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A Diet of WormsShippable Product |
Your "monster concert" piece on Halloween. Based on two themes: Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice ("The Worms Crawl In, the Worms Crawl Out") and DIES IRAE. Passacaglia/ground bass treatment over which several slippery, crawly variations are presented. Glimpses of works by Chopin, Gershwin, and Bach also appear. Subtitled "An Entertainment for All Hallows Eve and Other Cheery Occasions". The title is a play on words, relating to the two main themes employed in the work. The main body of the piece is a passacaglia based on the children's song "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out" based on the tune from Paul Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The other important theme is the chant melody Dies Irae from the pre-Vatican II Requiem Mass, which Hector Berlioz used as the "Witches Sabbath" theme in his Symphony Fantastique. In the composer's mind, this made a connection to the medieval Church conclave, the Diet of Worms.
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