Your audiences will love these popular classics! These beloved melodies have been arranged in progressive key order so that the book can be played as a continuous set of background music at a gig. However, individual tunes may be selected as separate musical renditions and selections omitted as desired. These arrangements strive to capture the “flavor” of the original source works and yet retain a strong melodic component. The selections are derived from orchestral, opera, operetta and art song compositions. Attempting to transfer them to the harp is a challenge due to the unique characteristics of the instrument. Some liberties had to be taken in order to avoid unusual key modulations or chromaticism of the original works. In some instances, a separate pedal and lever harp arrangement are provided for a more satisfactory performance.
Lever changes are listed by octave number between the staves, while pedal changes are listed below the bass staff. (However, on pedal-harp only versions, the changes are placed between the staves.) Space permitting, lever changes also employ diamond-shaped “reminder” note heads, an innovative method of lever execution developed by harpist Dewey Owens in 1962. The arrangements contained in this collection were composed on a 34-string lever harp; therefore, they require a minimum total range of 4 and 2/3 octaves (C-A) in order to play everything exactly as it appears on the printed page, though most of the pieces actually require less range.
Selections in The Restaurant Book are designed for lever harps with an open tuning of E-flat major as well as all pedal harps. Fingerings, dynamics, and tempo markings are provided only as suggestions in order to aid note-reading and improvisation. The harper or harpist should employ whatever interpretation best facilitates performance, no matter what this book says!
Contents:
Porgi, Amor (Le Nozze di Figaro) – W. A. Mozart
Jupiter Theme (The Planets) – G. Holst
Musetta’s Waltz (La Bohème) – G. Puccini
Egyptian March (Aida) – G. Verdi
La Donna è Mobile (Rigoletto) – G. Verdi
Va Pensiero (Nabucco) – G. Verdi
Waltz and Cradle Song – J. Brahms
Toreador Song (Carmen) – G. Bizet
On Wings of Song – F. Mendelssohn
Surprise Symphony Theme – F. J. Haydn
Moderato Cantabile (Fantasia Impromptu) – F. Chopin
Song to the Moon (Rusalka) – A. Dvořák
Minuetto (Don Giovanni) – W. A. Mozart
The Swan (Carnival of the Animals) – C. Saint-Saëns (pedal version)
The Swan (Carnival of the Animals) – C. Saint-Saëns (lever version)
O Mio Babbino Caro (Gianni Schicchi) – G. Puccini
Polovtsian Dance Theme (Prince Igor) – A. Borodin
Barcarolle (Tales of Hoffman) – J. Offenbach
Meditation (Thaïs) – J. Massenet (pedal version)
Meditation (Thaïs) – J. Massenet (lever version)
Largo (New World Symphony) – A. Dvořák
The Merry Widow Waltz – F. Lehar
