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

From Wind Repertory Project
Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi (trans. R Mark Rogers)


General Info

Year: 1862 / 1980
Duration: c. 8:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Southern Music, through Hal Leonard
Cost: Score and Parts - $140.00   |   Score Only - $40.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contra Alto Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass 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
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Double Bass
Harp I-II (optional)
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Snare Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Military Drum (optional)
  • Suspended Cymbal


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 November 10 of that year. The overture was not heard until February 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


The opera La Forza del Destino was written on a commission from the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg, Russia, where it received its first performance in 1862. The opera was virtually unknown outside Russia until 1918, when the Metropolitan Opera mounted a production in which Rosa Ponselle made her American debut. The opera stayed in the Met’s repertoire for fourteen consecutive seasons, and its popularity finally spread throughout the world. The overture, one of the best known of Verdi’s works, presents significant material from the opera.

- Program Note from Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music


Media

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State Ratings

  • Florida: VI
  • Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP I
  • Kansas: VI
  • Louisiana: V
  • Maryland: VI
  • Oklahoma: V-A
  • South Carolina: VI
  • Texas: V. Complete
  • Virginia: V


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources