Two Tit-Bits of Room-Music

While renowned for his imaginative folk-music settings, Percy Grainger also composed a number of original works in a folk-music style. This new study score presents two Grainger originals written in the manner of English folk music. The first, Mock Morris, composed in the style of an English morris dance, was one of the earliest composed (1910). The second one, Handel in the Strand, likewise heavily influenced by the style of morris-dance tunes - with the indication that it is to be "played to or without clog-dancing".

As with many of Grainger's British Folk-Music settings both of these exist in multiple arrangements - "dished-up" by the composer himself as part of his own "Room-Music Tit-Bits" series. Composed between 1910 and 1912, Mock Morris is scored for an ensemble of string sextet (or string orchestra), while Handel in the Strand is for piano quartet. The scores offered here are digitally restored reissues of the ones published in 1911 and 1912 by Schott & Co., Ltd. of London. The full scores and parts for both of these works are also available from Serenissima Music.