Night Before Christmas, The

Randol Alan Bass

General Info

Year: 2007
Duration: c. 6:50
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Alfred Publishing Co.
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $78.00; (digital) - $75.00 | Score Only (print) - $10.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
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 Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:

Bass Drum
Bells
Chimes
Claves
Crash Cymbals
Crotales
Finger Cymbals
Marimba
Sleigh Bells
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Tambourine
Triangle
Vibraphone
Wind Chimes
Xylophone

Narrator

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

A Visit from St. Nicholas, more commonly known as The Night Before Christmas and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously in 1823, and later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, who acknowledged authorship in 1837.

The poem, which has been called "arguably the best-known verses ever written by an American", is largely responsible for some of the conceptions of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today, and has had a massive impact on the history of Christmas gift-giving. Before the poem gained wide popularity, American ideas about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors had varied considerably. A Visit from St. Nicholas eventually would be set to music and has been recorded by many artists.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Dallas (Tx.) Winds (Shiree X. Williams, conductor; Carl Johnson, narrator) - 21 December 2022
New England Conservatory (Boston, Mass.) Symphonic Winds (William Drury, conductor; Christopher McGann, narrator) - 12 December 2022
North Forney High School (Forney, Tx.) Wind Symphony (Jim Gist, conductor) - 8 December 2022
Wild Rivers Wind Ensemble (Crescent City, Calif.) (Daniel Sedgwick, conductor) - 4 December 2022
University of Utah (Salt Lake City) Wind Ensemble (Darrin Schreiner Thiriot, conductor) - 28 November 2022
Central Iowa Wind Ensemble (Des Moines) (Mark Doerffel, conductor) - 12 December 2021
Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah) Wind Symphony (Shawn Smith, conductor) - 9 December 2021
Texas Christian University (Fort Worth) Symphonic Band (Brian Youngblood, conductor; Sam Bogart, narrator) - 3 December 2020
New Orleans (La.) Concert Band (Charles Taylor, conductor; Norman Robinson, narrator) – 15 December 2019
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Indiana, Penn.) Wind Ensemble (Timothy Paul, conductor; Joseph Baunoch, narrator) – 7 December 2019
North Jersey (Fair Lawn) Concert Band (Michael Roth, conductor; Mark Uhlemann, narrator) – 6 December 2019
Metropolitan Wind Symphony (Dedham, Mass.) (Matthew Marsit, conductor; Eiji Miura, narrator) – 7 December 2019
Dallas (Tx.) Winds (Jerry Junkin, conductor) – 17 December 2018
West Virginia University (Morgantown) Wind Symphony (Scott C. Tobias, conductor; E. Gordon Gee, narrator) – 3 December 2018
Los Angeles (Calif.) Symphonic Winds (Stephen Piazza, conductor) – 2 December 2018
Lone Star Symphonic Band (Katy, Tx.) (Bob Bryant, conductor) – 10 December 2017
Dallas (Tex.) Winds (Jerry Junkin, conductor) – 20 December 2016
Orange County Wind Symphony (Anaheim, Calif.) (Anthony Mazzaferro, conductor) – 4 December 2016
City of Fairfax (Va.) Band (Robert Pouliot, conductor) – 19 December 2015
Festival Wind Orchestra (Toronto, Ont.) (Keith Reid, conductor; Matthew Mason, narrator) – 10 December 2011

Works for Winds by This Composer

Resources

Bass, R; Moore, C. (2007). The Night Before Christmas [score]. Alfred Publishing: Van Nuys, Calif.
A Visit from St. Nicholas, Wikipedia Accessed 26 December 2015