FREDERICK’S FABLES

The Art(s) of Storytelling

 

Humans have been telling stories since the beginning of time. Stories connect us. They teach lessons and entertain us. They pass on history and legends. They may inspire or scare us. Stories can make us laugh, cry, or think about something in a new way.

We usually think about stories as being made up of words, but there are other ways to tell stories, too.  Stories can be told through visual art, music, dance, and drama, or a combination of these art forms. Combining words and the arts makes the storytelling even more powerful!

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of Frederick’s Fables will use multiple art forms to bring some beloved stories to life. Combining the music of composer Michael Abels, the words and artwork of children’s author and illustrator Leo Lionni, and the dramatic contributions of Milwaukee’s own First Stage, audience members young and old will delight in these timeless tales.

We invite you to explore the information and resources below with your family or students. There are even some fun activities and additional events to help you experience the many creative ways stories can be told!

MICHAEL ABELS, COMPOSER

Photo by Eric Schwabel.

American composer Michael Abels showed musical talent at a very young age. He started taking piano lessons at age 4, began composing music at age 8, and by 13 had his first orchestral piece performed. An Emmy and Grammy nominated artist, Abels has written many concert works but may be best known for his film scores, including the Jordan Peele films Get Out, Us, and Nope.

Abels won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his opera Omar, co-written with Rhiannon Giddens. He is co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group to increase visibility of composers of color in film, gaming, and streaming media.

Frederick’s Fables was commissioned by the Minnesota-based group VocalEssence. The first two movements, “Frederick” and “The Greentail Mouse”, premiered in 1994 and featured James Earl Jones as the narrator. “Theodore and the Talking Mushroom” and “Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse” premiered in 1996 with narrator Garrison Keillor.

Learn more about Michael Abels at michaelabels.com.

 

LEO LIONNI, AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR

Leo Lionni was born in Amsterdam in 1910. His family loved and appreciated art, and he knew he wanted to be an artist from a very young age. He also loved nature and created terrariums and kept small animals in his room. These childhood experiences, along with exposure to different styles of art both at home and in museum settings, would inspire his books and illustrations later in life.

While growing up Leo lived in the Netherlands, Brussels, Philadelphia, and finally Italy, where he met his wife, Nora. Leo and Nora returned to the US with their two sons in the early days of World War II. Leo enjoyed a very successful career in American advertising, creating campaigns for clients that included Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and the Olivetti typewriter company.

He became a children’s author and illustrator almost by accident when he created a story about a blue dot and a yellow dot for his grandchildren, Little Blue and Little Yellow. Soon Leo was writing many more books.

Rather than drawing or painting, Leo created his illustrations with the collage technique – the art of cutting and glueing bits of different materials like paper or ribbon to create images. He wrote over 40 books and won multiple awards, including having four of his titles – Inch by Inch, Swimmy, Frederick, and Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse, named Caldecott Honor Books. Many of his stories can be classified as fables, which convey a moral or lesson. Michael Abels' musical composition, Frederick’s Fables, features four tales from Lionni’s collection of the same name, which includes 16 different stories. You can learn more about Leo Lionni and his books at leolionni.com.

 

FIRST STAGE

Founded in 1987, First Stage is one of the nation’s leading theaters for young people and families, and a driving force behind the creation of the best and most innovative plays for family audiences, theater training programs for young people, and education initiatives for its schools and community. First Stage ensures that all programming is not only accessible to its community but that it is reflective of the community it serves.

First Stage produces plays that honor the young person’s point of view, include diverse and traditionally underrepresented voices, and inspire meaningful conversations. First Stage has presented more than 70 world premiere productions that address important subject matters relevant to today’s youth. The Theater Academy is one of the nation’s largest high-impact theater training programs for young people (3-18 years old). Through a challenging curriculum taught by professional teaching artists, the Academy nurtures life skills through stage skills and includes the Next Steps Program that tailors Theater Academy classes to the needs of young people on the autism spectrum and with other developmental disabilities. First Stage’s dynamic Theater in Education Programs blend theater activities with standard curriculum—allowing more than 10,000 students annually to learn traditional academic subjects through creativity and self-expression. For more information, visit firststage.org.


EXPERIENCE AND EXPLORE EVEN MORE!

MILWAUKEE PUBLIC LIBRARY STORY TIMES WITH MUSICIANS

The MSO is proud to partner with the Milwaukee Public Library to offer Story Times with musicians at branches around the city! Books of Leo Lionni will be featured. These hour-long Story Times are free and open to the public.

Saturday, January 18 at 10:30 am with MSO musician Heather Zinninger, flute
East Branch, 2320 N. Cramer St., Milwaukee, 53211

Saturday, February 1 at 10:30 am with MSO musician Heather Zinninger, flute
Central Branch, 814 W. Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, 53233

Friday, February 7 at 10:30 am with MSO musician Darcy Hamlin, French horn
Atkinson Branch, 1960 W. Atkinson Ave., Milwaukee, 53209

Friday, February 7 at 10:30 am with MSO musician Paul Hauer, violin
Washington Park Branch, 2121 N. Sherman Blvd., Milwaukee, 53204

Thursday, February 13 at 10:30 am with MSO musician Jenny Bouton Schaub, flute/piccolo and musician Clay Schaub, bass
Bay View Branch, 2566 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Milwaukee, 53207

Saturday, February 15 at 12:00 pm with MSO musician Darcy Hamlin, French horn
Good Hope Branch, 7715 W. Good Hope Rd, Milwaukee, 53223

Saturday, February 22 at 12:30 pm with MSO musician Hyewon Kim, violin
Capitol Branch, 3969 N. 74th St., Milwaukee, 53216

Tuesday, February 25 at 6:00 pm with MSO musician Autumn Chodorowski, violin
Tippecanoe Branch, 3912 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, 53207

Friday, February 28 at 10:30 am with musician Johnny Padilla, saxophone
Center Street Branch, 2727 W. Fond du Lac Ave., Milwaukee, 53210

Saturday, March 1 at 12:00 pm with MSO musician Glenn Asch, violin
Villard Square Branch, 5190 N. 35th St., Milwaukee, 53209

OTHER MUSICAL STORIES

There are other orchestral pieces that combine music and words. Listen to some of the pieces below and think about how the music helps to tell the story.

Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.
Performed by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Mario Rossi and Boris Karloff, narrator.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas.
Performed by the INR Symphony Orchestra, Brussels, conducted by Franz Andre and Don Wilson, narrator.

The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant music by Francis Poulenc. Story by Jean de Brunhoff.
Performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Lanchbery and Barry Humphries, narrator.

The Tortoise and the Hare” from Three Fun Fables by Daniel Dorff. Performed by Symphony in C conducted by Rossen Milanov and Ann Crumb, narrator.

 

ELEMENTS OF STORY TELLING

There are five basic elements of a good story:

  • Setting: Where and when does the story take place?
  • Plot: What happens in the story?
  • Characters: Who is in the story?
  • Conflict: The why of the story - what problem do the characters have to solve?
  • Theme: What is the message of the story?

Using one of the stories listed above or one of your choosing, identify the five elements. To extend the activity further, rewrite the story by changing one or more of the elements. How is your version of the story different?

For more information on Story Elements, visit one of the following websites:

https://www.planetspark.in/blogs/teaching-elements-of-story-to-kids

https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/story-elements/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TG1eUQVfVk

CREATE YOUR OWN COLLAGE

Leo Lionni used the technique of collage, the art of cutting and glueing bits of different materials like paper or ribbon, to create his images. There are other well-known children’s author illustrators that also used collage as their medium. Eric Carle, famous for such books as the The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Wisconsin native Lois Ehlert, who is known for titles including Leaf Man, are two examples.

Enjoy some of the books by Leo Lionni, Eric Carle, and Lois Ehlert. Look closely at their collage illustrations. What materials did they each use to create their images? How are they alike or different?

Think about one of your favorite stories. Pick a scene from the story to illustrate by creating your very own collage.

An example of a collage illustration by Leo Lionni

You’ll need a big piece of paper to create your collage on, glue or rubber cement, and things to create your collage out of. These could be any of the following:

  • Different kinds of paper (construction, tissue, printer, etc.)
  • Household materials like aluminum foil or plastic wrap
  • Newspapers or magazines
  • Material, yarn, or ribbon scraps
  • Leaves, bark, or flowers
  • Anything else you can think of!

Once you’ve created your collage, you can add to it by drawing, painting, or coloring additional details. Share your collage with your family or classmates and display somewhere you can enjoy it!

 


This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

The MSO thanks the following funders for their generous annual support that makes Concerts for Schools programming possible: United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF), Herzfeld Foundation, Hearst Foundations, Westbury Bank, Townsend Foundation, Educators Credit Union, and the Eleanor N. Wilson and Irene Edelstein Memorial Funds as administered by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

Concerts for Schools is supported in part by grants from the Milwaukee Arts Board and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin. Additional support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and Milwaukee County Arts Fund (CAMPAC).