Orchestra
The "long" history is, of course, the textbook by Donald Jay Grout, in use at many universities in music history classes.
I wanted to write a piece for 1992 in celebration of the 500 years since Columbus sailed to the Americas, and decided that a quick retrospective of some of the genres which have shaped Western music would be in order. It is not meant to be comprehensive; my choices of styles is most notable by what has been omitted.
A Short History is a set of variations on one of the most easily recognizable tunes in Western music: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". A guide to the piece is as follows [Composers in brackets serve as models]:
| Introduction and Theme | [J. Strauss] | . |
|---|---|---|
| Variation 1: Motet | [Josquin] | 16th century |
| Variation 2: Canon with ground bass | [Pachelbel] | The piece that won't go away |
| Variation 3: Chorale and Fugue | [Bach] | 18th century |
| Variation 4: Minuet | [Mozart] | 18th century |
| Variation 5: Waltz | [J. Strauss] | 19th century |
| Variation 6: Romanza | [Schumann] | 19th century |
| Variation 7: Impressionism | [Debussy] | 20th century |
| Variation 8: Primitivism | [Bartok] | 20th century |
| Variation 9: Ragtime | [Joplin] | 20th century |
| Variation 10: Boogie Woogie | . | 20th century |
| Variation 11: Tango | . | 20th century |
| Variation 12: March | [Sousa] | 20th century |
To call this work a "composition" is a bit misleading. Each variation is a fundamentally accurate historical model (sprinkled with quotations) and consequently belongs more accurately to the provinces of music theory class. The use of "Twinkle" as a point of departure for variation is, likewise, not a new idea; there are wonderful sets by Mozart and Dohnanyi.