Thursday, December 22, 2011

Fairy Tale Music: A Preview


Cinderella: Songs From the Fairy Tale

A few of you asked for my fairy tale playlist that I have on my MP3 players. I don't want you to think I have forgotten you, like I forget so much here on the blog. I don't have the full list to share today, but I do have an old list that is buried on the SurLaLune site which may be of interest to you now. It's on the old bookstore page at Fairy Tale Music. It is a long list, so don't think I am shirking!

I am planning a fairy tale music month here on the blog in March 2012 for Music in Our Schools Month. March has a lot of pertinent themes for the blog, but this year I am using the music theme since I haven't done so previously.

There are also song listings on the Modern Interpretations pages for each fairy tale on the SurLaLune main site, too.

And, by all means, do not forget to use the Music subject tag on this blog either to read about other fairy tale music. I have several entries about interesting projects.

So if you are curious and want a preview of some of what is to come, that's where to start. Or, if you got new listening devices for holiday gifts and want new things to fill it. I've been told that happens sometimes.

And, by all means, if any of you have fairy tale music to share, please do! This is one of my weaker categories besides graphic novels, especially manga. It's hard to do lyrics searches for songs and find the themes we seek as fairy tale fiends, so many miss my radar. And then there's the issue of most searches bringing up audiobook tracks instead of actual music. It can be a tedious process to find new examples of fairy tale inspired or simply referenced music.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Heidi,

    I'm a lurker here, but the cd cover image you included above reminded me of how I first began to love fairy tales--through musical versions of them, both musical theatre and movie musicals (ala Disney, for better or worse). And then there is of course opera retellings as well. Musical theatre has always been my favorite though, and I have a really thorough collection of musical scores (on cd) for fairy tale adaptations for the stage. Off the top of my head, some of them are:

    --Into the Woods
    --Peter Pan (both the most well known version, as well as a CD compilation much like the CD cover you included above for Cinderella)
    --the Cinderella collection images in your post
    --Camelot (not technically a fairy tale, but fulfilling the same category in my musical experience)
    --Disney's Beauty and the Beast (my preference is the version for stage, but of course the original recording for the movie is great too)
    --Disney's Little Mermaid (for this one, I don't know the stage adaption, only the movie)
    --Wicked (again not technically based on a fairy tale, but based on the Oz stories and a retelling from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West)
    --Once Upon a Mattress (comical retelling of Princess and the Pea, and a show I performed in while in high school)
    --Once on this Island (this is a true gem--a Caribbean retelling of the *original* Little Mermaid story, not the Disney one--another show I performed in, and has some of the most beautiful, storytelling songs I've ever encountered)

    This list is just off the top of my head, but contains so many of my favorites. I confess that music helps me enter into story, so it makes sense that musical retellings of fairy tales were appealing to me as a child (and even more so as an adult!). :) Every show above has a cast recording of some kind (often multiple ones).

    Hope this helps! :) Thank you for the awesome blog!

    --Donna

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  2. Hi again,

    So I just checked out your Fairy Tale Music link, and see you already have a handful of the ones I named on your list. The ones I don't see there include Into the Woods, the Peter Pan musical compilation I mentioned, and Once On This Island. Here are links to the CD recordings for all three:

    http://www.amazon.com/Into-Woods-1987-Original-Broadway/dp/B000002WAB

    http://www.amazon.com/Musical-Adventures-Peter-Studio-Compilation/dp/B0000014YV

    http://www.amazon.com/Once-This-Island-Original-Broadway/dp/B000003F2N

    (I hope this post goes through with the links.) I'm assuming you must know about Into the Woods, but in case you don't, is a musical retelling of a whole handful of fairytales that get inter woven, and then Act 2 is what happens after Happily Ever After for each. REALLY amazing stuff.

    Definitely check out the audio samples for these CDs (especially Once on this Island...more info about this adaptation here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_on_this_island )

    Ok, enough from me for today. Hope you enjoy these leads!

    --Donna

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