A Midsummer Night's Dream: Fairy Songs

1. Lullaby for Titania ("You spotted snakes")

2. Oberon's Blessing ("Now until the break of day")

 

These deceptively simple pieces are perfect for use as teaching pieces, and as incidental music for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's comedy of the fairies' enchantment of two pairs of noble lovers and of Bottom the weaver.

As teaching pieces, their pentatonic melodies, limited range, and use of repetition and canon make them ideally suited to Kodaly techniques. Their rhythmic clarity makes them a good vehicle for simple choreography, and the recorder parts can be played by onstage musicians.