After this, you will hear the theme by Purcell played once more in its original form by all four families together. That is, the whole orchestra.
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One to four.
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In order to show you how a big symphony orchestra is put together, Benjamin Britten has written a big piece of music, which is made up of smaller pieces that show you all the separate parts of the orchestra. These smaller pieces are called variations, which means different ways of playing the same tune. First of all, he lets us hear the tune or the theme, which is a beautiful melody by the much older British composer Henry Purcell. Here is Purcell's theme played by the whole orchestra together.
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Now, Mr. Britten lets you hear the four different families of the orchestra playing the same Purcell theme in different ways. First, we hear the woodwind family. The flutes, the oboes, the clarinets and the bassoons.
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Here comes the brass family. The trumpets, the horns, the trombones and the tubas.
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Chickchaw territory.
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There are no paved roads, but...
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Here comes Jed with the mail. But instead many miles of intersecting footpaths and dirt trails, and a ferry that runs twice daily from Stone Cove.
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And finally the percussion family, all those drums and gongs and things you hit.
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Morning, Gadge. Morning, sir.
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That doesn't do you any good right now. It's just a statistic.
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Where's your sister? I don't know, but she borrowed my record player for 10 days without asking. What does that mean? Dear Lionel, I need to use your record player. I will give it back in 10 days or less. Do not tell Mom. Or Dad. I will replace the batteries when I return. Signed, Suzy Bishop.
