Gioachino Rossini chooses Semiramide as the opera subject of the Carnival season 1822-23, the last of his Italian career. The opera - composed on a libretto by Gaetano Rossi - was performed for the first time in Venice, Teatro La Fenice, on February 3rd 1823. The history of this work is characterized right from the first performances by frequent manipulations, cuts and consecutive adjustments beca…

Par VAN DER ROOST JAN. Minerva by Jan Van der Roost was composed on the commission of the German “Musikverein Braunshausen” on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the orchestra. The composition, first performed on September 17, 1999, is not a street march but a concert march, just like Mercury and Arsenal. The use and variation of different rhythmic patterns gives the first part of this march …

Par WUORINEN CHARLES. Charles Wuorinen\'s Second Piano Trio was found on his desk at the time of his passing in March 2020. A single, nine-minute movement, it is characterized by a complex, lively rhythmic interplay between the three instruments, in particular a wittily repeated figure of sixteenth-note quintuplets. Upon reviewing Wuorinen\'s third and final draft for this piece posthumously, thre…

Tonalité : D-Dur - Op.: 86 -. Par DVORAK ANTONIN. With its traditional forms and proven compositional models, its original ideas, which are sometimes marked by a folk- or folksong-like melodic character, and with its harmonic richness, Dvorák’s D major Mass serves in its liturgical context to express the worship of God. The Mass is characterized by lyrical meditation rather than by dramatic immedi…

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's works for violin and harpsichord obbligato pervade his entire compositional oeuvre. The earliest works, like the Sonata in D minor still numbered BWV 1036, date back to the years of study with his father, yet show already a remarkable creative will of his own. The latest work, the fantasia 'C. P. E. Bachs Empfindungen' in F flat minor of 1787 is characterized by the com…

Par HOFMANN LEOPOLD. 'Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live' is one of the central biblical texts dealing with the transitoriness of human existence. Leopold Hofmann, Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna from 1772 to 1793, where W. A. Mozart was his church music assistant, also set this strongly expressive text. Hofmann's setting, in C minor, offers an austere harmo…

Weihnachtskantate. Par SCHMELZER JOHANN HEINRICH. With this pastoral Christmas cantata by the long-serving Royal Hofkapellmeister of Vienna, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, we wish to draw attention to a prominent baroque composer whose vocal and instrumental works have yet to achieve their historical place in the “early music scene“ which they richly deserve. Schmelzer’s easily performable pastoral mu…

Par SHAIMAN MARC. From the hit musical Hairspray, here is an upbeat showstopper with a nice variety in scoring as the melody is passed from section to section. Characterizing a feeling of optimism and perseverance, this is sure to be enjoyed by all. / Date parution : 2022-04-01/ Répertoire / Concert Band/Harmonie

Par SCHOONENBEEK KEES. The first movement of this work, an Allegretto, begins with a fanfare-like opening. After a number of other melody lines, a reprise of the beginning follows, which ends in a cadenza for the soloist. Movement two, titled Rituel, is characterized by interplay between the soloist and the band within a stately melody. In the final movement, the theme of the first movement’s open…

Arr. Wil Van Der Beek. Par TCHAIKOVSKI PIOTR ILITCH. Tchaikovsky is best known for his purely instrumental compositions. However, we must not underestimate him as a composer of operas. Many of his operas such as ¬Pique Dame and Eugene Onegin are still performed regularly throughout the world. Eugene Onegin (also called Jevgeny Onegin), composed in 1877-1878, was not called an opera by Tchaikovsky …

Arr. Jacob De Haan. Par TRADITIONAL. Jacob de Haan arranged the famous piece Amazing Grace for four-part variable ensemble, which may be complemented with percussion. With this intrumentation, it is possible to play the piece with almost any combination of instruments. The piece opens with the song theme, which after a modulation, flows into an intermezzo, characterized by a free interpretation of…

Par BOSVELD JAN. Shortly after the Second World War, a combative movement of Danish, Belgian and Dutch artists chose the cobra snake - extremely dangerous yet considered sacred - as a symbol of their resistance to strict guideliness of form. The name 'Cobra' also happens to contain the first letters of the cities Copenhagen, Brussels ans Amsterdam, from where most of the movement's members came. T…

Tuneful melodies of broad contours and long-breathed phrases characterize this setting of the Thomas H. Troeger text. A sense of rubato will expressively shape each phrase. Though scored for piano, the accompaniment can be easily adapted for organ with equal effect. / Choeur Mixte (SATB) Et Piano

Gluck, Christoph Willibald Iphigénie en Tauride Tragedy in four acts Paris version of 1779 ' Urtext edition based on the Gluck Complete Edition ' Gently modernized and newly set ' Contains all appendices found in the score Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera in four acts about the Curse of the House of Atreus is based on a tragedy by the classical Greek dramatist Euripides. The mythological plot ab…