Il Convegno

Amilcare Ponchielli

Subtitle: Divertimento a due Clarinetti del Maestro, Op. 76, PP.141.4.

General Info

Year: 1865 / 1913
Duration: c. 10:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
'Oriignal Medium: Two clarinets and piano
Publisher: Downloadable from International Music Score Library Project.

Instrumentation

Full Score
Mib Clarino
Sib Clarino obbligato I-II
Sib Clarino III-IV
Sib Flicorno
Mib Corni
Mib Trombe
Flicornobasso
Bombardino I-II
Trombone I-II-III
Bombardone
Batteria

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Il Convegno (The Conference) is the only piece that Ponchielli recycled into three different performance mediums. Composed for two clarinets and piano before 1857, it was published by the firm of F. Lucca. Fred Ormand, Professor Emeritus of Clarinet at the University of Michigan, prepared a wind band version of Il Convegno based on an earlier symphony orchestral version.

Ponchielli gained much experience as the bandmaster (capobanda) in Piacenza and Cremona, arranging and composing over 200 works for wind band. Notable among his original compositions are the first-ever concerto for euphonium (Concerto per Flicornobasso, 1872), fifteen variations on the Neapolitan song Carnevale di Venezia, and a series of festive and funeral marches that resound with the pride of the newly unified Italy. The ballet Le Due Gemelle (1873) confirmed Ponchielli’s success.

Ponchielli was very popular and influential in his time for introducing a larger orchestra and more complex orchestration. Today he is most famous for his Dance of the Hours, known to everyone from its use in Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940), Allan Sherman's novelty song Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh, and other popular works.

- Program Note by William V. Johnson for the San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra concert program, 16 November 2013

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

South Carolina Governor's School of the Arts Wind Ensemble (David Hamilton, conductor; Kyra Zhang and Cecilia Kang, clarinets) – 10 March 2020
Banda dell'Esercito Italiano (Italian Army Wind Band) (Filippo Cangiamila, conductor; Vincenzo Isaia and Salvatore Schembari, clarinets) – 22 November 2019
Atlanta (Ga.) Wind Symphony (David Kehler, conductor; Laurie Corbin and John Warren, clarinet) – 14 October 2018
Virginia Grand Military Band (Alexandria) (Loras John Schissel, conductor; Stephen Loew and Barbara Haney, clarinets) – 27 May 2017
Cuesta Wind Ensemble (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) (Jennifer Martin, conductor; Shannon McNeely and Alex Balke, clarinet) – 25 March 2017
San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra (Jennifer Martin, conductor; Ian Murton and Shannon McNeely, clarinets) - 16 November 2013
Musique Militaire de Versailles (Philippe Cuper & Jean Luc Votano, clarinets) - 2010(?)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Concerto per flicorno basso (ed. Howey) (1872/1995)
Concerto for Trumpet (Ponchielli) (arr. Valenti)
Dance of the Hours (arr. Bennett) (1876)
Dance of the Hours (arr. Compello) (1876)
Dance of the Hours (arr. Laurendeau) (1876/1905)
Dance of the Hours (arr. Morino) (1876/1906)
Dance of the Hours (tr. Kennedy; ed. Reed) (1876/)
Dance of the Hours (arr. Stuart) (1876)
Fantasia on La Traviata
Galop (arr. Deahn) (1876/2011)
Il Convegno
Milano (arr. Saldarini)
Milano (arr. Bugani)
Sinfonia in B flat Minor (ed. Valenti) (1872/2001)
Sulla Tomba di Garibaldi (ed. Howey) (1882/)
Sulla Tomba di Garibaldi (ed. Brion and Townsend) (1882/197-?)
Viva l’Esposizione di Cremona (arr. Howey) (1873?)

Resources

None discovered thus far.