March of the Princesses, from Cinderella (score & parts)(Cramer) - WW5

March of the Princesses, from Cinderella

for woodwind quintet: flute/piccolo, oboe, clarinet in A, horn in F, and bassoon

by Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (1842-1912) - French composer 

This brilliant piece would make a great opener and has been expertly arranged by Trevor Cramer.  As in the original, it's heavy on the piccolo.

Like many prominent French composers of the period, Massenet became a professor at the Conservatoire. He taught composition there from 1878 until 1896.  Among his students were Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Pierné.

By the time of his death, Massenet was regarded by many critics as old-fashioned and unadventurous although his two best-known operas remained popular in France and abroad. After a few decades of neglect, his works began to be favourably reassessed during the mid-20th century, and many of them have since been staged and recorded. His operas are now widely accepted as well-crafted and intelligent products of the Belle Époque.