Caribbean Berceuse
Subtitle: For Clarinet Quartet and Concert Band
General Info
Year: 2021
Duration: c. 12:10
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Cost: Score and Parts - Unknown
Instrumentation
- Full Score
- Solo B-flat Clarinet
- Solo E-flat Clarinet
- Solo Basset Horn
- Solo B-flat Bass Clarinet
- Flute I-II (I doubling Piccolo)
- Oboe
- English Horn
- Bassoon I-II
- B-flat Soprano Saxophone
- E-flat Alto Saxophone
- B-flat Tenor Saxophone
- E-flat Baritone Saxophone
- B-flat Trumpet I-II
- Horn in F I-II
- Trombone
- Bass Trombone
- Euphonium
- Tuba
- Timpani
- Percussion I-II-III, including:
- *Bass Drum
- *Claves
- *Crash Cymbals
- *Glockenspiel
- *Maracas
- *Marimba
- *Snare Drum
- *Steel Drum
- *Suspended Cymbal
- *Triangle
- *Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
I was born in the largest of the more than 700 islands that seem to float asleep on the very blue waters of the Antilles Sea. A true melting pot of races and cultures, the Caribbean speaks Spanish, French, English, Dutch, some Creole languages and Papiamento, which is the main idiom in Aruba and Curaçao, whose grammar combines native American elements with European words as well as some languages of African origin.
Inspired by the beauty of these lands and their soulful people, my Caribbean Berceuse pretends to be like a lullaby for a Creole child who dreams of palm trees that seem to dance to the sweet rhythms of a melody that mixes with the voices of the thousands of birds that populate this wonderful region.
The Barcelona Clarinet Players is one of my favorite musical groups, and when they asked me to compose something for the quartet and symphonic band, for some reason I almost immediately visualized the piece as the dream of a Spanish boy aboard a sailboat, sailing the azure waters of the Caribbean Sea. I set to work and in the orchestration of my Caribbean Berceuse”I included rhythmic elements and typical instruments of the region such as maracas and claves, the marimba, the very Cuban bongo and the magical and unmistakable sound of the steel pan, an instrument born in the '40s, fruit of the fertile imagination of Ellie Mannette in the tiny and very musical island of Trinidad. From that luminous dream full of soft breezes, white sandy beaches, palm trees, flowers and multicolored birds, this Caribbean lullaby was born, and I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
- Program Note by composer
Media
- Audio CD: Barcelona Clarinet Players
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor; Barcelona Clarinet Players) – 9 February 2023 (2023 TMEA Conference, San Antonio)
- University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor; Barcelona Clarinet Players) – 7 April 2022 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Caribbean Berceuse (2021)
Resources
- Paquito D'Rivera website Accessed 8 April 2022
- "CARIBBEAN BERCEUSE for clarinet quartet and wind band by PAQUITO D’RIVERA (Cuba, 1948)." WASBE. Web. (Featured as WASBE’s Composition of the Week, 8 January 2024). Accessed 8 January 2024