Winter Concert Program

Sunday, March 1, 1998

Colin Holman, Conductor

Concert Notes

During an active life of music-making, one of Claudio S. Grafulla's (1810-80) most notable accomplishments was his tenure as the bandmaster of the 7th Regiment of New York, which John Philip Sousa later honored with the march The Gallant Seventh.  The Regiment Band achieved a national reputation, and Grafulla served for twenty years as its bandmaster without salary.  Although at least eight other of his marches are known to exist, his place in band history has always rested on this single masterpiece, The Washington Grays.  It was composed in 1861, and the first modern arrangement of it was done in 1905 by G. H. Reeves (a pseudonym for Louis Laurendeau).

John Ireland was a composer of great skill and beauty but has only a limited number of works to his name.  He was also somewhat of an enigmatic composer, with no autobiography and little detailed biographical information that tells us of his influences, impetus or inspiration as a composer.  He was a perfectionist and he preferred to compose for smaller, more intimate forms, so there are no symphonies by Ireland, only one concerto and only one major choral work.  A small number of short orchestral works remain, and his reputation is largely based on his chamber works songs and solo piano repertoire.   The Comedy Overture was originally composed in 1934 for brass band and follows the standard format of a concert overture: a slow introduction (which seems to be influenced by Ireland's preoccupation with mysticism) is followed by a faster section which contains slower interludes that recall musical influences of an egalitarian nature.   The overture is transcribed for concert band by Ray Steadman-Allen, a Salvation Army musician with an extensive list of compositions and arrangements to his name, and who is celebrating his 75th birthday this year.

A native of Spain, Joaquin Turina (1882-1949) was both a pianist and composer.  His studies took him to Paris and the studio of Vincent D'Indy, and to the Madrid conservatory where he served as professor of composition.  At the urging of his countryman and fellow composer Isaac Albeniz, Turina turned to Spanish folk music for inspiration.   Combining romantic and impressionistic elements with the folk styles of his native land, Turina composed symphonic works, chamber music, piano pieces, opera, and other theatrical music.  Among his best known pieces is the symphonic poem of 1913 La Procession du Rocio, a work that he completed shortly after finishing his studies with D'Indy, and which established his career as a major composer in Spain following its premiere given by the Madrid Symphony Orchestra.  The work is in two continuous sections and is brimming with typically Spanish musical idioms.

The original orchestral score carries the following text: "Every year in Seville, during the month of June, there takes place in a section of the city known as Triana a festival called the Procession of the Dew in which the best families participate.  They make their entry in their coaches following an image of the Virgin Mary on a golden cart drawn by an oxen and accompanied by music.  The people dance the soleare and the seguidilla.  A drunkard sets off firecrackers adding to the confusion. At the sound of the flutes and the drums which announce the procession, all dancing ceases.  A religious theme is heard and breaks forth mingling with the pealing of the church bells and the strains of the Royal march.   The procession passes and as it recedes, the festivities resume, but at length they fade away."

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) was the eldest son of an already famous family.  He quickly became Austria's "most successful ambassador" and toured Europe, Great Britain and the United States in 1876 during the centennial independence celebrations.  His Furioso Polka is a quasi-galop and consists of an introduction, polka, trio, and coda.   Although more concise than the big waltzes, it shows Straussian wit and invention at every turn.

Brahms believed - and also demonstrated - that composing in variation form could provide excellent, rigorous training.  As he developed toward maturity in the years immediately preceding his Requiem, he wrote numerous variations, both as independent pieces and movements of chamber works.   During the early 1870s, Brahms returned to the form, composing SEVEN variations and a passacaglia upon a theme entitled "Chorale St. Antoni" from a divertimento for winds then attributed to Haydn (but now no longer believed to be by him).  The work was scored for two pianos and later for full orchestra, thus becoming the earliest set of independent set of orchestral variations.  This version of Variations on a Theme by Haydn is abbreviated to the theme, the 6th, and 7th variations and the finale and has been transcribed for concert band by Lawrence Chidester.

The Hounds of Spring is a concert overture for winds that was commissioned by the John Forster Secondary School Symphonic Band of Ontario and composed by Alfred Reed in 1981.  A lively opening featuring mixed meters and engaging hemiola effects is contrasted with a rich slow melody in the middle section.  At the end the themes from the opening and middle sections combine to produce a satisfying and exciting finale.

There is not a large body of keyboard music that has been effectively transcribed for the concert band, but Girolamo Frescobaldi's Toccata is one of the more standard works.  Frescobaldi was a late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century Italian composer who was the organist at St. Peter's in Rome for 35 years of his life.  The toccata is, by definition, a touch piece: a work that was used as a warm-up for organists in those cold European churches.  It was also a work that was originally entirely improvised and as such featured numerous free sections with opportunities for virtuosity and flexibility of tempo.  These free improvisatory works were to become an important influence on the organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach a century later.  Frescobaldi's Toccata is in three sections and has been effectively transcribed for concert band by Earl Slocum.   The rhapsodic opening and closing sections frame a quick middle section featuring the French horns and based on the development of a tuneful fanfare motive.

Chester is the third part of a triptych for concert band based on the music of William Billings (1746-1800), and is based on a famous Revolutionary hymn and marching song of the same name.  It is one of the great classics for concert band.  In the first section Schuman introduces the tune first in the woodwinds and then in the brasses.  In the next section the melody is given a more contemporary setting utilizing distinctive rhythmic and harmonic devices to sustain interest.  The hymn tune returns towards the end, concluding in a dramatic fashion.  The composer of this setting, William Schuman, is a highly honored American composer who was president of both the Julliard School of Music and Lincoln Center in New York.  He composed Chester in 1956.

Percy Grainger composed with great freedom and flexibility in mind, and consequently the majority of his compositions exist in a number of differing versions.  Mock Morris, for example, was written for theater orchestra, salon orchestra, full orchestra in two separate version (one by Leopold Stokowski), string orchestra, brass band, sax quintet, sax choir, three different versions for solo piano, four-handed piano, violin and piano, recorder trio, piano and orchestra, and two different concert band versions.   Grainger writes "no folk tune stuffs at all are used therein.  The rhythmic cast of the piece is morris-like, but neither the build of the tunes nor the general layout of the form keeps to the morris dance shape…hence "Mock Morris".

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, John Philip Sousa was 62 years old.   He offered his services to the military and was commissioned in the Navy, serving as Music Director of the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Chicago.  He set his own pay at one dollar per month.  Solid Men to the Front was one of ten marches he composed in 1918, and one of only ten that he actually conducted on recordings with his band; it reflects the vigor and spirit of American men in uniform.

Concert notes prepared by Colin W. Holman
Copyright © 1998 by the Fox Valley Concert Band