PROGRAM NOTES

Giovanni Gabrieli’s music has been regarded as some of the most representative and influential music of the Renaissance, with much of it still performed regularly. Gabrieli, who served as organist at the Basilica San Marco in Venice, Italy, from 1584 until his death in 1612, wrote for voices, instrumental ensembles, and organ. The Basilica, itself an architectural wonder, contains a main floor flanked by a balcony high above on either side. Gabrieli would often take advantage of this space by placing instrumental choirs in both balconies, performing his music antiphonally.

Canzon duodecimi toni
Giovanni Gabrieli

Canzon septimi toni no. 2, from Gabrieli’s Sacrae Symphoniae, uses two brass choirs which took full advantage of the space within the Basilica San Marco. Contrasting moments of majesty and introspection alternate within this work, creating a conversation between choirs and providing a unique and fascinating aural experience for the listener.

Giles Farnaby Suite
Gordon Jacob

The material for this beautifully conceived work selected from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, a manuscript collection of nearly 300 pieces for virginal dating approximately 1560 to 1610. The music is frequently and often contrapuntal, with good mixtures of full band transparent scoring. The skill and musicianship of the transcriber, Gordon Jacob, are apparent throughout the suite. The 11 movements (with Middle English spelling in instances) include Fantasia, The Old Spagnoletta, Giles Farnaby’s Dreame, Farnaby’s Concert, His Rest, His Humour, Tell Mee Daphne, Rosasolis, A Toye, Loth to Depart, and Tower Hill. --Program Notes for Band

Sketches on a Tudor Psalm
Fisher Tull

Sketches on a Tudor Psalm, composed in 1971, is based on a sixteenth-century setting of the Second Psalm by Thomas Tallis. The original version was in the Phrygian mode with the melody in the tenor voice. A modern adaptation is still used today in Anglican services. Its popularity is evidenced by its employment by Ralph Vaughan Williams for the basis of his Fantasia for String Orchestra in 1910.

The introduction sets the harmonic character by emphasizing the juxtaposition of major and minor triads. The theme is first presented by solo alto saxophone, continued by horns, and followed by a fully harmonized version from the brass. The variations begin to unfold in an Allegro section with a melody in the clarinets which was constructed from the retrograde of the theme. Subsequently, fragments of the theme are selected for rhythmic and melodic transformation. Finally, the opening harmonic sequence returns in highly punctuated rhythms to herald the recapitulation of the theme beginning in the low woodwinds and culminating in a fully scored setting of the climactic measures. A coda continues the development as the music builds to a triumphal close on a major chord.

- Program Note by composer

Incantation and Dance
John Barnes Chance

The present title of this work suggests a religious orientation, but not towards any of the established religions of a Western or Eastern culture. To the standard deities one offers prayers -- incantations are uttered in rituals of magic, demonic rites, and the conjuring up of spirits, evil and benign. The opening Incantation is full of mystery and expectation, wandering, unstable and without tonality. The Dance also begins quietly, but percussion instruments quickly begin, one by one, to drive a rhythmic pattern of incredible complexity and drive. As other instruments are added, the dance grows wilder and more frenzied. The brasses hammer out ferocious snarls -- the woodwinds fly in swirling scales. Here there is no pretty tune but a paroxysm of rhythm, a convulsion of syncopation that drives on and on, mounting in tension, to a shattering climax of exaltation.

Incantation and Dance was premiered as Nocturne and Dance by Herbert Hazelman and the Greensboro High School Band on November 16, 1960. The original version (saved by Hazelman) has several interesting differences, including 31 additional measures. It was programmed at the NBA convention in New Orleans in June 1995 by Robert Pouliot and the City of Fairfax Band.

Homage to Perotin
Ron Nelson

Medieval Suite was written in homage to three great masters of the Middle Ages: Leonin (middle 12th century), Perotin (c. 1155-1200), and Machaut (c. 1300-1377). These are neither transcriptions of their works nor attempts at emulating their respective styles. Rather, the music served as a sort of launching pad for three pieces which draw on some of the stylistic characteristics of music from that period, e.g., repetition of rhythmic patterns or modes, modules of sound, proportions that produce octaves, fourths and fifths, use of Gregorian chant, syncopation, long pedal points where a sustained tone regulates melodic progression.

Homage to Perotin springs from his Viderunt, with its driving rhythmic intensity, repetition, and pedal points. The opening section features insistent dissonances in alternation with brass fanfare-like passages. A second theme played by unison brass is written in the Aeolian mode. 

Homage to Perotin was first performed March 18, 1983, at the National Conference of the College Band Directors National Association by the Western Michigan University Symphonic Band, Richard J. Suddendorf, conductor.

- Program Note by composer

Terpsichore
Bob Margolis

Terpsichore (1981) is based upon dances from the Court of Henry IV of France by Michael Praetorius in 1612. Margolis details the piece:

Terpsichore is the Greek Muse of dancing. She is one of the nine Muses who are the daughters of Mnemosyne (the goddess of memory) and Zeus.

The beginning of this band work is a quiet invocation to the spirit of ancient dance, and is followed by a street scene depicting wild and savage goings-on. The energy level and tunes are explosive, the moods constantly and unpredictably changing. Speed, flexibility, and energy dominate. Towards the middle of the movement, a brass quintet plays the original Renaissance music upon which the movement is based. The invocation reappears, and the music ends in a florid swirl of notes.

The second movement begins with a quintet of gently chirping flutes, followed by a slow Spanish dance for solo harp and then band. Next comes a brazen ballet, Amazones; and finally a loud chime introduces a scintillating and vibrant jumping dance, or “volte,” coming to a breathless and abrupt close.

The third movement begins with a bright xylophone solo, followed by a series of “bourrées.” Sounds are bright and transparent. The end of the movement reproduces, as nearly as is possible in the modern symphonic band, the sound of an actual Renaissance wind band.

The final movement – the longest, most complex, and most exciting one – begins with a sprightly “gaillarde” for solo organ. This is followed by a series of warmly peaceful variations called “reprinses,” next comes a unique series of tunes that feature the individual instrumental choirs of the band. Finally, an exhilarating and strongly rhythmic “volte” first shows off the euphonium soloist, and builds energy to a resplendent close.

The work is filled with symbolism and emotion, but two particular musical elements evoke aspects of the metaphysical in unexpected ways: the pervasive use of percussive metals and the choice of a lullaby at the end. The bright, glittering shimmer of the metal percussion recalls the imagery found in Ecclesiastes 12:7, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Although the physical body no longer endures, the soul, represented by the tuba, remains and sings a sweet, restful melody above the accompanying notes of the piano. By harmonizing with the other brass instruments, the soul initially lingers with the family, then, as indicated when the piano rises from the lowest D to the highest, it ascends to heaven. Dust…spirit…soul. As Shakespeare’s Prospero said, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on,” and what better way to end this piece than with a lullaby, rocking us to sleep and continuing the dream.