Full Orchestra - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.976734 Composed by Robert Myers. 20th Century,Christmas,Contemporary. Score and parts. 99 pages. WheatMyer Music #6496769. Published by WheatMyer Music (A0.976734). CONJUNCTION interprets the convergence of Jupiter and Saturn near the end of the year 2020 as a celestial metaphor for the good news of Christ's birth in a replay of the Star of Bethlehem. Hence, its subtitle of The Christmas Star of 2020. The music, along with narration from selected Old and New Testament scriptures, delivers a message of hope amid the turmoil and chaos of current times.It's written for smaller concert bands hungry for challenging music. Ample cues and doubling allow for flexible instrumentation while mixed meters, varying tempos and textures, and interesting solo lines provide opportunities for strong players to shine. CONJUNCTION is also available with strings for orchestra.PROGRAM NOTES:2020 is widely characterized for its maladies: murders, burning cities, riots, a pandemic, economic shocks, and political turmoil. For some of us, it also held personal tragedy such as my brother’s passing from COVID. But, 2020 also brought a sign of hope, namely the celestial phenomenon known as the Great Conjunction of 2020. For earth-bound observers, this was the closest approach of Jupiter and Saturn in almost 400 years as they appeared to almost touch in the early evening sky to produce the most brilliant evening star of our lifetimes. The occurrence of the event in November-December neatly coincided with the Advent season, peaking just before Christmas Day. One could hardly fail to note the parallels with the Christmas star of Matthew’s gospel which gave the conjunction its alternate name, the Christmas Star of 2020. Thus, this star spoke, to those with ears to hear, the same message the prophet Isaiah wrote about the coming Messiah, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. This star thus served to remind us that the LORD has not rejected us; He will show His favor again; His love has not vanished; His promises have not failed; He has not forgotten to be merciful or compassionate; and we are called to remember His mighty deeds (Psalm 77). CONJUNCTION: The Christmas Star of 2020 is inspired by these particulars.For the music, I looked to Gustav Holst’s The Planets for themes that would portray Jupiter and Saturn’s pas de deux. I selected several motives from the corresponding movements mixed and matched in sometimes easily recognized quotations and other times in heavily camouflaged derivations. An exuberant polyphonic passage recaps themes from both Jupiter and Saturn when the music resolves from uncertainty into hopefulness. While Holst’s motives provide CONJUNCTION’s foundation I also used Handel’s Messiah for transitory and climactic material. You will hear his The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light in transitions and a short trombone solo. And a re-harmonization of the opening line from For unto us a child is born brings the music to a joyous climax.Although the music stands firmly on its own, I elected to incorporate some narrative to make the musical sentiment explicit. In a commentary on 2020’s grim events, I took adaptations of Habakkuk 1:2-4 and 2 Tim 3:1-4 and set them over Saturn’s plodding and ominous harmonies. Contrasting replies shimmer with hope as the narration melds Isaiah 9:2 and Luke 1:78-79 over another Saturn motive set against pitch sets from Jupiter’s main hymn theme. Still, it’s the music that tells the story of the Christmas Star of 2020.Please visit my website for a complete score preview: https://wheatmyermusic.com/conjunction-the-christmas-star-of-2020I feel somewhat guilty making claim to this music as almost all the building blocks are taken from other composers. But the end result is neither a medley, nor an arrangement, rather it is something clearly new, so I call it my own with deep respect to those giants on whose shoulders I stand.Robert MyersS.D.G.

Chamber Orchestra - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.922635 Composed by Johann Strauss Jr. Arranged by Aaron Meier. Romantic Period,World. Score and parts. 7 pages. Aaron Meier #5792353. Published by Aaron Meier (A0.922635). Original by Johann Strauss II Reduction to String Orchestra by Aaron Meier Part: Full Score ONLY True to the original work by Strauss, this reduction for string orchestra features the ornaments and mystical writing that defines Strauss' polkas. There are optional percussion parts to be added at the discretion of the ensemble, however even without percussion the ensemble will sound full (the percussion acts as an ornament). Difficulty: Intermediate-advanced - advanced (best-suited for advanced student ensembles) ---Performance Notes: • Approximate length: 3:30 minutes • 1st Violins: In m. 1, trill a half step from a Dâ™­ to a Dâ™®  • 2nd Violins:  - At m. 42, divide players by 3, with 2 players playing line A and the remaining player playing line B  - At m. 72-75, emphasize the Eâ™­ in the div. • Snare Drum: The buzz roll needs to be quieter than how it is played in the midi recording (*see YouTube link ↓) History: The Olga-Polka itself owed its creation to a Russian royal wedding which took place in St. Petersburg on 28 August 1857. On that day, amid accompanying splendour, the music-loving Grand Duke Michail Nikolaievich (1832-1909), youngest brother of Tsar Alexander II, married Princess Caecilie of Baden (1839-91), daughter of Archduke Leopold of Baden. Johann Strauss, who at that time was giving a summer season of concerts in nearby Pavlovsk, used the opportunity occasioned by the event to enhance his already enviable popularity with the Russian royal family and composed the Caecilien-Polka in honour of the lovely young bride. Indeed, it is clear from a letter which Johann wrote in late July 1857 to Carl Haslinger, his publisher in Vienna, that the new polka had been prepared well in advance of the wedding (the fair copy of the full orchestral score made for the publisher's engraver is dated 9 August) and was enjoying success even before the royal couple's official engagement on 16August 1857. Sometime after performing the Caecilien-Polka in Pavlovsk, Johann despatched the work to the Austrian capital where his brother Josef conducted its Viennese première, together with that of Johann's waltz Telegraphische Depeschen (op. 195, Volume 28), at his own benefit concert in the Volksgartenon Sunday 18 October 1857. The Wiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung (16.10.1857) remarked that both works have caused a sensation in St. Petersburg and are truly genial Viennese sounds full of verve and melody. Since tradition demanded that the German Princess Caecilie adopt a Russian name - Olga Feodorovna - before her marriage, so Johann's Caecilien-Polka also underwent a change of identity. On 8 December 1857 Carl Haslinger announced the publication of Strauss's Olga-Polka, on the title page of which is the inscription: Dedicated to her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga, née Princess of Baden. It was under this title, too, that Johann himself first conducted the work in Vienna at a concert in the Volksgarten on 1 November 1857, shortly after his return from Russia. Reporting on this event, the Wiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung (3.11.1857) observed: The 'Olga-Polka' is a most delightful, fragrant musical bouquet, full of fine, gracious rhythms. [excerpted from NAXOS Records] Kemp, Peter. Program Notes - About this Recording. NAXOS, 1993, www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.223232&catNum=223232&filetype=About%20.......... Accessed 5 June 2020. Resources: • Visit sites.google.com/view/aaronmeier for more information regarding this arrangement and other works. • Find a full midi recording of this arrangement on YouTub.

Full Orchestra - Digital Download SKU: A0.509587 Composed by Hans Zimmer. Arranged by Kevin Riley. 20th Century,Film/TV. Score and parts. 40 pages. Published by Kevin Riley (A0.509587). Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American romantic war drama film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer and written by Randall Wallace. It stars Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Colm Feore, and Alec Baldwin. The film presented a heavily fictionalized version of the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, focusing on a love story set amid the lead up to the attack, its aftermath, and the Doolittle Raid. The film was a box office success, earning $59 million in its opening weekend and nearly $450 million worldwide, but received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized the story, long runtime, screenplay and dialogue, pacing, performances and historical inaccuracies, although the visual effects and music score were praised. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning in the category of Best Sound Editing. However, it was also nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture. This marked the first occurrence of a Worst Picture-nominated film winning an Academy Award.