Emily Dickinson Suite, An
General Info
Year: 2009
Duration: c. 18:15
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Star Music Publishing
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $199.90
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II-III
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV
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
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:
- Antique Cymbals
- Glockenspiel
- Guiro
- Jawbone
- Marimba
- Ride Cymbal
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tam-Tam
- Triangle
- Tubular Bells
- Vibraphone
- Wind Chimes (metal)
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
An Emily Dickinson Suite was commissioned in 2008 by the Amherst Regional High School Wind ensemble. This project, funded entirely from within the school and community of Amherst, Massachusetts, was the initiative of then music director of the wind ensemble, Brian Messier.
The suite takes the form of nine vignettes inspired by eight untitled poems of Emily Dickinson. I took the liberty of titling the vignettes from the first line of each poem.
1: This Is My Letter To The World
2: To Hear An Oriole Sing
3: I’m Nobody
4: The Little Stone
5: If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking
6: A Narrow Fellow In The Grass
7: A Day! Help! Help! Another Day!
8: Hope Is The Thing With Feathers
9: This Is My Letter To The World
The score contains the full texts of the poems, and my foreword touches on the process I used to compose these ‘songs without words’. The texts of the poems are meant to be projected on a screen during the performance.
- Program Note by composer
Media
- Audio: Reference recording. Indiana University of Pennsylvania Wind Ensemble (Jack Stamp. Conductor)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
Works for Winds by this Composer
- Alafaya (2019)
- Transcending (2019)
- The Audacity of Hope (2008)
- Aue! (2001)
- An Emily Dickinson Suite (2009)
- For What Is Lost. See: Renascence
- L'homme armé (2003)
- Light (2010)
- The Lost (2022)
- Méndez (2015)
- Okaoka (2005)
- Pulse (2020)
- Renascence (2007/2016)
- For What Is Lost (2016)
- Resonance (2006)
- Rondorlando (2007)
- Rust Belt (2017)
- Song of Hope (2020)
- Thenody (2021)
- U Trau (2004)
Resources
- Christopher Marshall website – Accessed 1 September 2022
- Perusal score