Diabelli Project 127 - A Work for Chamber Orchestra

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This week I think I got a litter over-ambitious and sketched out something for chamber orchestra all in the space of the allotted 10 minutes. I think it turned out rather well, considering. The basic idea was to have a burbling energy generator in the strings that slowly changed over time. On top of it, the winds and brass would provide three motifs that would gradually come together to form the opening theme (or they would, given enough time).

As you can see, the three motifs are a whole-note slide (mm 2-3, oboe and clarinet), syncopated fifths (mm 3-4, trombone and tuba), and a sweeping arpeggio (mm 4-5, flute and bassoon). This is another sketch I'll place in the "possibilities" folder to revisit later, I think.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 082 - Piece for Chamber Orchestra

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This week's flash composition is a little more ambitious than most -- once you consider the source. While the music isn't that complex, the forces involved are. It's a work for a small chamber orchestra. I envisioned just one player each for the brass and winds, with no percussion (at least for this sketch), and a small string section. (click on images to enlarge)

Below is the original sketch that I dashed off in my allotted 10 minutes. I tried to give myself enough information to make a fair copy without filling in too many blanks. After all -- the purpose of the fair copy is just to present a legible version of the sketch -- not to recompose it in the process.

As always, this sketch can be used by any and all -- just let me know the results.