At Her Ladyship's Request
Subtitle: A Period Piece for Bands of Winds
General Info
Year: 2017
Duration: c. 12:30
Difficulty: IV-1/2 (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Theodore Presser
Cost: Score and Parts - $225.00 | Score Only - $30.00
Movements
1. Young Tom Abel, Heir to Cecil Abel’s Fortune
2. Father Daniel Bennett from the Abbey at Lockwood Cross
3. Old Man Joseph Dimplesweet, His Lordship’s Farmhand
4. Lord William H. Pettybone, Duke of Bremingham
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II-III
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass 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 (optional)
Piano 4-hands
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:
- Bass Drum
- Bongos, high and low
- Chimes
- Crash Cymbals
- Glockenspiel
- Slapstick
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal, medium
- Tambourine
- Temple Blocks
- Triangle, small
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
The music describes an aged, royal betrothal which has grown tiresome.
- Program Note from Georgia College Wind Symphony concert program, 7 April 2017
At her Ladyship’s Request was an idea born out of admiration for the wind works of Percy Aldridge Grainger – most notably his Lincolnshire Posy.
The names and places here are all fictitious. Four countrymen have come forward at Her Ladyship’s request, as we commoners (and for as long as I can remember) have been led to believe Her Highness has grown complacent in her aged betrothal to His Lordship.
I. It has long been established in this hill country that young, svelte Tom Abel has caught her fancy eye. He knocks about with the swagger of a visiting dignitary, confident and cocksure. And then there is his father’s fortune. Cecil Abel may be the richest man in the land save for His Lordship. Tom, his only son, will run his face straight into that pile the moment his old man kicks.
II. It is rare to spy Father Daniel Bennett, High Priest from the Abbey at Lockwood Cross, loitering in our very own town square…but not as of late.
III. Is Her Ladyship so desperate as to call upon Old Man Dimplesweet? Were you to confirm this I would have straightened my back and spit the ground in front of you. Then I saw what could not possibly be misconstrued. And where is His Lordship anyway?
IV. Pettybone! Conniving… insidious. I don’t believe there has been a greater rivalry among men for generations. The Duke’s ego alone could run our nation. The grudges he grows are notorious. His mount is legendary. The day has come to collect his toll.
- Program Note by composer
Media
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Nebraska (Lincoln) Wind Ensemble (Carolyn Barber, conductor) – 4 October 2017
- University of Colorado Boulder Symphonic Band (Matthew Roeder, conductor) - 19 September 2017
- California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, Wind Ensemble (Rickey H. Badua, conductor) - 1 June 2017
- Georgia College (Milledgeville) Wind Symphony (Clifford Towner, conductor) – 7 April 2017 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
- American Child
- At Her Ladyship's Request (2017)
- The Bach Buch (as transcriber) (2011)
- Baroque. See: Double Concerto
- Concerto Logic (2007)
- Double Concerto (2018)
- Four Factories (2006)
- The High Songs (2015)
- Hold This Boy and Listen (2008)
- Labyrinth (2019)
- My Brother's Brain (2011)
- Piano Concerto No. 2 (2009)
- Richard and Renée (2009)
- Serenade for Winds (2009)
- Slalom (2002/2008)
- Soprano Saxophone Concerto (2019/2021/2023)
- A Spanish Silhouette (2010)
- The Three Embraces (2013)
- The Wranger (2006/2016)
Resources
- Carter Pann, personal correspondence, September 2017
- Carter Pann website Accessed 19 September 2017
- "New Music Reviews." The Instrumentalist, 74/2 (September 2019), p. 25.