Overture to "La Forza del Destino" (arr Lake)
Giuseppe Verdi (arr. Mayhew Lake and H.R. Kent)
The title of this work translates as "The Force of Destiny"
General Info
Year: 1862 / 1946
Duration: c. 8:30
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $90.00 | Score Only (print) - $8.00
For further availability information, see Discussion tab, above.
Instrumentation
Condensed Score
C Piccolo
D-flat Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Solo-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Bass Saxophone
E-flat Cornet Solo-I-II
E-flat Horn or Alto I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crash Cymbals
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal
Errata
- C Piccolo, page 2, last system: extend 8va line over all three measures
- E-flat Soprano Clarinet, 1 meas. before reh. 15, beat 1: quarter note should read eighth note (as in previous measure)
- B-flat Bass Clarinet, 5 meas. after reh. 2, beat 1: E should read D
- B-flat Bass Clarinet, bottom of page one: add 3/8 meter signature at the end of the last system
- B-flat Bass Clarinet, 2 meas. after reh. 13, beat 3-4: sixteenth notes should read eighth notes (like the measure below)
- Bassoon II, pages 2 & 3 (11 meas. before reh. 6 to end): change key signature on every stave from E minor (1 sharp) to D minor (1 flat)
- Bassoon II, 7 meas. after reh. 8, beat 1, 4th sixteenth note: remove smudge
- Bassoon II, 1 meas. after reh. 10, beat 1: 1st sixteenth note B-flat should read C
- Note: Many parts with a page turn before the Andante come prima do not indicate the 4/8 meter change before the turn: 1st & 2nd Flutes, 1st & 2nd Oboes, E-flat Clarinet, 3rd B-flat Clarinet.
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 November 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 TSgts. 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 CD: United States Navy Band (Ralph M. Gambone, conductor) - 2013
- Audio CD: VanderCook College of Music Symphonic Band (Frank Wickes, conductor) - 2005
State Ratings
- Arkansas: V
- Florida: VI
- Georgia: VI
- Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP I
- Kansas: VI
- Louisiana: V
- Maryland: VI
- Minnesota: I
- Mississippi: VI-A
- North Carolina: VI
- New York: Concert Band VI
- Oklahoma: V-A
- South Carolina: VI
- Tennessee: VI
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Rockford (Ill.) Wind Ensemble (Ken Goodman, conductor) - 23 October 2022
- North Hardin High School (Radcliff, Ky.) Wind Symphony (Brian Froedge, conductor) - 15 December 2021 (2021 Midwest Clinic)
- University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg) Symphonic Winds (Colin McKenzie, conductor) - 3 Oct 2021
- Piedmont Wind Symphony (Winston-Salem, N.C.) (Matthew Troy, conductor) - 8 September 2018
- Berklee College of Music (Boston, Mass.) Symphonic Winds (Dominick J. Ferrara, conductor) – 9 May 2018
- Banda de Música Julián Cerdan, Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cadiz, Spain) – 21 November 2015
- VanderCook College of Music (Chicago, Ill.) Symphonic Band (Frank Wickes, conductor) – 16 December 2005 (2005 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
- Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 610.
- Verdi, G.; Kent, H.; Lake, M. (1946). La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny): Overture [score]. C. Fischer: New York.