The Magical Music Box
Encyclopedia
The Magical Music Box, more commonly known as The Music Box was a British children's magazine
. It ran from 1993 to 1997 in a series of 52 monthly serialisations. The aim of the magazine was to introduce children into classical music and to popularise this form of music among the younger generations.
The stories followed the fictional adventures of two siblings, Sarah and Jamie who find a magical music box through which they are able to enter other worlds, most commonly as spectators. The stories were generally related to other children's tales or fables, such as issue 38 (King Arthur & The knights of the round table
) or issue 27 (The Imperial Robes
).
The drama
tisations were produced by IRDP, Independent Radio Drama Productions on request of Marshall Cavendish Partworks Ltd
and a Grand Award Trophy for Entertainment Programming at the International Radio Festival 1994 held in New York. These were for the drama in issue four, The Wizard's Spell.
1. Journey to the Stars - The Planets
by Gustav Holst
2. Hall of the Troll King - Peer Gynt Suites
by Edvard Grieg
3. Sky Racers - Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony
4. The Wizard's Spell - Swan Lake
by Tchaikovsky
5. House of Terrors - Symphonie Fantastique
by Berlioz
6. Daylight Robbery - Rhapsody in Blue
by George Gershwin
7. The River God - Ravel's Bolero
8. Night of the Aliens - Bach
's Orchestral Suite No 4
9. The Bull Fights Back - Bizet's Carmen Suites 1 and 2
10. Animal Rescue - Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns
11. Sindbad and the Kraaken - Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade
12. Musical Misfits - Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto
13. Nightmare Gallery - Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
14. The Highwayman's Mask - Viennese Waltzes by Strauss
15. The Dell of Time - Vivaldi's Four Seasons
16. The Big Freeze - Violin Concerto by Brahms
17. The Bowman and the Baron - Overtures by Rossini
18. The Valkyries - Music from Operas by Wagner
19. The Spinning Wheel - Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Suite
20. Wagon Train West - Dvořák's New World Symphony
21. Fireworks! - Music for the Royal Fireworks by Handel
22. On Thin Ice - Borodin's Polovtsian Dances
23. Fire-Bringers - Beethoven's Symphony No 5
24. The Captain's Curse - Nocturnes by Debussy
25. Eve of Battle - Solo Piano Pieces by Chopin
26. Black Angus - Overtures by Mendelssohn
27. The Imperial Robes - A Little Night Music by Mozart
28. Space Envoys - Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2
29. Boomerang! - Symphonies Nos 5 and 6 by Mahler
30. Bird of Fire - Stravinsky's Firebird Suite
31. Lost and Found - Schumann's "Spring" Symphony
32. Pyramid of Khonsoul - "Surprise" Symphony by Haydn
33. Showdown in Maverick - Rodeo by Aaron Copland
34. The Long Shadow - Piano Concerto No 1 by Franz Liszt
35. Festival of the Sun - The Love of Three Oranges by Prokofiev
36. The Sea Princess - Debussy's La Mer
37. The Monks' Treasure - Solo Pieces for the Organ by J.S. Bach
38. King Arthur's Sword - Symphony No 40 by Mozart
39. The Magic Lyre - Piano Sonatas by Beethoven
40. The Great River - The Moldau by Smetana
41. In the Spotlight - Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite
42. Beyond the Wall - Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss
43. The Lady's Tale - Carmina Burana by Carl Orff
44. Outlanders - Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
45. The Savage Flames - The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky
46. Sealed Orders - Symphony No 1 by Brahms
47. Caught in the Act - Dance Suite by Béla Bartók
48. On the Battlefield - Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
49. Trouble with Time - Mussorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain
50. Treason and Plot - Baroque Music by Albinoni, Pachelbel and Corelli
51. The Happy Dragon - Schubert's Symphony No 5
52. The Little Soldier - Symphony No 9 by Shostakovich
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
. It ran from 1993 to 1997 in a series of 52 monthly serialisations. The aim of the magazine was to introduce children into classical music and to popularise this form of music among the younger generations.
The stories followed the fictional adventures of two siblings, Sarah and Jamie who find a magical music box through which they are able to enter other worlds, most commonly as spectators. The stories were generally related to other children's tales or fables, such as issue 38 (King Arthur & The knights of the round table
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
) or issue 27 (The Imperial Robes
The Emperor's New Clothes
"The Emperor's New Clothes" is a short tale by Hans Christian Andersen about two weavers who promise an Emperor a new suit of clothes that is invisible to those unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent...
).
The drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
tisations were produced by IRDP, Independent Radio Drama Productions on request of Marshall Cavendish Partworks Ltd
Features
The magazine was relatively expensive for children to afford, costing £3.99 (with a tape) or £4.99 (with a CD) per issue.- A different fortnightly story involving the siblings Sarah and Jamie
- A CD or tapeCompact CassetteThe Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
with each issue - The story in spoken wordSpoken wordSpoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
with an accompaniment of classical music - The classical music on its own
- History behind the stories and the music
- Facts about the relevant composer and instruments
Awards
The magazine won a Gold MedalGold Medal
Gold Medal is the sixth studio album by the American hard rock band The Donnas, released in 2004 on Atlantic Records. It was one of the first albums released in the DualDisc format, but was recalled due to a mastering error which resulted in the final track being partially omitted from the CD...
and a Grand Award Trophy for Entertainment Programming at the International Radio Festival 1994 held in New York. These were for the drama in issue four, The Wizard's Spell.
List of magazine sub-titles
A list of the issue names and the music which accompanied the stories1. Journey to the Stars - The Planets
The Planets
The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst...
by Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
2. Hall of the Troll King - Peer Gynt Suites
Peer Gynt Suites
Peer Gynt, Op. 23 is the incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play of the same name, written by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg in 1875. It premiered along with the play on 24 February 1876 in Christiania ....
by Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
3. Sky Racers - Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony
Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)
Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the Pastoral Symphony , is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, and was completed in 1808...
4. The Wizard's Spell - Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
by Tchaikovsky
5. House of Terrors - Symphonie Fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties , Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences...
by Berlioz
6. Daylight Robbery - Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
by George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
7. The River God - Ravel's Bolero
8. Night of the Aliens - Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
's Orchestral Suite No 4
9. The Bull Fights Back - Bizet's Carmen Suites 1 and 2
10. Animal Rescue - Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns
11. Sindbad and the Kraaken - Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade
12. Musical Misfits - Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto
13. Nightmare Gallery - Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
14. The Highwayman's Mask - Viennese Waltzes by Strauss
15. The Dell of Time - Vivaldi's Four Seasons
16. The Big Freeze - Violin Concerto by Brahms
17. The Bowman and the Baron - Overtures by Rossini
18. The Valkyries - Music from Operas by Wagner
19. The Spinning Wheel - Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Suite
20. Wagon Train West - Dvořák's New World Symphony
21. Fireworks! - Music for the Royal Fireworks by Handel
22. On Thin Ice - Borodin's Polovtsian Dances
23. Fire-Bringers - Beethoven's Symphony No 5
24. The Captain's Curse - Nocturnes by Debussy
25. Eve of Battle - Solo Piano Pieces by Chopin
26. Black Angus - Overtures by Mendelssohn
27. The Imperial Robes - A Little Night Music by Mozart
28. Space Envoys - Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2
29. Boomerang! - Symphonies Nos 5 and 6 by Mahler
30. Bird of Fire - Stravinsky's Firebird Suite
31. Lost and Found - Schumann's "Spring" Symphony
32. Pyramid of Khonsoul - "Surprise" Symphony by Haydn
33. Showdown in Maverick - Rodeo by Aaron Copland
34. The Long Shadow - Piano Concerto No 1 by Franz Liszt
35. Festival of the Sun - The Love of Three Oranges by Prokofiev
36. The Sea Princess - Debussy's La Mer
37. The Monks' Treasure - Solo Pieces for the Organ by J.S. Bach
38. King Arthur's Sword - Symphony No 40 by Mozart
39. The Magic Lyre - Piano Sonatas by Beethoven
40. The Great River - The Moldau by Smetana
41. In the Spotlight - Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite
42. Beyond the Wall - Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss
43. The Lady's Tale - Carmina Burana by Carl Orff
44. Outlanders - Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
45. The Savage Flames - The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky
46. Sealed Orders - Symphony No 1 by Brahms
47. Caught in the Act - Dance Suite by Béla Bartók
48. On the Battlefield - Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
49. Trouble with Time - Mussorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain
50. Treason and Plot - Baroque Music by Albinoni, Pachelbel and Corelli
51. The Happy Dragon - Schubert's Symphony No 5
52. The Little Soldier - Symphony No 9 by Shostakovich
External links
- Marshall Cavendish Magazine Catalogue
- IRDP & The Music Box
- The New York Radio Programming Festival Online
- Copies of CDs, tapes and books can be found at PartWorks
- Audio downloads and scans of the magazines can be found at http://magicalmusicbox.tumblr.com/