Humming Chorus: String Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts

$52.00 USD

Humming Chorus: String Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts

Name: Humming Chorus: String Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts
Brand: Alfred Music
SKU: 76-52806
Price: 52.00 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

from Madame Butterfly

By Giacomo Puccini / arr. Loreta Fin

Grade: 2.5

Item: 76-52806

$52.00

Shipped

One moment…

Giacomo Puccini (1858--1924) was an Italian composer, known for his operas, which featured beautiful melodies. This work comes from his opera, Madame Butterfly and the innocent childlike melody is hummed by the Chorus (hence the title). There is opportunity for the more advanced students in each section to play the melody, using higher positions and vibrato, while requiring excellent bow control. The accompanying parts are all pizzicato, which gives the director an opportunity to discuss how a resonant tone is produced when plucking the string, keeping the left-hand fingers firm and the plucking finger over the fingerboard. This arrangement is very close to the original and requires precise intonation in the unison and octave parts

Humming Chorus: String Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts isn't in MakeMusic Cloud just yet...but it could be. Let us know you'd like to see it, and you'll help shape what comes next. In the meantime, start a free trial and dive into thousands of interactive titles your students can play along with today.

Request This Title

Tell us you want it.

Start Your Free Trial

Explore everything that's ready to play right now.

No sample videos found.

Series: Wilfin String Orchestra: Young String Ensemble Series

Publisher: Wilfin Music

ISBN10: 1-4706-8603-1

ISBN13: 978-1-4706-8603-1

UPC: 038081619934

SKU: 76-52806

More about this title

About the Composer: Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini stands as one of opera's most gifted melodists. His works dominated the lyric stage from the 1890s onward, and his gift for writing singable, memorable lines remains unmatched in the repertoire. Puccini's mastery of orchestration and his instinct for what voices and instruments could do made him essential to any serious musician's education.

Beyond his fame as an opera composer, Puccini offers string teachers a direct connection to the vocal writing that defines classical training. When you arrange his melodies for young orchestras, students encounter the same elegance and inevitability of line that professional singers spend careers perfecting. This arrangement of the Humming Chorus preserves that gift entirely.

Show moreShow less

Why we love this

The contrast between the soloists playing a tender, exposed melody and the pizzicato texture beneath creates genuine musical drama without complexity. Your advanced players get a meaningful solo moment while the rest of the ensemble develops precision in an accompaniment pattern that sounds easier than it is. It's operatic without being oversized.

What to expect

Childlike and direct, as Puccini intended for the humming chorus. The melody has the quality of something being remembered rather than performed, intimate even in a full ensemble. The pizzicato backdrop creates a sense of gentle motion, almost like a lullaby unfolding.

Who it's for

String orchestras at the Grade 2.5 level where you have enough advanced players to carry a solo melody and enough ensemble depth to maintain pizzicato texture. This works for directors building toward more sophisticated operatic repertoire or introducing students to standard orchestral literature.

How to get the most out of it

Have soloists practice the melody without vibrato first, then add it gradually. The innocence Puccini wrote for this moment benefits from players who can control vibrato rather than default to it.
Address the pizzicato section as a rhythm unit. Lock the articulation and consistency of each pluck before adding nuance to tone.
Slow the passage at unison and octave moments in rehearsal to expose intonation issues before performance tempo masks them.
Conduct with clear, sustained phrasing through the melody despite the pizzicato accompaniment. The soloists need to feel the breath of the line, not the chop of individual notes underneath.

How to use it

Pair this with other short, lyrical works for a concert focused on melody and operatic writing. It sits perfectly between showpiece arrangements and pure chamber works, offering audiences something recognizable without demanding the weight of a full opera. It also works well as a spring concert centerpiece or as material for a unit on vocal writing.