Book Week Planning for Symphony of Stories Part 7: What's left?

Opera

Opera is a dramatic theatrical genre within Western classical music where a story is told entirely through singing and orchestral music. The words of an opera is called the libretto (from the Latin term for “book”; a musical theatre libretto is called the book of the musical.) The music for the opera would be called the score. Operas and musical theatre first and foremost tell a story, so they are very fitting for a theme such as 'symphony of stories'.

Operas such as the stories of Hansel and Gretel and The Magic Flute are easy places to start, but there are picture books for Turandot  and La Traviata as well. The Music Storybook series is beautifully illustrated by recognised children's book artists. This unique series presents famous operas, ballets and suites in a picture book form. Each book also includes six supplementary pages with background information about the composer and the musical piece.

Ballet

A book such as this, introduces children to the music that accompanies many famous ballets -Swan Lake, Giselle, The Nutcracker, Spartacus, and The Firebird.

And this too introduces the stories of seven ballets.

Biographies of musicians not previously mentioned 

Teresa Carreno (1853 - 1917)  a Venezuelan pianist, composer, soprano, and conductor. 

Ethel Smyth (1858 - 1944) English composer and suffragette. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas.

Amy Beach (1867 - 1944) American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Her "Gaelic" Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. 

Elizabeth Cotten (1893 - 1987) an influential American folk and blues musician.

Marian Anderson (1897 - 1993) an American contralto who performed a wide range of music including opera.

George Gershwin (1898 - 1937) American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular and classical music. Famous for Rhapsody in Blue and folk opera Porgy and Bess.

Viola Smith (1912 - 2020) American drummer. She was one of the first professional female drummers.

Ishtak Perlman (1945 -  )  an Israeli-American violinist.

 

Pete Seeger (1919 -2014)  American folk singer, songwriter, musician and civil-rights activist. His best-known songs include “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”, “If I Had a Hammer” and “Turn, Turn, Turn.”

Elton John (1947 -   ) British singer and pianist.

 

Yo Yo Ma (1955 -   ) American celloist

Troy (Trombone Shorty) Andrews. (1986 -  ) Trombone Shorty, is an American musician, most notably a trombone player, from New Orleans.

Recycled Orchestra of Cateura is a famous Paraguayan musical group made up of children from a slum built atop a massive landfill in Asunción. They play classical and popular music on instruments crafted entirely from scavenged trash. 

2nd February World Tutu Day

 

It is World Tutu Day ...

what fun!

 'Tutu' refers to the iconic dancing outfit worn around a ballerina's waist. The first tutu was introduced in the Paris Opera Ballet by dancer Marie Taglioni during a performance called "La Sylphide", which was the first to feature dancing on tip-toes! Her tutu, called "Romantic tutu", was designed as a bell-shaped garment covering most of her legs. And guess what? It was such a success that it remained the typical clothing for dancers until today! Although, from the late 1800s, tutus began to shorten up, thus allowing ballerinas to move more freely.

I looked at the library catalogue thinking there wouldn't be many books with 'tutu' in the title. How wrong I was...there are lots, so tomorrow I will put the library's tutu-wearing teddy out on a table with all of these books... and that does not include ballet books with a tutu on the cover illustration!

 

7th February Ballet Day

One website says that today is Ballet Day and whether it is a worldwide celebration or not it is a good excuse to think about ballet and all the wonderful picture books that celebrate this form of dance. The relatively new biography Swan  by Laurel Snyder and Julie Morstad is a stunning example of just how special a picture book can be. This book tells the story of Anna Palova's childhood and her journey to prima ballerina.

"As graceful in both visual and written line as the dancer it portrays, it is unrelenting in its depiction of work, inspiration and generosity."--Esme Codell, The Planet Esme Plan


For more ballet picture books to match to your readers see this pinterest collection.

3rd January Patricia Lee Gauch (1934) Alma Flor Ada (1938)

Patricia Lee Gauch, the American author is known in my library as the author of the ballet stories about Tanya. She was the children's editor at Philomel books though at the time Owl Moon was published and she therefore knows what makes a good picture book. Back to Tanya, she is a small girl who is eager to dance like her older sister and so begins the series in Dance, Tanya. The text and the illustrations by Satomi Ichikawa dance musically across the pages, even though Tanya is not yet a dancer and you fall in love with Tanya and her tenacity. Then you go looking for more and luckily there is more. There are at least six books: Dance, Tanya; Bravo, Tanya; Tanya and Emily in a Dance for Two; Presenting Tanya, the Ugly Duckling; Tanya and the Magic Wardrobe and Tanya and the Red Shoes.

Alma Flor Ada is also known in my library as the author of a fun series of books about Hidden Forest, but hers are to do with fairytales and stories that the children know well. There is Dear Peter Rabbit; Yours Truly, Goldilocks; With Love, Little Red Hen and Extra! Extra! Fairy-Tale News From Hidden Forest. The first three are written in letters and the fourth is in newspaper format. The characters the children know, but the books are full of side issues and there is plenty to discuss. All four stories are illustrated by Leslie Tryon whose website has much to offer teachers.