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Antique Violences

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John Mackey

John Mackey


Subtitle: Concerto for Trumpet


General Info

Year: 2017
Duration: VII (solo) c. 20:27
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Osti Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - Rental   |   Score Only (print) - $95.00


Movements

1. The Blooded Lines - 4:25
2. Secrets' Teeth - 4:45
3. Sorrow Is a Blade - 6:20
4. The Curtain Calls - 3:55


Instrumentation

Full Score
Solo Trumpet (Bb Piccolo Trumpet, Bb Trumpet, C Trumpet, Eb Trumpet, Flugelhorn)
Piccolo
Flute I-II-III
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet I-II
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
C Trumpet I-II-III
Horn I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Double Bass
Harpsichord
Harp
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V-VI, including:

  • Bass Drums (small and large)
  • Cymbals (crash, 4 suspended)
  • Field Drum
  • Marimba
  • Pitched Gongs (D3, D4)
  • Snare Drum
  • Tam-tam
  • Tambourine
  • Tom-toms
  • Vibraphone
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

The title comes from a line in Rickey Laurentiis’s Writing an Elegy and reminds us that where there are humans, there is violence. So it is, so it has ever been. The concerto notes that, curiously, the trumpet and its cousins always call the bloody tune -- so each movement considers a kind of violence through the lens of a historical style of music closely associated with the trumpet.

The structure of our social world is born, and reborn, in the mass violence of war; borders are made of blood. The first movement thus recalls wars ancient and modern, noble and notorious. The fife and drum music of the American Revolution is pitted against a vaguely Middle Eastern melody, evoking the purported existential clash of civilizations that has been the stepping stone to power for kings and charlatans from the Crusades to the present day.

The spark of war also burns in the hearth of the drawing room. So the second movement captures the intimate violence we do on a smaller scale, with words as weapons and armored smiles. The music begins in a decadent French Baroque style, then unravels its shimmering threads to reveal the barbarism beneath. Sophistication is only ever a mask.

Because the aftermath of violence wounds in another way, the third movement pauses in the sharp, dark chasm of mourning. The music returns to touchstones of Americana -- now in the style of the middle of the twentieth century -- as the setting moves to a military funeral, where glory’s price is paid by those who will never see its light.

But grief turns to anger, and the cycle continues. So the fourth movement is a remix, revisiting the materials of the other three, but at a distance, inviting us to reflect on violence’s status as our perpetual favorite entertainment, the uses and misuses of nostalgia, and just why it might be that trumpets mean trouble.

- Program Note by A.E. Jaques


Awards

  • Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2018, winner


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Rutgers University (New Brunswick, N.J.) Wind Ensemble (Kraig Alan Williams, conductor; Kenneth DeCarlo, trumpet) - 28 April 2023
  • United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Darren Y. Lin, conductor; Matthew Harding, trumpet) - 4 March 2022 (87th Annual ABA National Convention)
  • United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Jason K. Fettig, conductor; Matthew Harding, trumpet) - 6 February 2022
  • University of Missouri, Kansas City, Wind Symphony (Steven D. Davis, conductor; Jens Lindemann, trumpet) – 17 October 2019
  • Oklahoma State University (Stillwater) Wind Ensemble (Joseph Missal, conductor; Christopher Martin, conductor) – 18 April 2019
  • Stephen F. Austin State University (Nacogdoches, Tx.) Wind Ensemble (David Campo, conductor; Jacob Walburn, trumpet) – 9 April 2019
  • University of Texas (Austin) Wind Ensemble (Jerry Junkin, conductor; Chris Martin, trumpet) – 29 April 2018
  • Dallas (Tx.) Winds (Jerry Junkin, conductor; Jens Lindemann, trumpet) - 8 March 2018 (83rd Annual ABA National Convention)
  • Dallas (Tex.) Winds (Jerry Junkin, conductor; Jens Lindemann, trumpet) –27 February 2018
  • New York Wind Symphony (Warwick) (Matthew Klohs, conductor; Chris Martin, trumpet) – 1 October 2017
  • Dallas (Tex.) Winds (Jerry Junkin, conductor; Chris Martin, trumpet) – 11 April 2017
  • Michigan State University (East Lansing) Wind Symphony (Kevin Sedatole, conductor; Justin Emerich, trumpet) – 16 March 2017 (CBDNA 2017 National Conference, Kansas City, Mo.) *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • John Mackey, on-stage remarks at pre-premiere performance, 4 December 2016.
  • Perusal score
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