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America Verses
General Info
Year: 1997
Duration: c. 5:30
Difficulty: II (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Manhattan Beach Music
Cost: Score and Parts - $75.00 | Score Only - $12.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass (multiple preferred; 3 parts in set)
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:
- Bass Drum
- Bells
- Chimes
- Cymbals
- Gong
- Marimba
- Snare
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tambourine
- Tom-Tom
- Triangle
- Woodblock
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
America Verses was composed in 1997 at the suggestion of publisher/composer Bob Margolis, who was interested in publishing a school band piece based on a well-known tune. The work consists of a set of four variations, or “verses,” on the tune known by the English as God Save the Queen and in the United States as America, or My Country, ’Tis of Thee.
- Program Note from score
America Verses charts an expressive/emotional ascent and descent. After the somber opening verse, the music takes on more movement in verse 2 while remaining serious in character. In verse 3, however, the music becomes playful, even jaunty, rising to a "grand cakewalk," (typically found in ragtime music). A transition passage returns the mood to one of somber reflection, in verse 4. The concluding measures are marked "prayerfully," and the harmony is not resolved until the concluding notes of the chimes are sounded.
What is America Verses about? It is obvious that this is not a conventionally celebratory piece of music. Surely at the end of the twentieth century the need for tub-thumping patriotic music is decidedly less than it was a hundred years ago. The history of America is complex, to say the least, and the joys and sorrows of American life are equally complex. There has been much to celebrate, and much to lament; much to be proud of, much to regret. Some of this ambivalence finds its way into America Verses. If the composer loves his country – which he does – that love is conditioned by an awareness of how much remains to be done before America is transformed into an enlightened, creative and just society. It is for the listener to determine the message of the work, to decide whether the music ends on a note of despair, or in a mood of hushed optimism.
- Program Note by composer
Media
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
State Ratings
- Texas: II. Complete
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Sierra Nevada Winds (Yuba City, Calif.) (Robert Hesketh, conductor) - 29 April 2017
- 1999 CBDNA Small College Intercollegiate Band (Stephen Rochford, conductor) – 24 February 1999 (CBDNA 1999 National Conference, Austin, Tx.)
Works for Winds by This Composer
- America Verses (1997)
- Bartok Variations (as arranger) (2003)
- Blue Alien Accumulation (2003)
- Blue Goose Rag (as arranger) (1916/1986)
- Burlesco for Band (2006)
- Charlotte Doyle's Voyage
- The Child and the Kings (1995)
- Children and Gentlemen (as arranger) (2010)
- Climbing Eagle Mountain (2009)
- Concert Piece for Trumpet and Band
- Concerto for Marimba
- Deep River (as arranger) (2006)
- Dreams and Fancies (1988)
- Dreams of the Blue River (2009)
- El Jardin de Esperanza (2008)
- Enumeration of the Actual
- Fable and Folk Tale (2005)
- Falling Water (2015)
- Forest Green (as arranger) (2007)
- Four Breton Dances (2007)
- Four in One (2015)
- Geneva (2006)
- Geography of the Dream (2001)
- Green Passacaglia (2005)
- Greensleeves (as arranger)
- Grizzly Bear Rag (1994)
- The Headless Horseman (1973/1980)
- Jody
- Kum Ba Yah (2004)
- Mysterian Landscapes (2001)
- No Sun, No Shadow, Elegy for Charles Mingus
- Old Welsh Reverie (2009)
- Partita for Band (2017)
- Peace Song (1990)
- Pilgrim Traveler (2005)
- Prelude and Fughetta (2005)
- Procession and Torch Dance (1999)
- Rhythm Games: The Waukesha Rondo (2010)
- Rhythm Machine (1986)
- Scale Plus Line (2009)
- Seneca Variations (2015)
- Serenade
- Serenata
- Sinfonia III: Hymns and Dances (1972/2009)
- Sinfonia IV: Suite for Winds and Percussion
- Sinfonia V: Symphonia Sacra et Profana (1990)
- Sinfonia VI: The Four Elements (1982)
- Sinfonia XII: Southern Heart, Sacred Harp
- Sinfonia XIII: Storm Variations
- Sinfonia XIV: Three Canzonas
- Sinfonia XV: Ursa Major
- Sinfonia XVI: Transcendental Vienna (1995)
- Sinfonia XVII: The Four Winds
- Sinfonia XVIII: Aurora (2009)
- Sinfonia XIX: Preludes and Grounds
- Sinfonia XXI (2000)
- Slow March with Celebration
- Sonata for Wind Band (1994)
- Song and Variations (2001)
- Southern Suite
- Streets and Inroads (1975/1980/1996)
- Surfboard Blues
- The Tango Disappearing (2010)
- Theme and Variations (1995)
- Three Pieces for American Band, Set I (1974)
- Three Pieces for American Band, Set II (1982)
- Three Preludes (as arranger)
- Three Scenes (2010)
- Toccata for Band (2015)
- Train Heading West and Other Outdoor Scenes (1998)
- The Water Is Wide, from A Jack Stamp Suite (2017)
- Wicked Story (2008)
- Yuletide Dances
Resources
- America Verses at Manhattan Beach Music
- Broege, T. (1998). America Verses: For Concert Band [score]. Manhattan Beach Music: Brooklyn, N.Y.
[Category: 1997]]