Flourish for Wind Band

Ralph Vaughan Williams

General Info

Year: 1939
Duration: c. 1:55
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Military Band
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Cost: Score and Parts - $21.50 | Score Only - $20.95

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
E-flat Clarinet
B-flat Clarinet Solo
B-flat Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contralto Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-II
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Trombone III (bass)
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion, 1-2 players, including:

Bass Drum
Crash Cymbal
Snare Drum

Errata

B-flat Soprano Clarinet I, 3 after reh. D, beat 1: Should be a half note G (not a quartet note), just like the measure at reh. D

Program Notes

This short work (only about 90 seconds long) was scored for military band with numerous clarinets, cornets, saxophones, euphoniums and timpani. Having been written as an overture to a pageant in the Royal Albert Hall, the score was then lost -- only to reappear in 1971. Upon its discovery the work was adapted twice by Roy Douglas -- first for brass band and then for symphony orchestra. The orchestral version is scored for wind instruments, together with double basses, timpani and percussion. This version had its first performance by the Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra in 1974. The original and the adaptations have all been published by Oxford University Press, although no recordings are known.

- Program Note by Steve Schwartz

Ralph Vaughan Williams, a highly respected English composer, wrote some of the earliest works for twentieth-century concert band, with many of his pieces considered pillars of band literature. Flourish for Wind Band was written as an overture to the pageant Music and the People performed in the Royal Albert Hall in 1939. The score was then lost, only to reappear in 1971. It was not made available to American bands until it was published in 1972. Flourish for Wind Band followed on the heels of Vaughan Williams’ great masterworks for band, English Folk Song Suite and Toccata Marziale, and is significant, in part, because it is a relatively easy work (grade 3), by a composer of high stature and skill.

- Program Note by the Creekside Middle School Wind Symphony concert program, 20 December 2013

Media

Audio: Royal Northern College of Music (Timothy Reynich, conductor) - 1999

State Ratings

Alabama: Class CC
Arkansas: III
Georgia: III
Iowa: III
Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP III
Louisiana: II, IV, V
Maryland: III
Massachusetts: IV
Michigan: Senior High C
New York: Concert Band IV
North Carolina: IV
South Carolina: IV
Texas: IV and V. Complete

MusicFest Canada: B300

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Toronto (Ont., Can.) Youth Symphonic Winds (Dan Horner, conductor) - 30 April 2023
James G. Gunn Honor Band (Thomasville, Ala.) Tombigbee Band (Tyler Strickland, conductor) - 4 March 2023
West Valley Wind Ensemble (Sun City West, Ariz.) (Clark Chaffee, conductor) - 5 February 2023
Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB) All-State Concert Band (BJ Brooks, conductor) – 11 February 2023 (2023 TMEA Conference, San Antonio)
Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Mark Scatterday, conductor) - 25 January 2023
Northwest Wind Symphony (Centralia, Wash.) (Dan Schmidt, conductor) - 21 January 2023
Town and Gown Community Band (Canyon,Tx.) (Gary Garner, conductor) - 5 December 2022
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) North Star Campus Band (Lauren Visel, conductor) - 30 November 2022
West Valley High School (Yakima, Wash.) Symphonic Band (Kirk Knight, conductor) - 3 November 2022
River Valley Wind Ensemble (Kankakee County, Ill.) (David Conrad, conductor) – 30 October 2022
The University of Texas at El Paso Wind Symphony (Jonathan Sweet, conductor) - 29 September 2022
Banda dell'Esercito Italiano (IRome) (Filippo Cangiamila, conductor) – 22 September 2022
Southwest Civic Winds (Durango, Colo.) (Rhonda L. Muckerman, conductor) – 4 May 2022 (ACB 2022 Annual Convention (Santa Fe, New Mexico))
Bishop Carroll High School (Calgary, Alb., Can.) Wind Ensemble (Chris Herard, conductor) - 16 May 2022
Tyler (Tx.) Junior College Symphonic Band (Eddie W. Airheart, conductor) - 12 April 2022
Grace College (Winona Lake, Ind.) Wind Ensemble (Eric Criss, conductor) – 25 March 2022
Cuesta Wind Ensemble (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) (Jennifer Martin, conductor) – 19 March 2022
Bethel College (North Newton, Kan.) Wind Ensemble (Timothy Shade, conductor) - 22 November 2021
Gustavus Adolphus College (Saint Peter, Minn.) Wind Orchestra (Jonathan Listul, conductor) - 6 November 2021
Kentucky Virginia (Whitesburg, Ky.) Summer Winds (Jason Griffith, conductor) - 18 May 2021
High School Concert Band [Interlochen, Mich.] (Frederick Fennell, conductor) - 1 August 1986

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Folk Songs from Somerset (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
My Bonny Boy (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
Seventeen Come Sunday (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)

All Wind Works

Concerto for Bass Tuba (arr. Wick and Chambers) (1954/1992)
Concerto Grosso (arr. Grechesky) (1924)
Concerto in F minor for Tuba and Winds (arr. Hare) (1954/1992)
England's Pleasant Land (arr. Noble) (1938/2017)
English Folk Song Suite. See: Folk Song Suite
English Folk Song Suite (arr. Villanueva) (1924/)
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (arr. Bocook) (1910/2006)
Fantasia on Greensleeves (arr. Wagner) (1934/2011)
Five English Folk Songs (arr. Feldman) (1913/2009)
Five Variants of "Dives and Lazarus" (arr. Gregson) (1939/2004)
Flourish for Glorious John (or. Boyd) (1957/1998)
Flourish for Wind Band (1939)
Folk Song Suite (1924/2008)
Folk Songs from Somerset (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
Golden Vanity, The (arr. Wagner) (1933/2009)
I Vow to Thee, My Country (as setter; ed. Grechesky) (1921/1988)
Lark Ascending, The (tr. Silvester) (1914/1925/2003)
Linden Lea (arr. Wagner) (1902/2013)
Linden Lea (arr. Stout) (1902/1984)
The Lowlands of Scotland (arr. Daehn) (1912/2006)
March Past of the Kitchen Utensils (arr. Erwin) (1909/2010)
My Bonny Boy (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
Norfolk Rhapsody (tr. Robert O'Brien) (1905)
Norfolk Rhapsody No. 2 in D minor (tr. O'Toole) (1906/2014?)
Overture to "The Wasps" (tr. Frank Hudson) (1909)
Prelude, 49th Parallel (arr. van der Beek) (1960/2018)
Prelude: 49th Parallel (arr. Noble) (1941/2014)
Prelude: 49th Parallel (arr. Winkler) (1941/1960)
Prelude from "49th Parallel" (tr. Osmon) (1941/1960/1987/2002)
Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes (arr. Curnow) (1954/1982)
Prelude: The New Commonwealth (arr. Grauer) (1940/2006)
A Ralph Vaughan Williams Portrait (arr. Wagner) (2018)
Rhosymedre (tr. Beeler) (1920/1972)
Rhosymedre (tr. Johnston) (1920/2011)
Rhosymedre (tr. Baldwin) (1920/)
The Running Set (arr. Daehn) (1933/2007)
Running Set, The (tr. Silvester) (1933)
Scherzo alla Marcia (1956)
Sea Songs (1925)
Sea Songs (arr. Longfield) (1925/2006)
Seventeen Come Sunday (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
Sine Nomine (arr. Cacavas) (1906/1998)
Sine Nomine (arr. Houseknecht) (1906/1960)
Sine Nomine (arr. Reed) (1906/1976)
Songs of Travel (arr. Patterson) (1901-4)
Three Dorset Songs (arr. Stotter) (1902-1903/2003)
Three Studies in English Folk Song (arr. Harbinson) (1927/1999/2003)
Toccata Marziale (1924)
Toccata Marziale (ed. Battisti) (1924/2005)
Variations for Wind Band (trans. Hunsberger) (1957/1988/1997)
Vaughan Williams Christmas, A (arr. Wagner) (1999)
Wassail (arr. Smith)

Resources

Miles, Richard B., and Larry Blocher. (2010). Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 1. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 319-325.