Fanfare for Easter Day

Any choir can fill the sanctuary with ringing praise this Easter with the help of Don Besig and Nancy Price. You'll love the bright and jubilant presentation of the Good News with its cunning use of “When I Survey theWondrous Cross.” Its overwhelming popularity in its SATB version published in 1988 made it eligible to be offered now in SAB for choirs anywhere. The optional B-flat trumpet part is provided in the octavo. A majestic fanfarefor Easter Sunday!

Easter Fantasy-Fantasia di Pasqua est une fantaisie basée sur des mélodies chorales pascales issues de la Renaissance. Un quatuor (cuivres/bois) joue un rôle primordial dans le développement de la pièce. La musique pascale étant essentiellement destinée à être interprétée dans un lieu de culte le compositeur préconise de placer le quatuor sur le balcon. L?effet de double chœur ainsi créé donne à la pièce un caractère varié et divertissant.

Hymnus was commissioned by the Wilhelmina Easterein Fanfare Orchestra in the Autumn of 1999 for their performance at the World Music Contest Kerkrade. The commission was the result of a collaboration between the composer and the thenmusical director Marten van der Wal. The exact meaning of the word Hymnus is not known but it is taken in this presentation to mean hymn or hymn-like. The melodic material is organic and grows from an initial unison tone. Thisinterval is gradually expanded to form the cell F E C F a semitone third fifth. The only other melodic motif is the ascending three-note pattern spanning a major third. This is the second of his compositions to use this ascending motif theother being Fanfare for a Bright New Age for Brass Band and Organ also of 2000. These characteristic intervals appear in many contrasting moods and guises throughout the piece. The opening unison notes are intended to convey as sense ofpower and magnificence like the first sounds at the dawning of the universe. After the immense power a period of stunned silence and reverence. The evolution of the hymn melody incorporates a variety of moods and atmospheres sometimes expressing much joy and celebration whilst also suggesting periods of intense savagery or prayerful contemplation. The hymn builds as the piece progresses and is finally stated in its complete form at letter W. The official worldpremiere of the work was given by Wilhelmina Easterein at the World Music Contest 2001. Whilst the composer was unable to attend in person he was able to enjoy the premier simultaneously transmitted via a mobile phone from the audience! Conductors Note The tempo indications are to be viewed as a guide rather than a literal instruction. Within the music there is an innate sense of pulse and metre lending itself to considerable rubato. Melody is king and all else is mere support and decoration careful attention must therefore be given to balance.

The Yiddish word â??Klezmerâ?? has been derived from the Old Hebrew words â??Kleyâ?? (tool instrument) and â??Zemerâ?? (song singing making music).Klezmer is the traditional music of Jews from Eastern Europe.Yiddish musicians (Klezmorim) were regularly invited to come and play at Yiddish weddings as well as several other Jewish celebrations and festive occasions. Despite its close connection with traditional Eastern European folk music Klezmer music has succeeded in preserving its distinctive Jewish character. â??Klezmer Discoveryâ?? is a voyage of discovery through the richly varied music of the Jewish people from Eastern Europe.The introduction consists of anumber of motives from different traditional melodies (a Mitzve Tenzel and Lâ??cha Dodi) followed by a melody in 3/8th time (Kandelâ??s Hora). This dance melody originally came from Bessarabia (present-day Moldavia) and was taken along to America by Jewish musicians round 1900. Subsequently â??Der Terk in Amerikaâ?? a composition by famous clarinet player Naftule Brandwein can be heard. A number of fast cheerful dance melodies (bulgars) form the finale of â??Klezmer Discoveryâ?? (Lebedyk un Freylekh Lomir sich iberbetn and Sherele).

The composition ".The Fever Tree". in 2008 was commissioned by the Music Association of Central and Eastern Netherlands St.Willibrord as a gift to all its members on the occasion of the formation of a national music organization and the elimination of the music union for Central and Eastern Netherlands St.Willibrord. The fever tree is a controversial legend about St. Willibrord (658-739). The daughter of a pagan chieftain of Hoemannen that made the area around Heumen unsafe was seriously ill. They feared for her life. The chief of the gang turned to predatory Willibrord who same time in this region led mission. Willibrord commanded theman to repent and a headband of the girl to a certain special tree to hang. The desperate captain obeyed and his daughter was a miraculous heal. Then came the anger of the Hoemannen against their leader who in their eyes had committed treason by the group to convert. They abused themselves to him and killed him brutally. The daughter remained behind in great sorrow comforted by Willibrord. The composition has the following scenes: - Andante moderato - the calling of Willibrord - Allegro moderato - Willibrord passes through the province of Brabant and try to people to repent - Vivace - Hoemannen terrorize the inhabitants of the area Heumen - Andante - the healing of the sick girl and the conversion of the centurion - Inquieto - the revenge of the Hoemannen - Adagio - elegy on the death of the chief

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. His father was a wool merchant. Originally he seemed destined to follow in his father?s footsteps and thus sailed the oceans to countries as far apart as Iceland and Guinea. In 1476 his ship was sunk during a battle off the coast of Portugal. Columbus saved his own life by swimming to shore. In 1484 he conceived the idea of sailing to the Indies via a westward sea route but it was only in 1492 that he was able to realize this plan. On this first voyage he was in command of three ships: the flag-ship called the Santa Maria the Pinta and the Ni?a. From Spain Columbus sailed via the Canary Islands to the Bahamas whichhe sighted on October 12th 1492. Without being aware of it Columbus discovered the ?New World? ? he thought he had landed in the eastern part of Asia. The motif from Dvoøák?s 9th Symphony ?Aus der neuen Welt? forms a little counterfeit history at this point in the composition. After this first voyage Columbus was to undertake another three long voyages to America. These voyages were certainly not entirely devoid of misfortune. More than once he was faced with shipwreck mutiny and the destruction of settlements he had founded. After Columbus had left for Spain from Rio Belen in 1503 he beached his ships on the coast of Jamaica. The crew were marooned there and it was only after a year that Columbus succeeded in saving his men and sailing back to Spain with them. In the music the misunderstanding about which continent Columbus discovered in his lifetime resounds for does this part in the composition not contain Asiatic motifs? Poor Columbus! In 1506 the famous explorer died in Valladolid.

The Easter Hymn also known as “Lyra Davidica ” is the one hymn that almost every Christian church sings on Easter morning. Allen Pote has composed a new fanfare setting of this universal expression of Easter triumphfor Organ Brass Timpani and handbells. A choral introduction and conclusion utilizing a powerful Easter text from Bryan Jeffery Leech bookend what will surely be an instant classic!