Fiddle-Faddle is a musical composition in 2/2 time composed by

Leroy Anderson Leroy Anderson ( ) (June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975) was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as ...

. It is considered to be a "light" classical music composition, sometimes referred to as "classical pops" music. Fiddle-Faddle was published on January 1, 1947. Arthur Fiedler gave the composition its premiere on March 30, 1947 during a concert radio broadcast from the old Boston Opera House. Leroy Anderson conducted Fiddle-Faddle in a monaural recording for Decca Records on June 29, 1951. Anderson made a stereo recording of Fiddle-Faddle for Decca Records on June 11, 1959. Anderson wrote the piece as one of a number of pieces conducted over time by

Arthur Fiedler Arthur Fiedler (December 17, 1894 – July 10, 1979) was an American conductor known for his association with both the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops orchestras. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Boston Pops one ...

and the

Boston Pops Orchestra The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's current music director is Keith Lockhart. Founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Symp ...

. The finished piece instantly became a favorite of audiences and Arthur Fiedler alike. Fiedler programmed it so frequently in Pops concerts that the Pops audiences began referring to it as "Fiedler-Faddle". Written in classic " song-and-trio" form, it is based on the childhood nursery song "

Three Blind Mice "Three Blind Mice" is an English-language nursery rhyme and musical round.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 306. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number o ...

". It was recorded many times in the late 1940s and early 1950s by a variety of musical ensembles. As implied by the title the piece features the violins prominently with repeated semiquavers continued with

pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowe ...

in what's seen as the Trio section. The piece has been transcribed for concert or

theater organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements o ...

and as a duet for pianoArrangement for duet piano on Sheet Music Plus

References

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Theater organ sample
Compositions by Leroy Anderson 1947 compositions {{classical-composition-stub