A Birthday Fanfare
by William Walton
Brass Ensemble - Sheet Music

Brass Ensemble 7 C or B-flat Tpt., Perc. - Medium

SKU: WO.0306

Composed by William Walton. Ceremonial fanfare. Light Concert. Score and parts. With Standard Notation. Duration 0:40. Winwood Music #0306. Published by Winwood Music (WO.0306).

This miniature fanfare was written as a 70th birthday present for Karl-Friedrich Still, the Waltons’ next-door neighbour in Ischia. The autograph is just nine bars long, but in a separate note Walton writes, ‘After a quick look at K’s fanfare it seems a bit short. I suggest if there is time to make the adjustment in the parts that it should read thus: at the 9th [recte 8th] bar the 8th [recte 7th] bar should be repeated making 10 bars in all.’ He adds a music example making it clear that the seventh bar is to be repeated. The fanfare was scored for three trumpets, four horns, and percussion, and was performed at Dr Still’s guest-house, ‘Wengerner Mühle’, in Recklinghausen on 10 October 1981. At some point the fanfare was scored for seven trumpets and percussion and it was first heard in this form on 7 June 1982 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, played by the trumpeters of the Royal Military School, Kneller Hall, conducted by Lt-Col G. E. Evans. Oxford University Press published this version, rather than the original, in 1983.