Fallen Leaf, A
General Info
Year: 2004
Duration: c. 10:30
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Neil A Kjos
Cost: Score & Parts - $115.00 | Score Only - $11.50
Instrumentation
Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
French Horn I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III-IV
Euphonium
Tuba
Piano
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crotales
- Cymbals (crash; small, medium, large suspended)
- Glockenspiel
- Gong (Tam-tam)
- Marimba
- Snare Drum
- Tom-Toms (4)
- Triangle
- Vibraphone
- Woodblock
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
A Fallen Leaf was commissioned by Tony Garmoe and the West Des Moines Valley (Iowa) High School Symphony Band. Although the work is not overtly programmatic, it was inspired by an incident that occurred in 1990 while I was an undergraduate at the University of Iowa. Ever since that moment, I have been motivated to compose a piece about it, but the opportunity never presented itself. I originally conceived the work as a multi-percussion solo, so when Mr. Garmoe approached me about composing a work that might feature percussion, I felt that my opportunity had finally arrived.
At the surface, the incident seems to be almost unimportant, but to me it has a larger and more universal significance. It began one Friday afternoon in late March or early April. I was going to my car in the music building parking lot when I happened to glance up and notice one lone leaf hanging firmly to the bare branch of a nearby tree. I looked around and realized that there were absolutely no other leaves on any of the surrounding trees. I thought to myself, "What a wonderful depiction of the will to survive." I went home, and over the weekend we experienced one last small, end-of-the-season snowstorm. As I went to class on Monday morning, I was saddened to see that the leaf was no longer on the tree. Somehow, this leaf had survived the whole winter only to fall with spring only days away. The event continues to strike me as a tragic metaphor for some individual struggles, often unsuccessful, that occur in all of our lives.
- Program Note by Andrew Boysen, Jr.
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Temple University (Philadelphia, Penn.) Wind Symphony II (Curran Prendergast, conductor) – 1 May 2018
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Alchemy (2008/2013)
- All the Pretty Little Horses. See: Three Folk Song Settings for Band
- Ancient Runes (2017)
- Apples (2018)
- Branden's Rainbow (1997/2002)
- Bright Sunny Days (2013)
- By My Side (2018)
- Casus Belli (2018)
- Celebration In Brass (1995)
- Concerto for Percussion (as transcriber) (1994/1997)
- Conversations with the Night (1994)
- Dance, from All Hail the Power
- December Dance (2005)
- Diamond Jubilee Suite (2018)
- Distorted Images: A Jazzman's Nightmare (1989)
- A Fallen Leaf (2004)
- Fanfare: In Memoriam (2015)
- Fantasy on a Theme by Sousa (2003)
- Frenzy (2010)
- The Four Horsemen (1989)
- A Glimpse through the Trees (2014)
- Grant Them Eternal Rest (2003)
- Havener Fanfare (2012)
- Heirloom (2009)
- I Am (1990)
- John Henry (1990)
- Joyride (2003/2008)
- Kinetic Energy (1994)
- Kirkpatrick Fanfare (1999)
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (2006)
- Metamorphosis (2013)
- Old Ben's Farm (2016/2019)
- On the Merrimack (2010)
- Ovations (1995)
- Phoenix (2020)
- Poor Wayfaring Stranger. See: Three Folk Song Settings for Band
- Relentless (2000)
- Scarborough Fair. See: Three Folk Song Settings for Band
- Scherzo (1995)
- Scherzo No 2 (2013)
- Shades of Ivory (1996)
- Simple Song (1995)
- Snowflakes Dancing (2012/2016)
- Song for Lyndsay (2005)
- Song for My Children (2013)
- Song for My Parents (2020)
- Song of Loudest Praise, A (2010)
- Song of the Sea Maidens (1994)
- Stamp, from A Jack Stamp Suite (2017)
- Star-Crossed (2013)
- Symphony No. 1 for Winds and Percussion (1997)
- Symphony No. 3 (1999)
- Symphony No. 4 (2006)
- Symphony No. 6 (2012)
- Symphony No. 8 (2015-2016)
- Symphony No. 10 (2019)
- This Is the Drum (2013)
- Thoughts of You (1998)
- Three Folk Song Settings for Band
- Poor Wayfaring Stranger (2007/2012)
- All the Pretty Little Horses (as arranger) (2014)
- Scarborough Fair (as arranger) (2013)
- Time Streams (After Tricycle) (2011)
- To Break Earth's Sleep (2015)
- Tricycle (1997)
- Twilight of the Gods (2010)
- An Uncommon Man (1993)
- Unraveling (2006)
- Urban Scenes (1993)
- The Vikings (2015)
Resources
- Andrew Boysen Jr. website
- Boysen, A. (2004). A Fallen Leaf [score]. Neil A. Kjos: San Diego, Calif.