Lincoln Address, A

Vincent Persichetti

Subtitle: For Narrator and Band

The work bears the designation Opus 124A.

General Info

Year: 1959 / 1974
Duration: c. 11:25
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Theodore Presser
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $60.000 | Score Only (print) - $3.50

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo I-II
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
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-III
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II, including:

Bass Drum
Chimes
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Tenor Drum
Timbales (2)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Text from Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Version for Narrator and Band Commissioned by Arkansas Polytechnic College in Memory of Hallie Belle Witherspoon.

- Program Note by composer

The originally announced St. Louis Symphony program on Thursday night in Carnegie Hall was unexpectedly bolstered by a New York premiere. Vincent Persichetti's A Lincoln Address received its first local hearing. This was the work, composed to the text of Lincoln's Second Inaugural, that had been scheduled for President Nixon's inaugural concert last Jan. 19.

But, as was reported at the time, someone in the Administration got around to reading the text and decided that the President might be embarrassed. "Fondly do we hope ... that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away?" Presumably the Persichetti score would be welcome today in Washington.

Mr. Persichetti, who had very little time at his disposal for writing A Lincoln Address, used materials from his Seventh Symphony of 1959. The music is conservative, tonal, dignified and heartfelt. With William Warfield declaiming the text in a sonorous maner [sic], the score turned out to be excellent pièce de occasion. Perhaps it will develop into a repertory item as a companion to Copland's Lincoln Portrait. The Lincoln text, incidentally, is followed exactly except for the addition of one word at the end: "Peace."

- Program Note from New York Times

Media

Audio CD: U.S. Coast Guard Band (Lewis J. Buckley, conductor) - 2008

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Arkansas Tech University (Russellville) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Daniel A. Belongia, conductor) - 15 December 2021 (Carnegie Hall, New York)
Gettysburg (Penn.) College Wind Symphony (Russell McCutcheon, conductor) – 17 November 2017

Works for Winds by This Composer

Bagatelles for Band (1961)
Celebrations (1966)
Chorale Prelude: O God Unseen (1984)
Chorale Prelude: So Pure the Star (1963)
Chorale Prelude: Turn Not Thy Face (1963/1968)
Divertimento for Band (1953)
A Lincoln Address (1959/1974)
Masquerade for Band (1965)
O Cool Is the Valley (1971)
O God Unseen. See: Chorale Prelude: O God Unseen
Pageant (1953)
Pageant (ed. Tokke) (1953/c. 2019)
Parable IX (1972)
Pastoral (1943/1951)
Psalm for Band (1953)
Serenade for Band (1960)
Serenade No 1 (1929/1963)
Serenade No. 11. See: Serenade for Band
So Pure the Star
Symphony for Band (1956)

Resources

Chikinda, Michael. (2018). "Lincoln, Persichetti and the 2nd Inauguration of Richard Nixon: a Study in Artistic Vision Versus Political Expediency." Music & Politics XII, issue 1 (Winter 2018).
Girsberger, Russ. Percussion Assignments for Band & Wind Ensemble: Volume 2 L-Z. Meredith Music Publications, 2004, pp. 231.
Persichetti, V.; Lincoln, A. (1974). A Lincoln Address, for Narrator and Band [score]. Elkan-Vogel: Bryn Mawr, Penn.
Schonberg, Harold C. "Music: 'Lincoln Address'." New York Times. 3 February 1973.