Overture to "La Forza del Destino" (arr Patterson)

From Wind Repertory Project
Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi (trans. Donald Patterson)


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General Info

Year: 1862 / 2012
Duration: c. 8:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: U.S. Marine Band


Instrumentation

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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 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


This transcription is by Marine Band arranger Donald Patterson.


Media

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State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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  • United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Jason K. Fettig, conductor) - 14 October 2023 (Cedar Falls, Iowa)
  • United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Donald Patterson, conductor) - 26 August 2021
  • West Chester (Penn.) University Wind Ensemble (Timothy J. Holtan, conductor) – 26 September 2019
  • U.S. Army Band (Ft. Myer, Va.) (Timothy J. Holtan, conductor) - 31 January 2015


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources