hymn NIMM VON UNS, HERR, DU TREUER GOTT, also set to music by J.S. Bach, was written by Martin Moller during a period of plague and was often used as a plea against God's anger. Dietric...

Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) composed his Concerto for Cello in B minor, Op. 104/B. 191 in 1894. It was the last solo concerto that the composer wrote, and it was the final work that he wrote during his...

Originally written in 1908 as a "Little Suite" for piano, CHILDREN'S CORNER was dedicated to Claude Debussy's (1862-1918) daughter, Claude-Emma: "To my beloved little Chouchou with the tender excuses...

SIGURD JORSALFAR, OP. 22, was composed by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) for a play by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in honor of King Sigurd I. First performed in Christiania on April 10, 1872, the incidental music...

Two series of Slavonic Dances, each of them consisting of eight numbers and separated by eight years, were composed by Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904). The idea was suggested to the composer by the publish...

An der Schönen Blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue Danube), Op. 314, written by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) is one of the most popular works in classical music, and remains well-known in popular cul...

Two series of Slavonic Dances, each of them consisting of eight numbers and separated by eight years, were composed by Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904). The idea was suggested to the composer by the publish...

Two series of Slavonic Dances, each of them consisting of eight numbers and separated by eight years, were composed by Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904). The idea was suggested to the composer by the publish...