Just So Songs
Encyclopedia
Just So Songs is a collection of twelve poems from Rudyard Kipling
's Just So Stories
set to music by Sir Edward German
in 1903. It consists of musical settings for voice and piano of "When the Cabin port holes", "The Camel's Hump", "This Uninhabited Island", "I keep six honest serving men", "I am the most wise Baavian", "Kangaroo and Dingo", "Merrow Down", "Of all the tribe of Tegumai", "The Riddle", "The First Friend", "There never was a queen like Balkis", and "Rolling Down to Rio".
"The Camel's Hump" and "Rolling Down to Rio" proved to be particularly popular, especially the latter. Both had a number of arrangements produced several years later by the composer for various choral and part-song configurations.
Late in his life, German agreed to have Just So Songs arranged for full chorus and orchestra, but he had retired from composing so he chose the younger composer John West to orchestrate and arrange. West, however, died before making any progress and German, too, died before settling on another collaborator. The arrangement for chorus and orchestra was finally completed by Dr. Gordon Jacob
in 1947.
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's Just So Stories
Just So Stories
The Just So Stories for Little Children were written by British author Rudyard Kipling. They are highly fantasised origin stories and are among Kipling's best known works.-Description:...
set to music by Sir Edward German
Edward German
Sir Edward German was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra, also...
in 1903. It consists of musical settings for voice and piano of "When the Cabin port holes", "The Camel's Hump", "This Uninhabited Island", "I keep six honest serving men", "I am the most wise Baavian", "Kangaroo and Dingo", "Merrow Down", "Of all the tribe of Tegumai", "The Riddle", "The First Friend", "There never was a queen like Balkis", and "Rolling Down to Rio".
Publication history
The work was originally published under the title Just So Song Book by Macmillan and Co. as well as Doubleday, Page and Co. in New York. Novello published the settings of "Merrow Down", "The First Friend", and "Rolling Down to Rio" individually in 1904."The Camel's Hump" and "Rolling Down to Rio" proved to be particularly popular, especially the latter. Both had a number of arrangements produced several years later by the composer for various choral and part-song configurations.
Late in his life, German agreed to have Just So Songs arranged for full chorus and orchestra, but he had retired from composing so he chose the younger composer John West to orchestrate and arrange. West, however, died before making any progress and German, too, died before settling on another collaborator. The arrangement for chorus and orchestra was finally completed by Dr. Gordon Jacob
Gordon Jacob
Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob was an English composer. He is known for his wind instrument composition and his instructional writings.-Life:...
in 1947.
External links
- Musical Settings of Rudyard Kipling
- "Edward German: Serious or Light?" by Philip Scowcroft