The Magical Music Box, more commonly known as The Music Box was a British children's magazine. It ran from 1994 to 1996 in a series of 52 fortnightly serialisations. The aim of the magazine was to introduce children into classical music and to popularise this form of music among the younger generations.
The stories followed the fictional adventures of two siblings, Sarah and Jamie who find a magical music box through which they are able to enter other worlds, most commonly as spectators. The stories were generally related to other children's tales or fables, including issue 38 (King Arthur & The Knights of the Round Table), issue 2 (Peer Gynt, issue 11 (Sinbad the Sailor), and issue 27 (The Imperial Robes).
The dramatisations were produced by IRDP, Independent Radio Drama Productions on request of Marshall Cavendish Partworks Ltd
Features
The magazine cost £3.99 (with a tape) or £4.99 (with a CD) per issue.
- A different fortnightly story involving the siblings Sarah and Jamie
- A CD or tape with each issue
- The story in spoken word with an accompaniment of classical music
- The classical music on its own
- History behind the stories and the music
- Facts about the relevant composer and instruments
- The formula for the magazine was simple. It followed the adventures of Jamie and Sarah, siblings who seemed to be magnets for danger. The stories had no sense of realism and were pure fantasy. The children seemed to be running around having adventures with no money, food or supervision. It is a pure fantasy which excited the youths imagination at the time. The music was used to construct the narrative through the adventurers and to the conclusions. That is why the magazine came with a tape or CD so you could listen to the story and the music. The magazine also had a strong educational element after each story. The narrator introduced the learner to each part of the music that had been played, and explained which instruments were used.
Issues
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Journey to the Stars" | The Planets by Gustav Holst | |
| 2. | "Hall of the Troll King" | Peer Gynt Suites 1&2 by Edvard Grieg | |
| 3. | "Sky Racers" | "Pastoral Symphony" by Ludwig van Beethoven | |
| 4. | "The Wizard's Spell" | Swan Lake Suite by Peter Tchaikovsky | |
| 5. | "House of Terrors" | Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz | |
| 6. | "Daylight Robbery" | Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin | |
| 7. | "The River" | Bolero by Maurice Ravel | |
| 8. | "Night of the Aliens" | Orchestral Suite by Johann Sebastian Bach | |
| 9. | "The Bull Fights Back" | Carmen Suites 1&2 by Georges Bizet | |
| 10. | "Animal Rescue" | Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns | |
| 11. | "Sinbad and the Kraaken" | Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | |
| 12. | "Musical Misfit" | Flute and Harp Concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
| 13. | "Nightmare Gallery" | Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky | |
| 14. | "The Highwayman's Mask" | Viennese Waltzes by Johann Strauss | |
| 15. | "The Dell of Time" | The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi | |
| 16. | "The Big Freeze" | Violin Concerto in D by Johannes Brahms | |
| 17. | "The Bowman and the Baron" | Three Overtures (specifically The William Tell Overture, Overture to The Barber of Seville, and Overture to Semiramide) by Gioacchino Rossini | |
| 18. | "The Valkyries" | Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner | |
| 19. | "The Spinning Wheel" | The Sleeping Beauty Suite by Peter Tchaikovsky | |
| 20. | "Wagon Train West" | The New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák | |
| 21. | "Fireworks" | Music for the Royal Fireworks by George Frideric Handel | |
| 22. | "On Thin Ice" | Polovtsian Dances by Alexander Borodin | |
| 23. | "Firebringers" | Symphony No 5. by Beethoven | |
| 24. | "The Captain's Curse" | Nocturnes by Claude Debussy | |
| 25. | "The Eve of Battle" | Solo Piano Pieces by Frederic Chopin | |
| 26. | "Black Angus" | OverTures by Felix Mendelssohn | |
| 27. | "The Imperial Robes" | A Little Night Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
| 28. | "Space Envoys" | Piano Concerto 2. by Sergei Rachmaninoff | |
| 29. | "Boomerang" | Symphony No. 5 and No 6. by Gustav Mahler | |
| 30. | "Bird of Fire" | The Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky | |
| 31. | "Lost and Found" | Spring Symphony by Robert Schumann | |
| 32. | "Pyramid of Khonsoul" | Surprise Symphony by Franz Joseph Haydn | |
| 33. | "Showdown in Maverick" | Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes by Aaron Copland | |
| 34. | "The Long Shadow" | Piano Concerto No. 1 by Franz Liszt | |
| 35. | "Festival of the Sun" | The Love of Three Oranges by Sergei Prokofiev | |
| 36. | "The Sea Princess" | La Mer by Claude Debussy | |
| 37. | "The Monk's Treasure" | Solo Pieces for the Organ by Johann Sebastian Bach | |
| 38. | "King Arthur's Sword" | Symphony No. 40 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
| 39. | "The Magic Lyre" | Piano Sonatas No. 8 and 41 by Ludvig Von Beethoven | |
| 40. | "The Great River" | The Moldau by Bedrich Smetana | |
| 41. | "In The Spotlight" | The Nutcracker Suite by Peter Tchaikovsky | |
| 42. | "Beyond the Wall" | Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss | |
| 43. | "The Lady's Tale" | Carmina Burana by Carl Orff | |
| 44. | "Outlanders" | Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff | |
| 45. | "The Savage Flames" | The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky |
Awards
The magazine won a Gold Medal and a Grand Award Trophy for Entertainment Programming at the International Radio Festival 1994 held in New York. These were for the drama in issue four, The Wizard's Spell.
References
- "The full script from Issue 11". Archived from the original on 2006-09-29. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
- "Information on the Magical Music Box from IRDP". Archived from the original on 2006-12-09. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
- "Something Old: The Magical Music Box - Rediscovering Culture". Rediscovering Culture.
External links
- Marshall Cavendish Magazine Catalogue
- IRDP & The Music Box
- The New York Radio Programming Festival Online
- Copies of CDs, tapes and books can be found at PartWorks
- Audio downloads and scans of the magazines can be found at