"Goblin Market" [Conor Mitchell]

"Goblin Market" [Conor Mitchell]

First line of lyrics: And so, Jeannie dwindled and went grey, and grew thin, until finally, Jeannie died.

Mitchell, Conor; music (Northern Irish)

Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)

Burlinson, Kath; adapted and additional text (British)

2003 [copyright]; 2009 February [publication]

London: Josef Weinberger Limited

genre: chamber musical|musical theatre|chamber opera

solo: female voice

chorus: SATB chorus

instrumentation: orchestra

initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats

initial time signature: 12/8

origin: United Kingdom

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "Goblin Market"

Work contains texts by multiple authors

Notes about the text: Kath Burlinson’s libretto/book for this chamber musical adds a significant amount of new creative content, specifically, new characters and both spoken dialogue and sung original poetic text that are not part of Rossetti’s poem. The ghost of Jeannie [sic] is added as a solo singing role, and a new narrative frame is also introduced. This new narrative frame draws on details from Rossetti’s fictional work "Speaking Likenesses" (1874).

Composition history: Commissioned by the National Youth Musical Theatre.

Tempo markings: "Moderato 4 / Ghostly"

Performance instructions: "A Chamber Musical in One Act, adapted from the poem by Christina Rossetti." Musical score with occasional brief sections of spoken dialogue; musical score for six female soloists, a large ensemble forming SATB chorus, orchestra accompaniment. "Goblin Market is a sung through work for ensemble and orchestra. What makes this piece different is that all of the main roles are for women and girls. The ensemble comprises of any number of young people. This is not an easy work. The score is a complex in harmonies, counterpoints and the orchestration is rich and dense. Goblin Market works at the opera-musical interface and is a challenging work for any company." ("Goblin Market")

Performance history: Lyric Theatre, Belfast. Youth Music Theatre UK production, George Square Theatre, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Festival, August 2005 ("Goblin Market (2005)"); view the album of 125 photos of this production on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjCUxcKB. University of Cumbria, April 2009 and December 2013.

Notes: A chamber musical in one act, with musical numbers consisting of "Overture" (pp. 1-3); "Prologue" (pp. 4-10); "Chapter One" (pp. 11-23); "Chapter Two" (pp. 24-44); "Chapter Three" (pp. 45-56); "Chapter Four" (pp. 57-74); "Chapter Five" (pp. 75-95); "Chapter Six" (pp. 96-111); "Chapter Seven" (pp. 112-124); "Chapter Eight" (pp. 124-148); "Chapter Nine" (pp. 149-167); "Chapter Ten" (pp. 168-188).

Format 1: musical score

188 pages; performance time 75 minutes

Other data reference(s): "Goblin Market." Josef Weinberger Music Publishing Group Vienna. http://www.weinberger.co.at/stage/detail.php?shopitem=1431&department=5&back=%2Fstage%2Fcontent.php%3Fdepartment%3D5%26page%3D6%23LinkMore_13. Accessed 17 March 2017.
"Goblin Market (2005)." British Youth Music Theatre, https://britishyouthmusictheatre.org/shows/goblin-market-2005. Accessed 17 March 2017.
Personal correspondence with librettist Kath Burlinson and Sean Gray of Josef Weinberger Limited.

Cataloguer: Mary Arseneau, University of Ottawa

This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "Stage Repertoire." Josef Weinberger Music Publishing Group Vienna. https://www.weinberger.co.at/stage/index.php. Accessed 27 Nov. 2019.

Record: CRM-goblinmarket-mitchell

File(s): CRM-goblinmarket-mitchell-titlepage.pdf

This work is protected by copyright. For permissions and licensing rights please contact publisher Josef Weinberger Limited, London.

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