Emory's Barcarolle

Joel Puckett

Joel Puckett

General Info

Year: 2015
Duration: c. 4:35
Difficulty: III+ (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Bill Holab Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) – Rental   |   Score Only (print) - $25.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
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-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion, including:

• Glockenspiel
• Marimba
• Suspended Cymbal, large
• Vibraphone I-II

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Emory’s Barcarolle in many ways is a partner piece to Avelynn's Lullaby. Both are titled after Puckett’s children: Avelynn – his daughter, and Emory – his son. The lullaby is in effect and actuality a “sleep song,” based upon a memory of a tune sung to a young Joel Puckett by his mother, and recast as a slumber song from father to daughter. The barcarolle is a folk melody sung by Venetian gondoliers, characterized by a rolling 6/8 meter at moderate tempo.

Puckett’s work has three major sections that alternate throughout. The first is a refrain of sorts -- a series of ascending waves that build to a surging climax. The second section, heard immediately after the first section, and not again until the very end, is a series of articulated solo statements, themselves alternating between trumpet and flute. The third section is a two-phrase folk-like tune that contains traces of hemiola (the juxtaposition of three against two). In between the phrases, there is a metric juxtaposition of 3/4 meter in the space of 6/8 meter – in itself a written-out hemiola. The second time this music appears, it is in stretto, a staggered imitation between clarinet, trumpet and flute.

- Program Note from the SUNY Potsdam Crane Wind Ensemble concert program, 23 November 2015

Emory's Barcarolle is a composition inspired by a joyful incident involving the composer's one-year-old son. Emory had experienced a classical radio station's back-to-back programming of two unrelated works as a performance of a single piece of music. The result is the barcarolle, which contains elements of Chopin's Barcarolle in F# Major and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.

- Program Note from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Wind Orchestra, 3 June 2017

Commercial Discography

None discovered thus far.

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Maroon Campus Band (Cassandra Bechard, conductor) – 7 March 2019
• Columbia University (New York, N.Y.) Wind Ensemble (Jason Noble, conductor) – 19 November 2017
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Wind Orchestra (Christopher J. Woodruff, conductor) – 3 June 2017 
• University of Texas (Austin) Symphony Band (Jerry Junkin, conductor) – 12 October 2016
• University of Miami (Fla.) Frost Symphonic Winds (Robert Carnachan, conductor) – 12 October 2016
• University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Symphonic Band (Mark A. Norman, conductor) – 19 April 2016
• State University of New York, Potsdam, Crane Wind Ensemble (Brian K. Doye, conductor) – 23 November 2015

Works for Winds by this Composer

• Asimov's Aviary (2012)
• Avelynn's Lullaby (2011)
• Blink! (2006)
• Emory's Barcarolle (2015)
• Fanfares for Friends (2019)
• 15th Night of the Moon (2014)
• it perched for Vespers nine (2008)
• Knells for Bonnie (2016)
• My Eyes Are Full of Shadow (2016)
• Piece for Solo Flute and Chamber Winds (2015)
• Ping, Pang, Pong
• The Shadow of Sirius (2009)
• Ship of Theseus (2015)
• Short Stories (2012)
• Southern Comforts (2008)
• that secret from the river (2016)

Resources

• Joel Puckett website.
• score
• Schroeder, Angela L. "Emory's Barcarolle for Band." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 11, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 542-548. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018.