The Magic Toy Shop

Join New Forest Orchestra for a Concert of enchanting music inspired by the fantasy worlds of characters and toys in songs, stories, ballets and film for children and nostalgic adults.Our Concert starts with A Children's Overture by Roger Quilter which takes famous nursery rhymes and neatly links them together, It was based on a music book by Walter Crane called "The Baby's Opera". Quilter uses 12 of the 36 songs in Crane's book in his Overture including
Baa! Baa! Black Sheep, I Saw Three Ships, Sing a Song of Sixpence, Girls and Boys come out to play and Oranges and Lemons.
"La Boutique Fantasque" gives our programme its title. The music derives from pieces by Rossini orchestrated by Respighi for a ballet set in France in 1860. The scene is a magic toyshop which features toys coming to life resulting in dancing, arguing and fighting. Toy Story has similar themes. Tin Soldiers are small metal figurines, mass produced in Germany since the eighteenth century, used for collecting, painting and creating dioramas of battle scenes. "The Parade of the Tin Soldiers" was composed by Leon Jessel, a German composer, in 1897 and is a jaunty march. The piece became extremely popular in America in the 1920s. The Dolly Suite by Gabriel Faure written in the 1890s to mark the birthdays and other events in the life of the daughter (nick-named Dolly) of the composer's mistress, Emma Bardac. The first, Berceuse (cradle song) later became famous as the signature tune of the BBC radio programmer "Listen with Mother". "Mi-a-ou" reflected the 2 year old Dolly's mispronunciation of her brother Raoul's name. Kitty waltz celebrates , not a cat but a pet dog named "Ketty". The suite finishes with a Spanish dance. There is a story that it portrayed Dolly, wrapped in her mother's shawl, pretending to be a Spanish dancer.
Finally the ever -popular "Nutcracker Suite" also portrays Dolls coming to life and having adventures in Tchaikovsky's famous and well-loved Ballet set at Christmas time.The Concert will be at a family-friendly time in the delightful Performing Arts Centre at Ballard School. It will last about 75 minutes and be followed by a chance to meet the Orchestra over refreshments afterwards. Entrance is free but we ask for donations to support the orchestra's charitable aims and its continuation. The seating is banked so anyone with mobility needs should indicate this.