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Thirteen Dwarves began with the idea of writing a collection of short piano pieces titled after common phrases in English which use rhyme in a descriptive way. The work is comprised of small character pieces which take as their form all thirteen possible four-part forms using two or three themes (ABAB, ABAC, ABBB, and so on). Each piece is constructed using a four- or five-note cell, related to the form using stacked intervals. The final order is such that the cell used in each piece differs from that of its neighbors by only one note. The “C” theme is the same in each three-theme piece, exemplified in “Hanky Panky” by the little chorale section – its later incarnations are identifiable but usually distorted in some way. Another theme which is incorporated in several pieces (most notably in “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny”) is a famous nursery rhyme tune, which seemed appropriate for this cycle of miniatures.
