Angels of the Apocalypse
General Info
Year: 2013
Duration: c. 7:45
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Percussion octet
Publisher: C. Alan
Cost: Score and Parts - $140.00 | Score Only - $35.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
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-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Harp
Timpani
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Bells
- Brake Drum
- Chimes
- Crotales
- Marimba
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tam-Tam
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Angels of the Apocalypse was inspired by the Biblical book of Revelation. The work begins with the opening of the Seventh Seal with trumpets being given to seven angels. One of the angels has a golden censer and offers prayers of the saints at the altar, and then takes fire from the altar, puts it in the censer and throws it down to the earth, causing thunder, lightning and earthquakes.
Six sections follow, each representing the first six angels. The first angel blows the trumpet that brings about hail and fire. A trumpet call by the second angel produces a mountain of fire thrown to the earth and one third of the oceans and water on earth become blood. Following a trumpet call by the third angel, the star, Wormwood, poisons all the waters. The angel blowing the fourth trumpet causes one third of the sun, moon and starts to be smitten. The trumpet call of the fifth angel releases locusts from the bottomless pit to kill those who are without God’s seal, and the sixth angel’s trumpet summons four angels from the Euphrates River to slay one third of the people on earth. A rainbow forms over the earth and the seventh angel blows a trumpet: Voices praise God, saying that all the kingdoms of the world are His (“Hymn of the Angels”).
- Program Note from score
Wind transcription of the original Percussion Octet. Commissioned by Saitama Sakae High School Wind Orchestra; Minoru Otaki, Director. Saitama City, Saitama, Japan.
Media
State Ratings
- North Carolina: VI
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Appalachian State University (Boone, N.C.) Symphony Band (Kevin Gray Richardson, conductor) – 28 April 2019
- DuPage (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) Community Concert Band (Terry Redford, conductor) - 11 March 2019
- Hope College (Holland, Mich.) Wind Ensemble (Gabe Southard, conductor) - 23 April 2018
- Barron Collier High School (Naples, Fla.) Wind Symphony (Benny L. Bolden, Jr., conductor) - May 2014
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Appalachian Counterpoint (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- At Morning's First Light (Flex instrumentation) (2004/2020)
- Scherzo d'Espoir (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Three Ships (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
All Wind Works
- Abiquiu (2010)
- Aerodynamics (2003)
- America the Beautiful (as arranger) (1882/2018)
- And Can It Be? (2000)
- Andromeda (2019)
- Angels of the Apocalypse (2013)
- Apocalyptic Dreams (1995)
- Appalachian Counterpoint (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Assurance
- At Evening's First Star (2019)
- At Morning's First Light (2004)
- At Morning's First Light (Flex instrumentation) (2004/2020)
- Au Sable River Festival (2002)
- Be Thou My Vision (1999)
- Bells of Freedom (2002)
- Beneath the Sacred Light (2015)
- Bright Gleams a Beacon (2012)
- Cantus Laetus (2001)
- Century Variants (2009)
- Concertino for Four Percussion and Wind Ensemble (1997)
- Concerto for Euphonium, Winds and Percussion (2009)
- Concerto for Horn and Symphonic Band (2008)
- Concerto for Woodwind Quintet and Wind Ensemble (1984/2006)
- Concerto No. 2 for Marimba and Wind Ensemble (2008)
- Concerto for Piano, Percussion and Wind Orchestra (arr. Fisher) (2005)
- Council Oak (2002)
- A Crescent Still Abides (1998)
- Crest of Honor (2005)
- Double F Fanfare (2008)
- Drums of Rwanda (2014)
- The Echo Never Fades (2004)
- Finale, from All Hail the Power
- Fire Up
- Foster's America (as arranger) (2003)
- Foundations (2017)
- Galactic Empires (1998)
- Glorified (2010)
- Heroes, Lost and Fallen (1990)
- Homage (2012)
- Home Again (2016)
- Internal Combustion (1999)
- Intrada Jubilante (1979/1999)
- Jeju Memoir (2019)
- Joyau (2019)
- Keep Silence (2004)
- Kentucky Home (2012)
- A Light Unto the Darkness (1997/1998)
- Lucid Dreams (2011)
- Mansions of Glory (2007)
- New Century Dawn (1999)
- No Shadow of Turning (2005)
- Point of Reckoning (arr. Daughtrey) (2015)
- Providence (2003)
- Quintessence I (1997)
- Quintessence II (2006)
- Radiant Moonbeams (2007)
- Rising Star
- Sails of Time (2006)
- Scherzo d'Espoir (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Serenade for Winds and Percussion (2000)
- Set the World on Fire (2023)
- Seven Bagatelles (2014)
- Song Shall Never End, The (2014)
- Sub-Saharan Rhythm (1998)
- Symphony No. 2 (2007)
- Three Ships (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Vintage (1990)
- Vital Signs of Planet Earth (2015)
- Waking Angels (1997)
- When Speaks the Signal Trumpet Tone (1999)
- While the Dew Is Still on the Roses (2013)
- With Heart and Voice (2000)
Resources
- Gillingham, D. [2013]. Angels of the Apocalypse: Wind Band Transcription of the Original Percussion Octet [score]. C. Alan Publications: Greensboro, N.C.