There Was a Man Lived in the Moon

There Was a Man Lived in the Moon (2015)

28 minutes

for singer(s) and varying instrumentation

1. Have you seen the Muffin Man? (voice, bass clarinet, bassoon, trombone)
2. Cock a Doodle Doo (voice, 2 violins)
3. Miss Polly had a Dolly (2 voices, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, side drum)
4. Lavender's Blue (voice, horn, bassoon)
5. Higglety Pigglety my black hen (voice, oboe, bassoon)
6. Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross (voice, harpsichord, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass)
7. The Tailor and the Mouse (voice, flute, clarinet, bassoon, tubular bells)
8. Incy Wincy Spider (voice, piccolo, bass clarinet) 9. Aiken Drum (voice, bodhran, violin, viola, cello, double bass)
10. Girls and Boys come out to Play (voice, harpsichord, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass) 11. On a Mountain Stands a Lady (voice, piccolo, side drum, cello, double bass)
12. Oranges and Lemons (voice, trumpet, trombone, tubular bells)
13. Hot Cross Buns (voice, harpsichord)
14. See saw, Marjorie Daw (voice, viola, cello)
15. I love little pussy (voice, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone)
16. Ding dong bell, pussy's in the well (voice, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tubular bells)
17. Little Boy Blue (voice, horn, viola, cello, double bass)
18. Twinkle, twinkle, little star (piano)
19. Baa, baa, black sheep (voice, piano)
20. Rock-a-bye Baby (2 violins, viola, cello).

Soprano and/or baritone voices, flute/piccolo, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, percussion, piano/harpsichord, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass

Commissioned by ABC Classics

First live performance by Tobias Cole (counter-tenor), Clive Birch (baritone), Vocal Fry, Turner Trebles, Simón Bolívar String Quartet, Meriel Owen (harp), Zubin Kanga (keyboards), Ensemble Offspring conducted by Roland Peelman, Canberra International Music Festival, Fitters' Workshop, Canberra, 30 April 2017

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These arrangements vary in instrumentation. Most are for one singer with two or three players and none is for the same combination of instruments, so in addition to being a set of nursery rhymes, the piece as a whole is an introduction to instruments of the orchestra. Individual songs can be performed in any order.