The Composer is Dead | Nathaniel Stookey

Please know this work cannot be misrepresented as Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead in any print or online listings. Lemony Snicket's name must be printed after that of the composer, and never before the title. Preferred listings are:
   Nathaniel Stookey, The Composer is Dead, with text by Lemony Snicket
   The Composer is Dead by Nathaniel Stookey with text by Lemony Snicket
   The Composer is Dead, music by Nathaniel Stookey with text by Lemony Snicket

Orchestration
2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2(cbn)/4231/timp.3perc(Berlioz bells)/hp/str
SoloistsNarrator/Speaker
Duration30 min

Composer
Nathaniel Stookey
Text Writer/Librettist
Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
LanguageEnglish, French, German, Spanish

Performances
- 27th January 2025, Dell Hall at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, TX, United States of America
- 28th January 2025, Dell Hall at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, TX, United States of America
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Programme Note

There is an image (in Acrobat format, 693 KB) for download on the More Info tab of this page. Organizations may use this cover art from the HarperCollins Book/CD to promote their performances of The Composer is Dead. Please credit artist Carson Ellis, from THE COMPOSER IS DEAD, © HarperCollins.

Composer Note:

I hope I’m not giving away too much by saying that The Composer is Dead ends with a funeral march...Classical composers have always had a preoccupation with death, partly because we are human, like you, partly because we grapple with the mysteries of the universe, partly because death sells records and always has...Someday you'll be able to tell your grandchildren that you appreciated a living composer before that living composer became, like all composers, dead.

— Nathaniel Stookey

Librettist's Note:

I have been asked if I might say a word or two about the text of The Composer Is Dead, and the one or two words are "Boo hoo." The story — which, as far as I know, is absolutely true — is so heartbreakingly glum that I cannot imagine that you will be able to listen to it without dabbing at your tears with a nearby handkerchief.

— Lemony Snicket

Inquiries for Nathaniel Stookey* to appear as narrator:
(212) 254 2100 — schirmer@schirmer.com
*Mr. Stookey can narrate in English, French, or Spanish

Inquiries for music rental:
Request a rental fee quote via Zinfonia.com