Austin Symphonic Band
PROGRAM NOTES
Sinfonia in B flat minor (1872)
Amilcare Ponchielli, Op. 153 (1834–1886)
Orchestration by Luca Valenti
Program note from Sam Houston State University:
Amilcare Ponchielli’s parents were poor shopkeepers in whose backrooms he was born. His musical talent appeared very early and a local count, Giovanni Battista Jacini, provided a scholarship to the Milan Conservatory for him in 1843. Upon his graduation in 1854, Ponchielli located to Cremona where he served as an organist and as a conductor in various opera houses and forged a career as a bandmaster.
Toward the end of his time in Cremona, he composed an original Sinfonia for band. According to concert programs, it may never have been performed by Ponchielli, as he seems to have ended his activities as band director in Piacenza in early 1873.
Listen for:
A slow introduction followed by several lively themes in minor and major, all wrapped up in a frenzied coda.
The Invincible Eagle (1901)
John Philip Sousa (1854–1932)
Program note by Paul E. Bierley from “The Works of John Philip Sousa”:
Blanche Duffield, soprano of the Sousa Band in 1901, witnessed the creation of this march, and she provided this rare description of Sousa composing:
It was on a train between Buffalo and New York. Outside the coach, the lights of towns along the route flashed by like ghosts fluttering at the window panes. The night was dark and the few stars above twinkled fitfully. Mr. Sousa sat in his chair in the dimly lit Pullman. At the further end of the car a porter diligently brushed cushions. At intervals the engine whistled as if in pain.
Suddenly and without previous warning Mr. Sousa began to describe circles in the air with a pencil, jerking back and forth in his seat meanwhile. Gradually the circumference of his pencil’s arcs diminished and Mr. Sousa drew a notebook from his pocket, still humming to himself. Notebook and pencil met. Breves and semi-breves appeared on the page’s virgin surface. Quarter notes and sixteenth notes followed in orderly array. Meanwhile, Mr. Sousa furrowed his brow and from his pursed lips came a stirring air—rather a martial blare, as if hidden trombones, tubas, and saxophones were striving to gain utterance. Now Mr. Sousa’s pencil traveled faster and faster, and page after page of the notebook were turned back, each filled with martial bars. I looked on from over the top of a magazine and listened with enthusiasm as Mr. Sousa’s famous march, “The Invincible Eagle,” took form.
I tried to attract Mr. Sousa’s attention while he was supplying the accompaniment of flutes, oboes, bassoons, and piccolos, but it was not until he had picked out the march on a violin on his fingers, put his notebook in his pocket, his [imaginary] violin in his case, and his cigar back in his mouth that he finally turned toward me and casually remarked that it was a very dark night outside.
The march was dedicated to the Pan-American Exposition, held in Buffalo in the summer of 1901. It outlived a march entitled The Electric Century by Sousa’s rival, Francesco Fanciulli, whose band also played at the Exposition. At first Sousa thought The Invincible Eagle would surpass The Stars and Stripes Forever as a patriotic march, although he nearly entitled it Spirit of Niagara in recognition of the Exposition.
Listen for:
A boisterous 6/8 feel throughout.
A typical march form: introduction, first strain (with repeat), second strain (with repeat), trio melody (with key change), breakup strain that features the lower voices, and reprise of the trio melody.
A carefree woodwind countermelody on the trio melody.
Safely Rest (2020)
Nicole Piunno (b. 1985)
Program note from the composer:
Safely Rest combines the melodies of Amazing Grace and Taps. These two melodies are woven together so they can be perceived as a single unit.
“‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home” — from Amazing Grace
“All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh” — from Taps
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Nicole Piunno views music as a vehicle for seeing and experiencing the realities of life. Her music often reflects the paradoxes in life and how these seeming opposites are connected as they weave together. Her harmonic language and use of counterpoint mirrors the complexity of our world by acknowledging light and dark, past and present, beauty and brokenness, confinement and freedom, chaos and order, spiritual and physical, life and death.
Listen for:
Gradual and instrumentally colorful shifts from section to section and individual instrument to full ensemble
Consonance and lingering dissonance as both melodies intertwine
Who’s Who in Navy Blue (1920)
John Philip Sousa (1854–1932)
Program note by Paul Bierley:
It is not often that a composer dedicates music to a wooden American Indian. Sousa did just that by dedicating this march to Tecumseh, whose stern figurehead adorns Bancroft Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.
Until a cache of old letters was recently discovered among Sousa family holdings in 1975, there was no proof of a request for this march coming from the student body of the U.S. Naval Academy. From the letters it was learned that a request had been made by Midshipman W.A. Ingram, president of the class of 1920. At that time, it was customary for each class to have its own new song or march to be performed at graduation exercises.
The manner of choosing a title for the march bordered on the comical. Midshipman T.R. Wirth suggested “Ex Scienta Tridens” (“From Science to Sea Power”). Sousa’s response to this was that it sounded like a remedy for the flu or a breakfast cereal. He suggested an alternate, “Admirals By and By.” Wirth stood firm with his proposal and pointed out that one of Sousa’s most famous marches was “Semper Fidelis,” also taken from the Latin.
At this point, Sousa apparently was inclined to withdraw his offer to compose the march, but Wirth pleaded with him not to take this course of action. Wirth tried to compromise on a title, offering such names as “Gentlemen Sailors,” “Seafarers,” and “Admirals All.” Sousa did some compromising of his own, and “Who’s Who in Navy Blue” became the title.
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If you’d like to sing along with the trio medley, Sousa provided the following lyrics:
The moon is shining on the rippling waves.
The stars are twinkling in the evening sky.
And in our dreams Tecumseh softly tells us
We’ll be Admirals by and by.
In recognition of Sousa’s contribution to the Navy during World War I—and presumably in appreciation for this composition—he was presented a miniature class ring and made an honorary member of the graduating class of 1921.
Listen for:
Written 14 years after Anchors Aweigh, in this piece Sousa takes Zimmermann’s melodies, full of upbeats, one step further and provides a hint of syncopation.
Beautiful counter lines in the euphonium and mid-range reeds.
Hill Country Festival (2023)
Clifton Jameson Jones (b. 1962)
Program note from the composer:
Hill Country Festival is an upbeat, Western style overture that draws inspiration from the Texas Hill Country. There’s no specific story or program to the piece, although the middle section reminds me of being at the top of Enchanted Rock, near Fredericksburg, and looking out at the great view of the surrounding landscape. The piece is written in a symmetrical ‘arch’ form: Introduction, A–allegro section, B–slow section, A'–return of allegro section with changes, and Coda, which reprises the introductory material. Hill Country Festival is dedicated to Bill Haehnel, for his 20 years of service as Assistant Director of the Austin Symphonic Band.
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“ASB is so thankful for Bill and his 20+ years of dedicated service to our organization. His extensive knowledge of pedagogy and superb musicianship benefits us all—paired with his wit, charm, and wonderful sense of humor you can see why he has flourished in the role of Assistant Music Director. Personally, I’d also like to thank him for his assistance in onboarding me to the ASB family. He answered and continues to answer my questions about the group and is an excellent colleague.” —Dr. Kyle Glaser
“What to say about my friend William Benard Otto Frederick Haehnel III (I know his full name because I had to do jumping jacks while spelling it when I pledged the band fraternity at UT.) Bill is intensely loyal to Longhorn sports, very quick-witted, a tempo stickler on the podium, and always the most prepared person in the room. His life work as a band director has produced professional orchestral musicians, lifelong music hobbyists, and thousands of well-rounded citizens.” —David Cross
Jazz Suite No. 2 (1956, arranged 1994)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)
Arranged by Johan de Meij
Excerpts: — March — Lyric Waltz — Finale —
Jazz Suite No. 2 is the title given to Johan de Meij’s 1994 arrangement of Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra. It consists of a collection of movements derived from other works by the composer and is also known as Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra.
It is thought that the Suite for Variety Orchestra must have been assembled by Shostakovich at least post-1956, because of the use of material from that year’s music for the film “The First Echelon.” In fact, the greater part of the Suite for Variety Orchestra is recycled material. For instance, the opening and closing movements (March and Finale) are based on the march from “Korzinkina’s Adventures,” Op. 59 (1940).
Fun facts about Dmitri Shostakovich:
He was a perfectionist in music and in his personal life. According to his daughter, he was obsessed with cleanliness and kept his clocks in perfect synchronization.
He loved soccer and was a certified referee.
He is regarded as a great film composer, having written music for 36 films. Much of his film music, however, has been lost or exists only in fragments.
Listen for:
March: A rollicking, joyous piece based on two contrasting themes.
Lyric Waltz: A very danceable and floating Viennese-style piece with a lovely clarinet solo.
Finale: A delightful bon mot with contrasting scoring of light woodwind and heavy brass and a final nod to the march that started it all.
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (1924)
John Philip Sousa (1854–1932)
Program note by Paul Bierley:
“I have always found a great deal of inspiration in these old songs…. We cannot improve simple straightforward melodies, but we can give them a more adequate, full-throated expression….” Sousa made this statement to a newspaper reporter in discussing the new march he had just built around “Auld Lang Syne.”
“Auld Lang Syne” happened to be the marching song of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, the oldest military organization in the United States. When the Sousa Band visited Boston in 1923, a delegation from the “Ancients” requested that Sousa compose a march incorporating the song so dear to them.
The Sousa Band’s strenuous thirty-second annual tour lay ahead of Sousa, but he wasted no time in penning the new march when the tour ended, and it was promptly published. Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company was the featured march of the next tour, and a formal presentation was made to the “Ancients” at Symphony Hall in Boston on September 21, 1924.
Listen for:
Typical march form of introduction, first and second strain, then a modulation into the trio.
Lively first and second strain to offset the stoic trio melody.