Funeral March (arr Andersen)

From Wind Repertory Project
Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg (arr. Espen Andersen)


Subtitle: In Memory of Rikard Nordraak


General Info

Year: 1866 / 2010
Duration: c. 6:45
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Piano
Publisher: Baton Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) – €127.00   |   Score Only (print) - €24.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Tam-Tam
  • Tenor Drum


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Edvard Grieg met Richard Nordraak, a fellow Norwegian, in 1863. Together they championed nationalism in their musical activities, a cause which had lain dormant in Grieg's thoughts up until this time. Nordraak already had the Norwegian national anthem to his credit, composed four years earlier when he was seventeen. From the time of their meeting the two young composers worked closely together until Nordraak's health began to fail three years later. In October of 1865, Nordraak suffered a "violent attack of inflammation of the lungs which developed into galloping consumption". Because Grieg was on his way to Rome, Nordraak did not have the solace of his friend's company during the lonely months of his illness. He died on March 26, 1866, in Berlin. Grieg, then in Rome, was ignorant of his death. The very day he heard of it, April 6, 1866, he wrote The Funeral March in A minor for Richard Nordraak for piano, as a monument to the memory of his dear friend.

One year later, Grieg arranged the work for military band, transposing it to g minor. He included the piece in a Philharmonic Society concert in Christiania (Oslo) later that year. In 1878, Grieg made yet another version of the work, this time for brass choir. The existence of this third score went unnoticed until Geoffrey Emerson obtained a microfilm of it from Oslo University.

- Program Note from score of Fennell edition


Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of Kansas (Lawrence) Symphonic Band (Jacquie Dawson, conductor) - 10 March 2021
  • Texas A&M University (Lubbock) Symphonic Winds (Travis Almany, conductor) – 13 October 2019
  • Texas All-State Symphonic Band (Steven Davis, conductor) - 16 February 2019 (2019 TMEA Conference, San Antonio)
  • Concordia College (Moorhead, Minn.) Band (Peter Haberman, conductor) – 12 November 2017


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Perusal score
  • Hilfiger, John Jay. "Edvard Grieg’s Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak for Military Band." Journal of Band Research vol. 24, no. 2, Spring 1989, pp. 12-16.
  • Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 254.