My transcription of a set of parts published by Benjamin in Hamburg in 1908.

I don’t often do sets of parts (because it’s tedious!) but I found this piece when I was looking at old recordings and thought it was amusing and when I looked online for the music, this popped up. As I hadn’t seen any orchestrated Fetras, I thought I’d do it.

I’m not sure it’s exactly what Fetras wrote, assuming that the orchestration wasn’t done by the publisher. It looks as if it has been cut down for publication. There are parts for Flute I, Oboe I and Trombone III with no sign of Flute II, Oboe II or Trombone I and II, and there are cues for Corni III and IV but no parts for them.

Nevertheless, it works and is still amusing, although I’m not convinced Fetras meant it to be. Certainly, if I had done it from a piano score I would have made more of the rustic nature of the themes he has “borrowed”, but maybe they weren’t as much of a cliché in his day.