The Magical Music Box

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.[1] 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 (Pere 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[2]

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.[3]

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.

List of magazine sub-titles

A list of the issue names and the music which accompanied the stories

1. Journey to the Stars - The Planets by Gustav Holst (9 December 1994)
2. Hall of the Troll King - Peer Gynt Suites by Edvard Grieg (23 December 1994)
3. Sky Racers - Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony (6 January 1995)
4. The Wizard's Spell - Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky (20 January 1995)
5. House of Terrors - Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz (3 February 1995)
6. Daylight Robbery - Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin (17 February 1995)
7. The River God - Ravel's Bolero (3 March 1995)
8. Night of the Aliens - Bach's Orchestral Suite No 4 (17 March 1995)
9. The Bull Fights Back - Bizet's Carmen Suites 1 and 2 (31 March 1995)
10. Animal Rescue - Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns (14 April 1995)
11. Sindbad and the Kraaken - Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov) (28 April 1995)
12. Musical Misfits - Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto (12 May 1995)
13. Nightmare Gallery - Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (26 May 1995)
14. The Highwayman's Mask - Viennese Waltzes by Johann Strauss II (9 June 1995)
15. The Dell of Time - Vivaldi's Four Seasons (23 June 1995)
16. The Big Freeze - Violin Concerto by Brahms (7 July 1995)
17. The Bowman and the Baron - Overtures by Rossini (21 July 1995)
18. The Valkyries - Music from Operas by Wagner (4 August 1995)
19. The Spinning Wheel - Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Suite (18 August 1995)
20. Wagon Train West - Antonin Dvořák's New World Symphony (1 September 1995)
21. Fireworks! - Music for the Royal Fireworks by Handel (15 September 1995)
22. On Thin Ice - Borodin's Polovtsian Dances (29 September 1995)
23. Fire-Bringers - Beethoven's Symphony No 5 (13 October 1995)
24. The Captain's Curse - Nocturnes by Debussy (27 October 1995)
25. Eve of Battle - Solo Piano Pieces by Chopin (10 November 1995)
26. Black Angus - Overtures by Mendelssohn (24 November 1995)
27. The Imperial Robes - A Little Night Music by Mozart (8 December 1995)
28. Space Envoys - Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 (22 December 1995)
29. Boomerang! - Symphonies Nos 5 and 6 by Mahler (5 January 1996)
30. Bird of Fire - Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (19 January 1996)
31. Lost and Found - Robert Schumann's "Spring" Symphony (2 February 1996)
32. Pyramid of Khonsoul - "Surprise" Symphony by Joseph Haydn (16 February 1996)
33. Showdown in Maverick - Rodeo by Aaron Copland (1 March 1996)
34. The Long Shadow - Piano Concerto No 1 by Franz Liszt (15 March 1996)
35. Festival of the Sun - The Love of Three Oranges by Prokofiev (29 March 1996)
36. The Sea Princess - Debussy's La Mer (12 April 1996)
37. The Monks' Treasure - Solo Pieces for the Organ by J.S. Bach (26 April 1996)
38. King Arthur's Sword - Symphony No 40 by Mozart (10 May 1996)
39. The Magic Lyre - Piano Sonatas by Beethoven (24 May 1996)
40. The Great River - The Moldau by Smetana (7 June 1996)
41. In the Spotlight - Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite (21 June 1996)
42. Beyond the Wall - Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss (5 July 1996)
43. The Lady's Tale - Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (19 July 1996)
44. Outlanders - Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (2 August 1996)
45. The Savage Flames - The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky (16 August 1996)
46. Sealed Orders - Symphony No 1 by Brahms (30 August 1996)
47. Caught in the Act - Dance Suite by Béla Bartók (13 September 1996)
48. On the Battlefield - Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (27 September 1996)
49. Trouble with Time - Mussorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain (11 October 1996)
50. Treason and Plot - Baroque Music by Albinoni, Pachelbel and Corelli (25 October 1996)
51. The Happy Dragon - Schubert's Symphony No 5 (8 November 1996)
52. The Little Soldier - Symphony No 9 by Shostakovich (22 November 1996)

References
  1. "The full script from Issue 11". Archived from the original on 2006-09-29. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
  2. "Information on the Magical Music Box from IRDP". Archived from the original on 2006-12-09. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
  3. "Something Old: The Magical Music Box - Rediscovering Culture". Rediscovering Culture.
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