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A Toy Symphony (1999) |
Commissioned by the 1999 Bath International Music Festival, England.
First performance: 6 June, 1999 The Forum, Bath. The City of London Sinfonia with celebrity soloists: Tim Joss (Artistic Director of the Bath Festival), John Everitt (Chief Executive, Bath & North East Somerset Council), Don Foster (Member of Parliament for Bath), David Gledhill (Vice-President, Bath Festivals Trust), Bel Mooney (Vice-President, Bath Festivals Trust) and Susan Osmon (BBC Television and Radio Bristol), Stephen Montague, conductor
Joseph Haydn has often been credited with writing what is now known as the Toy Symphony (c. 1786) but recent research points to Leopold Mozart (Wolfgang's father) or Michael Haydn (Josef's younger brother) or possibly one P. Edmund Angerer (a little known Viennese composer) as the more likely composer. This idea of using toy instruments and other unusual sound sources inspired several other composers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In my case, however, the idea for a modern 'toy symphony' came from Tim Joss, the Artistic Director of the Bath Festival, who, after hearing my work, Dark Sun, for large amateur orchestra at the 1998 Bath Festival, commissioned this new work for six amateur performers and orchestra.
My inspiration for this project was autobiographical. It came from some of my vivid childhood memories of growing up in 1950s rural America. For me those were magic times of endless hot summer days at my grandparents' farm chasing my brother through the corn and digging up the flower beds for our little army of rubber soldiers. Their Victorian gothic house was made for children's adventures, especially at dusk when the fading light cast long spooky shadows. We loved sneaking up the back stairs to the attic, quietly opening trunks and peeking into countless dusty boxes of long forgotten treasures.
This Toy Symphony is a three movement musical snap shot of recollections from those wonderful summers. The work is scored for a Mozart/Beethoven size orchestra plus six celebrity performers who turn back their own calendars to play along on some children's toys. I would also like you, the audience, to join us in the Second and Third Movements to help conjure up some special effects. The conductor will instruct you and rehearse your part before the work begins.
First Movement: "Noisy Toys, Slow Afternoon"
As a child everyone has played with a toy that made noises of endless fascination to you but deeply annoyed your parents. To my parents' irritation I was particularly fond of balloon noises.
Second Movement: "Sad Toys in the Attic Stir after Midnight"
Audience please make a "ssh" (white noise) sound when the conductor signals you. Your six entries are spaced throughout the movement.
My brother and I were compulsively drawn to the labyrinth of attic spaces in my grandparents' house. It was a combination of fear and fascination: there were bats, the floors creaked, it was dark and there were spring loaded mouse traps everywhere. The attic was airless and quiet. The musty, funereal smell added pungency to our whispers as each hushed adventure began. A dusty chest of forgotten toys was hidden under the south gable arch. Next to it, pieces of broken wedding crystal in a wooden box. An ill wind often blew across the gables at midnight and one morning I swear all the toys had moved.
Third Movement: "Ghost March, Tin Soldiers at Dawn"
A "Dawn Chorus": Audience, at the beginning of the movement please join in with any kind of appropriate "dawn chorus" sound- whistles or bird song. The conductor will direct you.
One of the treasure finds in the attic was a hand painted box full of tin soldiers. The 1950s was an era of austerity with low grade rubber toys made from rough seam moulds. My army was olive drab and could hardly stand up without bubble gum. Their rubber rifles seemed better designed to shoot around corners than straight. My grandfather's soldiers were dusty and old, but stood ramrod stiff, élite and in full parade dress colours. It was a ghost troop that obviously knew how to march.
The three movements of A Toy Symphony are fast, slow, fast. The horn theme heard near the beginning of the first movement recurs in canon (with the trumpets and horns) near the end of the third movement.
A Toy Symphony is dedicated to my children Toby (12) and Tessa (10) whose nostalgic 20th century toys I suppose will include the CD ROMs of Theme Hospital, Actua Soccer 2, Men in Black and the Bart Simpson talking alarm clock.
© 1999 Stephen Montague