Tales from the Aesopica (performance scores) - OB/CEL

Tales from the Aesopica (2021)

Five Miniatures

for oboe and cello
by Robert Mueller (1958-2025) - American composer and educator

1. The Tortoise and the Hare
II. The North Wind and the Sun
III. War (Polemos) and His Bride (Hubris)
IV. The Jar of Blessing (Pandora's Box)
V. The Old Man and Death

for Darci Gamerl and David Downing 

This is a set of 2 performance scores.  There are no individual parts.

Notes from the composer:

Commissioned by oboist Darci Gammerl and cellist David Downing in 2021, “Tales from the Aesopica” presents five movements, each based on a different fable by Aesop. In each movement the two instrumentalists take on characteristics of persons or elements from the stories. Sometimes the relationship between instruments and characters is obvious, as in the first piece, “The Tortoise and the Hare,” where the oboe represents the hare and the cello the tortoise. In the second piece, “The Northwind and the Sun,” the northwind and sun have a contest to see who can cause a man to lose his outer garment first, and of course, the sun (oboe) wins. “War (Polemos) and His Bride (Hubris)” features the cello as war and the oboe as his bride, giving evidence to the famous adage: ‘Wherever there is hubris, war is not far behind.’ In “The Jar of Blessings (Pandora’s Box),” the two instruments work together to open a pandora’s box of melodic variation, wherein the tune becomes dangerously obscured. The finale, “The Old Man and Death” has the cello (the old man) return to the tortoise theme from the opening movement while the oboe (death) tries to woo him with the infamous “Dies Irae” theme; but the old man soon turns the tables on death and all ends happily. 

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Robert Mueller was Professor of Music at the University of Arkansas, where he taught music composition and music theory and conducted the University Symphony Orchestra. He was also Chair of the Composition/Theory Area.

Dr. Mueller was the composer-in-residence three times for the Fort Smith Symphony, and his music has been performed nationwide by several orchestra including the Cincinnati, Omaha, Fort Smith, Lansing, Arkansas, Missoula, Helena, Jackson, and North Arkansas Symphonies. He received numerous commissions, has been widely published, and has produced a chamber music CD entitled “Time Labyrinths.” A number of music festivals have programmed his music, including the Bowling Green New Music and Art Festival, the Music Festival of Arkansas, the Southwest Contemporary Music Festival, and conferences of the Society of Composers, International Double Reed Society, National Flute Association, and College Music Society. He was selected to be composer-in-residence for Missouri State University’s Annual Composition Festival in March 2009. Dr. Mueller has been the recipient of over 25 consecutive awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. He has also been awarded an American Music Center grant, an individual artist grant from the Arkansas Arts Council, prizes from the Omaha, Lansing, Jackson and Cincinnati Symphonies, and numerous other awards. 

Dr. Mueller grew up in Michigan and attended Northern Michigan University, where he received the Outstanding Pianist Award upon graduation. He has also received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from NMU, and was invited back to be composer-in-residence in the spring of 2004. He earned the Master of Music in Composition degree from Bowling Green State University, where he studied composition with Marilyn Shrude. At Bowling Green, he also did extensive studies in orchestral conducting.  Dr. Mueller received a DMA in Composition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where his teachers were Joel Hoffman, Allan Sapp, Jonathan Kramer, Frederic Rzewski, and Earle Brown.
 

Dr. Mueller performed as Pianist with the Fort Smith Symphony, and for many years taught music theory and composition at the Interlochen Arts Camp.  He was Music Director of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, where he conducted the Chancel Choir and the Handbell Choir.  He wrote most of the music for these ensembles.