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Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale (arr Whitwell)
Hector Berlioz (arr. Whitwell)
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The work bears the designation Opus 15. The title translates as "[Grand] Funeral and Triumphal Symphony."
Contents
General Info
Year: 1840 / 1973
Duration: c. 25:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Whitwellbooks
Cost: Score and Parts - $120.00
Movements
1. Marche funèbre - 12:13
2. Oraison funèbre - 5:30
3. Apothéose - 7:26
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute
Piccolo
Oboe
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon (optional)
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Solo-I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet (ad lib.)
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II
B-flat Bugle I-II
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
B-flat Flugelhorn I-II-III (optional)
Horn in F I-II-III-IV (including optional Mellophones)
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone/s
Euphonium
Saxhorn and tenor horn (ad lib)
Tuba (including optional Sousaphones if avialable)
String Bass (optional)
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crash Cymbals
- Glockenspiel
- Gong
- Snare Drum/s
- Tam-Tam
- Triangle
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
The symphony was a commission by the French government to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the 1830 July Revolution which had brought Louis-Philippe to power, by erecting the July Column in the place de la Bastille, Paris. Berlioz had little sympathy for the régime, but he accepted the opportunity to write the work which brought him a payment of 10,000 francs. The Symphonie militaire (later renamed Symphonie funébre et triomphale), far from being a successor to Romeo and Juliet, represents a reversion to an earlier, pre-Beethovenian style, the monumental French tradition of public ceremonial music.
Remarkably, Berlioz claimed to have finished the score to the entire symphony in only 40 hours. This strengthens the supposition that Berlioz in fact harvested much of the musical material for the Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale from unfinished works. The first movement, the Marche funèbre, was constructed from the Fête musicale funèbre à la mémoiredes homes illustres de la France...
The symphony was originally scored for a wind band of 200 players who were to accompany the procession which moved the coffins of those who had died fighting in the 1830 revolution for reburial beneath a memorial column which had been set up on the site of the Bastille. Berlioz himself led the band. On the actual day of the parade, little of the music could be heard over the cheering crowds who lined the way. Nevertheless, the work had been such a success at the dress rehearsal that it was given two more performances in August, which sealed its reputation as one of the composer's most popular works during his lifetime.
Berlioz revised the score in January of 1842, adding an optional part for strings and a final chorus to words by Antony Deschamps. ... Richard Wagner told Robert Schumann that he found passages in the last movement of Berlioz's symphony so "magnificent and sublime that they can never be surpassed."
- Program note from Wikipedia
Commercial Discography
None discovered thus far.
Audio Links
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- New England Conservatory (Boston, Mass.) Wind Ensemble (Charles Peltz, conductor) – 13 February 2020
- Orange County (Anaheim, Calif.) Wind Symphony (Anthony Mazzaferro, conductor) - 12 April 2015
Works for Winds by this Composer
- Apothéose from "Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale" (tr. McMahan) (1840/2014)
- Benvenut Cellini (arr. Henning) (1937)
- Overture to "Béatrice et Bénédict" (trans. Henning) (1862/1937)
- Damnation of Faust (arr. Smith) (1957)
- Dream of a Witches' Sabbath (trans. Patterson) (1830)
- Dream of a Witches' Sabbath from "Symphonie Fantastique" (arr. Rogers) (1830/1995)
- Le Corsaire (tr. Schuller) (1856/1971)
- Les Francs-juges, Opus 3 (arr. T. Knox)
- Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale (1840)
- Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale (ed. Dondeyne) (1840)
- Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale (trans. Inkster) (1840/2015)
- Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale (arr. Whitwell) (1840/1973)
- March to the Scaffold (arr. Foulds and Brown) (1830/1937)
- March to the Scaffold (tr. Leidzén) (1830/1937)
- March to the Scaffold from "Symphonie Fantastique" (tr. Patterson) (1830/2005)
- March to the Scaffold from "Symphonie Fantastique" (tr. Rogers) (1830/1995)
- Marche Hongroise (arr. Goto) (1986)
- Marche Hongroise (arr. Smith) (1820/1846/1961)
- Ouverture du Carnaval Romain (tr. Nefs) (1844/2013)
- Scaff! (arr. Wheeler) (2016)
- Suite from "Symphonie Fantastique" (arr. Story) (1830/2016)
- Symphonie Fantastique (ar. Yodo) (1830)
- Roman Carnival Overture (arr. Godfrey) (1844/1962)
- Roman Carnival Overture (arr. Singleton) (1844/2000)
- Roman Carnival Overture (arr. Safranek) (1844/1962)
- Roman Carnival Overture. See also: Ouverture du Carnaval Romain
- Royal Hunt and Storm (arr. Boyd) (1966)
- Trojan March (arr. Erickson) (1971)
References
- Berlioz,H.; Whitwell, D. (1973). Symphony for Band [score]. Valle Music Papers: North Hollywood, Calif.
- Grande symphonie funebre et triomphale
- Miles, Richard B. 2000. Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Volume 3. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 492-499.
