Caricatures
General Info
Year: 1997
Duration: c. 25:40
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Margun Music through G Schirmer, Inc
Cost: Score & Parts - $400.00 | Score Only - $50.00
Movements
1. Marcel Marceau: Stealth - 2:00
2. Edgar Allan Poe: The Pit and the Pendulum - 2:10
3. Emma Thompson - 2:05
4. Camille Saint-Saens - 3:40
5. Vincent Van Gogh: Canticle - 3:35
6. Erik Satie - 2:05
7. Dorothy Parker - 1:40
8. Andy Warhol - 2:00
9. Jackson Pollack - 3:30
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute I-II-III (I doubling piccolo)
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Bass Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Piano
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V-VI, including:
- Bass Drum
- Claves (amplified)
- Congas (amplified)
- Crotales
- Crash Cymbals
- Floor Tom-Toms
- Gong (Tam-tam)
- Hi-Hat
- Jaw Harp
- Log Drum (amplified)
- Marimba
- Metal Plate (amplified)
- Pistol
- Prize Fight Bell
- Siren
- Slap Stick
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbals (3: Hhgh, mid and low)
- Tambourine
- Temple Blocks
- Timpani
- Triangle
- Vibraphone
- Xylophones (2)
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Caricatures was commissioned and premiered by the Michigan State University Wind Symphony with John Whitwell as the conductor. The premiere took place in the Great Hall of the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts, East Lansing, Michigan, 1996. In the fifteen years prior to the commission, I had read novels, essays, poems, etc., by some of the world’s great writers. My wife and I had immersed ourselves in several art appreciation courses and had visited some of the great art museums in the U.S. and Europe; we also loved the theatre and attended many local productions. We took in art movies on a regular basis. So it dawned on me then and there that I might relate my motives to various creative spirits: artists, writers, actors, and composers, each of whom was known because of his or her distinctive style. So my musical caricatures would be caricatures, not of a creator’s personality or appearance, but of his or her stylistic characteristics.
Marcel Marceau: Stealth Marcel Marceau is trapped in a mysterious box. The escape route is laden with traps, but the spider-like mime finds his way.
Edgar Allen Poe: The Pit and the Pendulum. Poe skillfully created haunting atmospheres of terror. His manipulation of phrasing and rhythm intensified mood through sound.
I once happened upon a TV show entitled Emma, a one-woman tour de force written, directed, acted and danced by Emma Thompson. There was a scene in which Emma, lying on her back, created a symphony of arched high-pitched speech-like sounds, playful and expressive. I will never forget it.
Camille Saint-Saëns: Scales. Can you recall that moment in the third movement of the Organ Symphony when the two pianos enter with a barrage of scales and arpeggios? The idea seems to me to be an intrusion on the natural form of the composition, an idea which should not have been allowed entry; but at the same time, I find the idea itself appealing.
Vincent Van Gogh: Canticle. The great Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh suffered great pain. He also filled his canvasses with strength and beauty.
Erik Satie rebelled, not only against the weight of the German tradition and academia in general, but against French impressionism, which he felt could go no further. His aesthetic was dadaist, even before the term dadaism was coined.
Armed with a caustic wit and elegant, often dry, style, Dorothy Parker expressed the bright and the bitter sides of love as no one else.
Andy Warhol: The Giant Soup Can Machine. Andy Warhol stunned the art world with his series of reproductions of everyday items.
My caricature of Jackson Pollock is more a caricature of one of his canvasses than of the artist himself.
Caricatures is dedicated to John Whitwell and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony.
- Program Note by composer
Awards
- Caricatures has been recommended as interesting, serious and distinctive music by members of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE).
Media
- Audio CD: Carmel High School Wind Symphony I (Richard Saucedo, conductor) - 2005
- Audio CD: North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Corporon, conductor).
- Audio CD: Rutgers Wind Ensemble (William Berz, conductor).
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln Wind Ensemble (Carolyn A. Barber, conductor) - 8 October 2021
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln Symphonic Band (Anthony Falcone, conductor) – 7 December 2017
- Temple University (Philadelphia, Penn.) Wind Symphony (Wesley Broadnax, conductor) – 19 October 2016
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Wind Ensemble (John A. Climer, conductor) – 15 July 2015 - WASBE Conference, San Jose, Calif.
- Carmel (Ind.) High School Wind Symphony I (Richard Saucedo, conductor) – 14 December 2005 (2005 Midwest Clinic)
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Caricatures (1996)
- Caricatures III (2000/2006)
- Caricatures IV (2003)
- Caricatures V (2007)
- Chromophonic Images (1976/1980)
- Colossus (1977)
- Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Symphony. See: Games
- Concerto for Oboe and Wind Symphony. See: Earth Song
- Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra (1981)
- Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Symphony (2003/2007)
- Concerto for Solo Percussion and Winds (2001)
- Cyclic Variations. See: Colossus
- Desert Flower (2006)
- Divertimento for Solo Flute, Winds and Percussion (2002)
- Earth Gods Symphony (1977)
- Earth Song (2006)
- Five French Portraits (1987)
- Games (2006)
- More Caricatures (1998)
- Passacaglia (1972/1978)
- Sensations for Symphonic Band and Audience (1971)
- A Spartan's Dream (2003/2006)
- Sunrise, Sunset (2006)
Resources
- Jere Hutcheson website Accessed 20 September 2016
- Miles, Richard B. 2000. Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Volume 3. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 639-646.