Solano Winds Community Concert Band
February 2009 – The Human Instrument
Program Notes:Marche Des Parachutistes Belges – Pierre Leemans, arr. Charles A. Wiley
While he was serving his year of military duty at the end of World War I, Pierre
Leemans' regimental commander asked him to compose a march; it was begun, but
never finished. Near the end of World War II, he was having dinner with a group of
paratroopers and was again asked to compose a march. As the group commander
drove him home that night, the march theme came back to his mind, and he wrote out
all of the parts for the official “March of the Belgian Paratroopers” after reaching
home. A quiet, unaggressive essay in the easy-paced European style, it is set in the
form of a “patrol,” in which the music marches on from the distance, plays, and
passes. This arrangement was made by Charles Wiley at the request of his Lamar
(Texas) University Band students for the first U.S. performance of the march.
La Forza del Destino – Giuseppe Verdi
Guiseppe Verdi’s opera La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny) opened in
November 1862, but was only moderately successful. Verdi revised the opera in
1868, and it is from this revision that the work is known today. The overture does not
in any way follow the rather convoluted events of the opera, but rather is a symphonic
treatment of music heard within the opera which masterfully sets the stage for tragic
events which are to follow.
After six unison blasts from the brasses, the overture opens with a musical idea
symbolizing the relentless force that carries forward the tragic events of the opera: the
four note “fate” motive, which appears in the opera whenever destiny brings the three
main characters together. After six more unison blasts, the overture quotes an Act IV
duet depicting Don Alvaro begging the pity of Don Carlo, with the “fate” motive
appearing in the accompaniment. Donna Leonora’s prayer as she enters the church for
sanctuary is then heard in the upper voices with the “fate” motive underneath. Her
prayer of thanksgiving upon being granted sanctuary is heard as a clarinet solo with
harp accompaniment. The brass chorale heard next is a symphonic transformation of
the accompaniment to Father Guardiano’s prayer from the same scene. A final
statement of the “fate” motive is accompanied with a delicate obligato in the upper
woodwinds, and the entire piece is pulled together in a stirring finale.
Children of the Regiment (Die Regimentskinder) – Julius Fucik, edited by John R.
Bourgeois
Julius Ernest William Fucik was born into a musical family in Prague in what was
then known as Bohemia. He was a bassoonist and drummer who played in a number
of military bands and in several prominent orchestras. In 1897, he began his career as
a military bandmaster, and soon after wrote his famous Entry of the Gladiators march.
He became a prolific composer with more than 400 works to his credit. He composed
operettas, chamber music, masses, songs, waltzes, overtures, instrumental solos, and
more than 100 marches.
Children of the Regiment (Die Regimentskinder) is a true Viennese regimental march,
written for the Vienna parade grounds. The work was accepted as an official march
by the Imperial Austrian Army shortly after it was published. Also known as
Regimental Youngsters, this work, Opus 169 for Fucik, is now in the repertoire of
most European bands.
In The Miller Mood – Arranged by Warren Barker
For more than 55 years, the unique Glenn Miller big band style has captivated
audiences. This arrangement, commissioned by the Coastal Communities (CA)
Concert Band, showcases seven of Miller’s greatest hits: In the Mood, Moonlight
Serenade, I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo, Serenade in Blue, Little Brown Jug, At Last,
and Anvil Chorus. The style of the Miller band is incorporated with the wider
spectrum of sounds offered by the concert band. Three important components of the
Miller sound come through in this Warren Barker arrangement: the use of a fast
vibrato in the clarinet and saxophone sections, the use of plungers in the brass section,
and the brilliant precision in which the band executes the syncopated passages.
The Gallant Seventh – John Philip Sousa, edited by Frederick Fennell
The Gallant Seventh was Sousa’s one hundred first march, and he premiered it at a
gala concert played at the old New York Hippodrome on November 5, 1922 during the
30th season of the Sousa Band. Sousa augmented his group at this first performance
by adding the band of the Seventh Regiment of New York, and most likely featured
their field music unit in the regimental strains of the march as well. The Seventh
Regiment of New York has long been known for its gallantry in the service of our
country, and Sousa’s contribution to this recognition produced one of his very best
essays in the march form. This is the March King at his regimental best, in a style he
frequently employed from Semper Fidelis onward.
Hopak (Cossak Dance) from “Mazeppa” – P.I. Tchaikovsky
Like many 19th century operas, the plot for Mazeppa, which premiered in February
1884, rivals that of any modern daytime TV soap opera. In Act I, Scene I, a group of
peasant women throw flowers on the river as a game to divine who their future
husbands might be. Another woman, Mariya, arrives, and they plead with her to join
them, but there is company at her house – Mazeppa – so she cannot stay with them.
After they leave, she reveals that she has no use for games anymore, for she has fallen
in love with Mazeppa. Her childhood friend, Andrei, overhears her, and in trying to
give comfort to her, he confesses that he has always loved her. She wishes that she
could love him too, but fate will not allow it. After Andrei rushes off in despair,
Mariya’s parents arrive with guests, food is served and dance and song are provided
for Mazeppa, including this Hopak. Only after all these developments does the opera
move to Act I, Scene II! Stay tuned – you’ll need to see the complete opera to see
how the plot resolves itself! For tonight, we simply entertain you with the music of
“Hopak”.
Variations on a Theme by Glinka – Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed three works for Military Band – Concerto for
Trombone (1877), Variations for Oboe on a Theme of Glinka (1878), and
Concertstuck for Clarinet (1878) – during his tenure as Inspector of the Imperial
Russian Navy Bands. Not only do these works testify to the growing expertise in
Imperial Russian military music performance, but they also give us some insight into
Rimsky-Korsakov’s ever-evolving compostitonal thinking.
The composer acknowledged as much, writing in his memoirs that they were “written
primarily to provide the [military band] concerts with solo pieces of a less hackneyed
nature than the usual: secondly that I myself might master the virtuoso style so
unfamiliar to me, with its solo and tutti, its cadences etc.” And in many ways these
three pieces constitute “experiments” in that combination of ensemble sonority and
solo virtuosity that earmark Sheherazade (1888) as a masterpiece of orchestral
wizardry.
Rimsky chose Glinka's 1827 song, Chito krasotka molodaia [Why are you crying,
pretty one?] as a poignant theme for his piece for Oboe - a series of 12 variations with
Finale. This structure afforded Rimsky an excellent opportunity to explore the subtle
nuances of texture and sonority. Most notably, the fourth variation, in essence an
extended accompanied cadenza, reveals Rimsky's acute sensitivity in portraying solo
work against a scintillating accompaniment.
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Jos Moerenhout
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is a movement from the cantata, "Herz und Mund und Tat
und Leben," by Johann Sebastian Bach, and was written during his time in Leipzig,
Germany. This movement uses the chorale melody Werde munter, mein Gemüthe, a
melody that was not composed by Bach, as is often assumed. It is rather a creation by
Johann Schop of which Bach later harmonized.
Bach wrote a total of 200 cantatas during his time in Leipzig, largely due to the fact
that Leipzig Churches would go through an average of 58 different cantatas each year.
Though in modern day the piece is often employed in weddings, this is in no way
related to the scope of the piece, nor was it intended to be a wedding piece upon
composition. The cantata was composed to be an extended treatment of a traditional
Church hymn, resulting in a length of approximately 20 minutes, which is to be
expected of cantatas of the Baroque period.
Even though various transcriptions of this piece have been made for many different
types of instrumental and vocal combinations, the original piece was written for a
trumpet, an oboe, an organ and strings.
Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale – Hector Berlioz, arr. David Whitwell
This work for wind band (with optional chorus and strings) was originally titled
Symphonie Militaire. It was commissioned by the French government in 1840 for the
tenth anniversary of the July revolution and the reinterment of the victims in the
monument which had just been erected at the Place de la Bastille. Berlioz believed
that a large group of winds instruments would be the most suitable for the open-air
performance and that each movement should be descriptive of the events.
The Oraison funébre – Funeral Oration movement features solo trombone with the
band responding in the manner of a chorus; it was written as a final farewell to the
illustrious dead at the time their remains were to be placed in the monument. The
Apotheoses – Grand Finale develops into a marchlike hymn of glory as the tomb is
sealed and the crowd, according to Berlioz’s memoirs, “would see only the high
column topped by the statue of liberty with outstretched wings, soaring toward the
heavens like the souls of those who died for her.” Anticipating competition form the
50 drums of the National Guard Band, Berlioz invited interested citizens to the final
rehearsal. Richard Wagner, who was present with many other dignitaries at the
rehearsal, later wrote, “In truth I am inclined to rank this composition above all the
rest of Berlioz’s works; it is noble and great from the first note to the last.”
Program notes are edited by Bill Doherty, with credits to the Keystone Concert Band website,
the 3HM Percussion website, Wikipedia, the Database of Recorded American Music, and
“Music March Notes” and “Program Notes for Band”, both by Norman E. Smith.