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PDF of the prgram - Moravian College

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The Music<br />

The repertoire for this performance was made possible in part by a gift from attorney Ruth Moyer, class <strong>of</strong> 2005.<br />

A <strong>PDF</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> concert program and instructions on accessing live-­‐streaming may be found at:<br />

http://home.moravian.edu/public/music/instrumental/windEnsemble/index.htm. For those<br />

accessing online resources while at <strong>the</strong> performance, please silence all playback and electronic<br />

devices<br />

There is some disagreement about <strong>the</strong> origins <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> superstition surrounding Friday <strong>the</strong> 13 th.<br />

Should <strong>the</strong> date be dreaded; should we hide until <strong>the</strong> 14 th; or should be extra careful when interacting with<br />

o<strong>the</strong>rs? Perhaps you would like to ignore <strong>the</strong> Consumer Price Index for March 2012 announcement due out<br />

this morning. Well, if you are a supervisory employee at <strong>the</strong> Pennsylvania higher Education Assistance<br />

Agency, you should expect a 2% bump in salary today (<strong>the</strong> flip side to this is, until last October, those folks<br />

lived with a 3.5 year pay freeze…).<br />

Here are a couple <strong>of</strong> starting <strong>of</strong>f points for more information on “Friggatriskaidekaphobia.”<br />

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/friday-­‐13.html<br />

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_<strong>the</strong>_13th<br />

There is also some disagreement over <strong>the</strong> composition date for John Philip Sousa’s Funeral March<br />

– The Honored Dead. Although band music reference books <strong>of</strong>ten list <strong>the</strong> date as 1876, o<strong>the</strong>r books suggest<br />

that <strong>the</strong> march was written for Ulysses S. Grant’s funeral in 1885.<br />

The Dallas Wind Symphony website on Sousa: http://www.dws.org/sousa/works<br />

Six Marches (edited by Patrick Warfield):<br />

http://books.google.com/books?id=bs9NT559O68C&pg=PR16&lpg=PR16&dq=sousa+honored+dead+gran<br />

t&source=bl&ots=nlcPFr0cHK&sig=nYw3BUiTqQzkzS8CFehOSY1QIkE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AGeHT5DYCJOD0<br />

QGanOj4Bw&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=sousa%20honored%20dead%20grant&f=false<br />

David Holsinger’s dance for <strong>the</strong> Old Believers, Hopak Raskolniki, is a mad, continuously moving<br />

example <strong>of</strong> band music with eastern-­‐European influences. The Old Believers were Russian Orthodox church<br />

members who continued to practice <strong>the</strong> liturgy from before <strong>the</strong> seventeenth century reforms. The music<br />

begins fairly regular meter. But even in <strong>the</strong> “calmer” moments, <strong>the</strong> piece introduces disjointed meters –<br />

defying those wishing to tap <strong>the</strong>ir feet to a common beat. The piece progresses into a frenzied section with<br />

part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ensemble subdividing beats into three partials, while o<strong>the</strong>r instrumental sections divide <strong>the</strong> beat<br />

into duples. The fracturing <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> beats continues as <strong>the</strong> piece rushes to conclusion with a final, emphatic<br />

note that isn’t even on a regular beat!<br />

For more on David Holsinger and his music, please visit: http://www.davidrholsinger.com/<br />

The two portions from Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers awake, <strong>the</strong> voice is<br />

calling us) from Cantata BWV 140, as arranged by Chiaffarelli, is one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> standard examples <strong>of</strong> band<br />

repertoire taken from <strong>the</strong> eighteenth century. The lyricism, counterpoint, and dynamic contrast are<br />

balanced by <strong>the</strong> wonderful examples <strong>of</strong> antecedent/consequence phrasing. The mostly woodwind first<br />

chorus is followed by a brass version <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cantata’s chorale, Gloria sei dir gesungen (May Gloria be sung to<br />

you). What is <strong>the</strong> connection to Friday <strong>the</strong> 13 th? Perhaps it’s just that beauty can be enjoyed even on days<br />

with not so nice connotations.<br />

Moussorgsky’s (also Mussorgsky’s) A Night On a Bald Mountain is one <strong>of</strong> those pieces most<br />

associated with Halloween (and perhaps a Disney movie). And since <strong>the</strong> Wind Ensemble is a spring-­‐term<br />

ensemble, what better time to celebrate Halloween, than on a Friday <strong>the</strong> 13 th in April? And what better<br />

2

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