Alec Wilder - Selected Works

Selected Works

Opera

• The Lowland Sea (1952)
• Miss Chicken Little (1953)
• Sunday Excursion (1953)
• Kittiwake Island (1954)
• The Long Way (1955)
• The Impossible Forest (1958)
• The Truth about Windmills (1973)
• The Tattooed Countess (1974)
• The Opening (1975)
• The Churkendoose (?)
• Rachetty Pachetty House (?)
• Herman Ermine in Rabbit Town (?)

Musicals

• Pinocchio (1957)
• Hansel and Gretel (1958)
• Miss Chicken Little (1953).
• Nobody’s Earnest (1978).

Film Music

• The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
• Lot in Sodom (1933)
• Make Mine Music (1946)
• Albert Schweitzer (1957), documentary by Jerome Hill
• The Sand Castle (1961), directed by Jerome Hill
• Open the Door and See All the People (1964), directed by Jerome Hill

Large Ensemble

• A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra (1954). Text by Marshall Barer. A musical primer. Eighteen movements featuring individual instruments of the orchestra.
• Children’s Plea for Peace (1968). Children’s SSAA chorus, narrator and wind ensemble. Text by Wilder, adapted from writings of Avon, New York schoolchildren. Dedicated to Rev. Henry Atwell.

Chamber music and Solo Instruments

• Air for Bassoon and Strings (1945).
• Air for Flute and Strings (1945). For Julius Baker.
• Air for Oboe and Strings (1945). For Mitch Miller.
• Brass Quintets: No 1 (1959) For the New York Brass Quintet; No 2 (1961); No. 3 (1970); No. 4 (1973) For Harvey Phillips; No. 5 (1975) For the Tidewater Brass Quintet; No. 6 (1977) For the Tidewater Brass Quintet; No. 7 (1978) For Frances Miller; No. 8 (1980) For Frances Miller.
• Concerto No. 1 for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble (1967). For Doc Severinson.
• Effie Suite (1960) for Tuba, Vibraphone, Piano and Drums. For Harvey Phillips
• Fantasy for Piano and Wind Ensemble (1974). For Marian McPartland
• Jazz Suite for Four Horns (1951). Four horns with harpsichord, guitar, bass, drums.
• Octets (1939–41) Flute/Clarinet 2, oboe/English horn/, clarinet 1, bass clarinet, bassoon, harpsichord, bass, drums: Bull Fiddle In A China Shop; The Children Met the Train; Concerning Etchings; Dance Man Buys A Farm; A Debutante’s Diary; Her Old Man Was Suspicious; His First Long Pants; House Detective Registers; It’s Silk, Feel It!; Kindergarten Flower Pageant; Little Girl Grows Up; Neurotic Goldfish; She’ll Be Seven In May; Such A Tender Night; Walking Home In Spring.
• Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (1960). For Donald Sinta.
• Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1963). For Glenn Bowen.
• Sonata for Trumpet and Piano (1963). For Joe Wilder.
• Sonata for viola and piano (1965)
• Suite for Unaccompanied Flute (1975). For Virginia Nanzetta.
• Suite No. 2 for Tenor Saxophone and Strings (1966). For Zoot Sims.
• Suites for Tuba and Piano: Suite No. 1 (1960) for Harvey Phillips; Suite No. 2 (Jesse Suite), *Suite No. 3 (Suite for Little Harvey) and Suite No. 4 (Thomas Suite)
• Three Ballads for Stan (1963). For Stan Getz.
• Twelve Duets for Horn and Bassoon.
• Woodwind Quintets: No. 1 (1954) For the New York Woodwind Quintet; No. 2 (1956); No. 3 (1958); No. 4 (1959) For Bernard Garfield; No. 5 (1959); No. 6 (1960); No. 7 (1964); No. 8 (1966) [also known as Suite For Non-Voting Quintet; No. 9 (1969); No. 10 (ca. 1968); No. 11 (1971) For John Barrows; No. 12 (1975) For the Wingra Quintet; No. 13