Wiseman – Virgo (The Musical Zodiac) (2016)

Debbie Wiseman – The Musical Zodiac – Virgo 

Debbie Wiseman is a British composer, with a strong focus on film and television music, including Wilde, and Wolf Hall.

On The Musical Zodiac:

“These are condensed versions of stories I made up (in most cases) to give me a starting point to write the 12 pieces that make up The Musical Zodiac. In each story I’ve tried to reflect the broad characteristics of the star signs and applied them to a little voyage of fantasy.  They were never originally intended for any sort of publication, but they act as my short films for my mind, the dramas to enhance with the score; and I hope they give you some small insight into how I composed the album.”

On Virgo: 

“It is winter. It’s incessantly snowing, and there is a war in the country where this story is based. Inside a small cottage, a woman is making a dress, a colourful Spring dress, and she is oblivious to the world outside; she is determined to finish her task before the Spring comes and, above all, to make the dress perfect – so much so that every time she makes a mistake, drops a stitch or slightly tears the material, she throws the whole thing in the fire and starts again. Time passes; the war ends, the Spring comes, and a young girl enters the house to tell the woman that the war is over – just as the dress is finished. The older woman presents the dress to the young girl, and it fits perfectly.”

In the Queen’s Birthday Honour’s list, June 2018 Debbie Wiseman was awarded the OBE for services to music. In 2021, Debbie became the most popular living British composer for the first time in Classic FM’s Hall of Fame with four entries, Wilde, Wolf Hall, The Mythos Suite and The Glorious Garden. 

Wiseman’s album to celebrate the Queen’s 95th birthday “The Music of Kings and Queens”, with narration by Helen Mirren and Damian Lewis, went to number 1 in the UK Classical charts on its release in June 2021. 

Debbie was voted the most popular living composer in Classic FM’s Hall of Fame 2022 with seven entries: Wolf Hall, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Wilde, The Musical Zodiac, The Mythos Suite, The Music of Kings and Queens, and The Glorious Garden reaching its highest ever position in the chart at number 4. 

Wiseman was the official composer and musical director of the Platinum Jubilee Celebration at Windsor in May 2022.