Les oiseaux dans la charmille from The Tales of Hoffman (aka The Doll Song or Olympia's Aria)

"Les oiseaux dans la charmille" comes from Act 2 of Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann. Known as "Olympia's Aria" and "The Doll Song", it is a dazzling coloratura soprano aria sung by a mechanical doll named Olympia. The inventor winds up the doll to sing and Hoffmann, who is wearing a magic pair of glasses, thinks that Olympia is real and falls in love with her.

There are two versions of the piccolo trumpet part included. The first is the "STANDARD" version based on the music as published in the opera (Grade 4). The second is the "VIRTUOSO" version which takes this difficult piece to the next level with extra ornaments, runs and a higher range (Grade 6). It is based on the version sung in concert by Sabine Devieilhe and is comparable to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #2 and Mozart's Queen of the Night for virtuosity, but surpasses them in range. The other instruments are at Grade 3.

Eb4 - Eb6

Eb4 - Ab6

The ScoreFlipper audio features the STANDARD version.

Instrumentation: 211.01 brass quintet

• Piccolo Trumpet 1 in B♭
• Trumpet 2 in B♭
• Horn
• Trombone
• Tuba