June's composer focus: Dohnanyi

Here's a composer you don't often hear about: Erno Dohnayni.

His most popular piece is "Variations on a Nursery Song", based on what the English have titled "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".

Some history of the music and it's French origin can be found here, with a worksheet to help note the changes in each variation as you listen.
What are you listening for?
Variation 1 - keyboard flurries.
Variation 2 - loud horn and trumpet calls.
Variation 3 - a parody of Brahms.
Variation 4 - a march featuring low then high woodwinds.

Variation 5 - brings in tubular bells, imitating a musical clock.
Variation 6 - more virtuoso writing for piano.
Variation 7 - in the fashion of a Viennese waltz.
Variation 8 - another march, led by woodwind.
Here is a link which will outline all of the variations (as I only have a recording of the first 8).

In contrast, we'll also listen to Mozart's "Twinkle, twinkle little star variations".

For another way to hear all of Mozart's variations, you may like to go here, where you can click on a different coloured star and play each variation separately.

This composer study could well be followed up with more nursery rhymes. Most rhymes were inspired from actual events. One of the earliest known collections is Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London, 1744. The most famous collection, of course, is Mother Goose's Melody: or Sonnets for the Cradle.

Free clipart from here.

Twinkle Twinkle image from here.

We'll be leaving our composer study there this month.