Music Description

genre

According to the published score, Kernis classified his work as a “Sinfonietta”; meanwhile, biographer Leta E. Miller opines that the form could more properly be called a “melodrama in the strict sense of spoken text over music” (p. 178, n14). The published score denotes the work as a “Sinfonietta for solo narrator and large ensemble” and calls for a chamber orchestra of fourteen players, playing instruments as listed on the “Instrumentation” page included here:

instrumentation 

• Flute (doubling Piccolo & Alto Flute)
• Oboe (doubling English Horn)
• 2 Clarinets in B-flat (1^st doubling in E flat Clarinet, 2^nd doubling Bass Clarinet)
• Bassoon
• Horn in F
• Trumpet in C
• Percussion (two players playing 23 different instruments)
• Piano
• Violin
• Viola
• Cello
• Bass

parts and scene numbers

The cd liner notes also list the individually titled parts of the score according to their track numbers:

Part 1

1. Introduction—Misterioso  [1.54]
2. Scene 1—With energy  [1.52]
   "Morning and evening Maids heard the goblins cry"
3. Scene 2—Tranquil  [4.49]
   "Evening by evening among the brookside rushes"
   
4. Scene 3—Slowly, with swagger  [3.52]
   "One set his basket down, one reared his plate"
5. Scene 4—Meno  [6.42]
   "Lizzie met her at the gate full of wise upbraidings"

Part 2

6. Scene 1 [10.56]
   Early in the morning, when the first cock crowed his warning"
7. Scene 2—Presto  [6.00]
   "Laughed every goblin when they spied her peeping"
8. Scene 3—With movement—exhuberant  [7.46]
9. Epilogue—Moderato  [2.40]

Sources:

Kernis, Aaron Jay. Goblin Market. Lyrics by Christina Rossetti, performance by The New Professionals Orchestra, conducted by Rebecca Miller, narrated by Mary King, Perivale, Signum Records, 2011.

Kernis, Aaron Jay. Goblin Market. Associated Music Publishers, 1996.