CO-OP PRESS

Featuring the music of Sy Brandon

Pinocchio Portraits (2001) - Eleven descriptive pieces of characters and places in the Pinocchio story cast in a tonal style.A narrator part tells the story and introduces the musical themes and some concepts of music. Duration 30:00 High School Level. $30.00 - Click here for a version without narrator and demonstrations. 

Narrator Part

Pinocchio Portraits

An Educational Composition for Narrator and Piano 4 Hands

by Sy Brandon

Pinocchio is the story of a puppet who wants to become a real boy. Most of you know that being a real boy is not always easy. Even though they mean well, little children can get into a lot of trouble. However, if your heart is pure, like Pinocchio's, then true happiness will be yours, even if you make some mistakes along the way.

The music of this composition describes some of the characters and events in this marvelous story.

We begin with Geppetto the Puppet Maker. Geppetto is a proud man who believes in hard work and a lonely man who longs for a child of his own. His friend, Mr. Cherry, gives him a piece of wood that laughs and cries like a child. He carves the puppet, Pinocchio, from this piece of wood. Two parts of Geppetto's personality are reflected in the music. We hear Geppetto's longing for a child, in sad and wistful music at the beginning and the end. (Excerpt 1)

In the middle section of this movement, we hear a strong theme in the bass that represents Geppetto's strength of character. (Excerpt 2)

Listen now to a portrait of “Geppetto, the Puppet Maker”. (Movement 1)

Throughout the story, Pinocchio alternates between trying to be a good boy and getting into trouble. This movement depicts Pinocchio getting into mischief, as children sometimes do. At the same time, it hints at his true good nature. The second measure of Pinocchio's theme alternates between the happy sounding major chord that describes Pinocchio as a good boy (Excerpt 3)

and the sad sounding minor chord representing Pinocchio the trouble maker (Excerpt 4).

See if you can hear these two consecutive chords as the pianists play Pinocchio's theme (excerpt 5).

You will also hear part of a chromatic scale, which is a scale in half steps (Excerpt 6).

The chromatic passage will get longer and longer each time you hear it as it represents Pinocchio's nose growing when he lies. Now the pianists will play “Pinocchio as a Scamp and Liar”. (Movement 2)

The third movement is “Geppetto, the Doting Father” and represents Geppetto's love for Pinocchio. The music is tender and expressive and uses a variation of Geppetto's longing theme from the first movement. First, a reminder of Geppetto's longing theme (Excerpt 7)

and now the variation (Excerpt 8).

We also hear a variation of Pinocchio's theme as Pinocchio is the object of Geppetto's love (Excerpt 9).

Now listen to the entire movement. (Movement 3)

“Harlequin” is a traditional clown character that has been used in many plays and appears as a puppet in the Pinocchio story. The music, with its slightly unusual chord progressions and chromatic melody, depicts Harlequin's humorous character (Excerpt 10).

Pinocchio saves Harlequin's life by offering himself to the Fire-eater to use as firewood in place of Harlequin. This dramatic moment is suggested by the music in the middle section of the piece (Excerpt 11).

Here is the “Harlequin” movement in its entirety (Movement 4).

“The Fox and the Cat” appear in many forms throughout the story. At one point they appear as assassins who plan to kill Pinocchio to rob him of his money. The music has three themes that depict them first as mysterious (Excerpt 12),

then persuasive (Excerpt 13),

and then friendly (Excerpt 14).

The movement is in arch form, which means that you hear the themes in this order: mysterious, persuasive, friendly, persuasive, and mysterious. (Movement 5)

Pinocchio's Fairy Godmother appears as different characters in the story; as the lovely girl with bright blue hair, as a dove, and as a kindly little woman. Her caring, supportive and forgiving personality and her magical qualities are depicted in the music. Her theme changes key and is slightly varied to represent her different characters. (Movement 6)

“Candlewick” is a friend of Pinocchio who lures him to Toyland. Candlewick is lazy and unmotivated, therefore he is represented by music that plods (Excerpt 15).

The lure of Toyland appears in the middle section with a magical theme with rich harmony (Excerpt 16).

Listen now to the musical portrait of “Candlewick”. (Movement 7)

We continue the Pinocchio story with a portrait of “Toyland”. A short, playful theme and syncopation represent this magical, yet sinister place. It begins with a sinister theme built on an unsettled diminished chord over a happier sounding outline of a major key (Excerpt 17).

Syncopated fragments of the Toyland theme from the previous movement are heard alternating with the sinister theme (Example 18).

The syncopated fragment of the Toyland theme develops into a rollicking theme of its own (Excerpt 19).

The sinister theme returns, but this time using only the unsettled diminished chord, suggesting that Toyland isn't all that it promised to be (Excerpt 20).

Towards the end, we hear a short section of both Candlewick's music (Excerpt 21)

and Pinocchio's music (Excerpt 22)

that get broken up into shorter pieces as their identity's fade when they change into donkeys. The final statement is a “hee-haw” from both (Excerpt 23).

Listen now as the pianists play the entire portrait of “Toyland”. (Movement 8)

“Pinocchio as a Donkey” begins with an unhappy version of Pinocchio's theme (Excerpt 24).

The “hee-haw” sound of a donkey is frequently inserted (Excerpt 25).

When the tempo gets faster, it depicts Pinocchio, the donkey, at the circus jumping through paper hoops, which is exciting to the audience, but dangerous for Pinocchio (Excerpt 26).

At the end of this fast section, Pinocchio hurts his leg. We now hear the unhappy transformation of Pinocchio's theme again, this time with an extra beat, depicting his lameness (Excerpt 27).

The movement ends with a slow descending passage in the bass, representing Pinocchio being thrown into the sea to drown, so that his skin can be made into a drum (Excerpt 28).

See if you can picture this scene as the pianists play this movement. (Movement 9)

While at the bottom of the sea, Pinocchio encounters a shark. The hungry shark is depicted by a minor key and repeated ostinato accompaniment (Excerpt 29).

When the music gets faster, we hear Geppetto's theme in the bass and Pinocchio's theme in the treble because the shark has swallowed both of them (Excerpt 30).

The pianists will now play the portrait of “The Shark”. (Movement 10)

The final movement is a portrait of “Pinocchio as a Boy”. After all his adventures, Pinocchio and Geppetto escape from the Shark's stomach and are reunited with the Fairy Godmother. This movement consists of a restatement of themes from “Geppetto, The Doting Father” and “The Fairy Godmother”, because Pinocchio would not have become a real boy without their love and guidance. The movement concludes with a restatement of Pinocchio's music, but this time without the use of the sad minor chord, as the happy Pinocchio has learned his lessons well. (Movement 11)