La Forza del Destino
Giuseppe Verdi (trans. Franco Cesarini)
Subtitle: sinfonia dall'opera
General Info
Year: 1862 / 1995
Duration: c. 7:15
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Mitropa, through De Haske
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €130.83 | Score Only (print) - €26.16
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Solo-I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass 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-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Harp
Timpani
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crash Cymbals
- Snare Drum
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Giuseppe Verdi was a visionary and innovative composer of Italian opera. Works such as Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida, Otello and Falstaff are all commonly performed and hailed as the finest examples of the genre. In his later life, Verdi was also a politician and served in the local parliament. He worked to establish a hospital in Villanova sull’Arda, as well as a home for retired musicians in Milan.
La Forza del Destino, Verdi’s 22nd opera, was completed in 1862 and premiered in St. Petersburg on Nov. 10 of that year. The overture was not heard until Feb. 27, 1869, when the opera was revised and presented at La Scala in Milan.
- Program Note by David Balandrin and Ricky Parrell
La Forza del Destino originally began with a prelude leading without a break into the first act of the opera. For the revision, Verdi lengthened and strengthened the prelude, making it into an overture coming to a full close before the curtain rises. Built from melodic, harmonic and rhythmic matters dealt with in the opera itself, the overture quotes and combines several of the most striking melodies as well as the ominous, opening, three-chord motif and the rapid, repeated, ascending accompaniment-figure associated in the opera with tragic destiny.
- Program Note from Program Notes for Band
Media
- Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown
- Audio CD: Braddock Secondary School Symphonic Band (Roy C. Holder, conductor) - 2004
State Ratings
- Florida: VI
- Louisiana: V
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Miami (Coral Gables) Frost Symphonic Winds (Roy McLerran, conductor) - 24 September 2023
- BläserPhilharmonie Ostwestfalen-Lippe (Altenbeken,Germany) (Dirk Annema, conductor) - 2019
- Braddock Secondary School (Burke, Va.) Symphonic Band (Roy C. Holder, conductor) – 16 December 2004 (2004 Midwest Clinic)
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Adagio (arr. Hautvast)
- Ah! Fors e lui - Sempre Libera from "La Traviata" (arr. Barrow) (1973)
- Aïda: Prelude (arr. Hautvast) (/2010)
- Anvil Chorus (tr. McAlister and Graham) (1853/2008)
- Ave Maria volgarizzata da Dante (arr. Hartman) (1880/2019)
- Ballabili (arr. Van der Beek) (1847/1865/1997)
- Ballet Music from "Otello" (tr. Patterson) (1887/2003)
- Bolero from "The Sicilian Vespers" (tr. Sousa) (1855)
- Di Quella pira (arr. Hanna) (1853/)
- Dies Irae (arr. Bocook) (1874/1998)
- Excerpts from "Manzoni Requiem" (arr. Mollenhauer) (1869/1874/1965)
- Fanfare from "Requiem" (arr. Decker) (1874/1989)
- Il Balen del Suo Sorriso from "Il Trovatore" (arr. Brittain) (2009)
- La Battaglia di Legnano (arr. Kalischnig) (1986)
- La Forza del Destino (tr. Cesarini) (1862/1995)
- March from "Aida" (arr. Seredy) (1871/1898/1964)
- Nabucco (tr. Saurer) (1841/2004)
- Nabucco Overture (tr. Cailliet) (1842/1959)
- Overture to "Joan of Arc" (arr. Rollinson) (1845/1902)
- Overture to "La Forza del Destino" (arr. Lake and Hunt) (1862/1946)
- Overture to "La Forza del Destino" (arr. Odom) (1862)
- Overture to "La Forza del Destino" (arr. Patterson) (1862/2012)
- Overture to "La Forza del Destino" (arr. Rogers) (1862/1980)
- Overture: "La Forza del Destino" (arr. Suzuki) (1862/2017)
- Overture to "Luisa Miller" (arr. Pruyn) (1849/1988)
- Overture to "Nabucco" (tr. Cailliet) (1841/1959)
- Overture to "Nabucco" (arr. Neumann) (1841/2020)
- Overture to "Nabucco" (arr. Rhea) (1841)
- Prelude to Act I of "La Traviata" (ed. Falcone) (1853/1966)
- Requiem (tr. Patterson) (1874/2005)
- Rigoletto-Fantasie (arr. Goldhammer) (1851/2002)
- Triumphal March from "Aida" (arr. Evžen Zámečník) (1871)
- Triumphal March from "Aida" (arr. McAlister; ed. Reed) (1871)
- Triumphal March from "Aida" (arr. Richard) (1871/2012)
Resources
- Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "La Forza del Destino." Accessed 16 February 2015
- Perusal score
- Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 610.
- Verdi, G.; Cesarini, F. (1995). La Forza del Destino: Sinfonia dall'opera [score]. Mitropa Music: Hagendorn, Swit.