Overture to "La Forza del Destino" (arr Rogers)
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
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
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
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Florida State University (Tallahassee) Wind Orchestra (Jeremy George, conductor) - 20 April 2022
- Wind Symphony of Clovis (Calif.) (Gary P. Gilroy, conductor) - 20 February 2020 (2020 CASMEC Conference, Fresno)
- Concord (Mass.) Band (James O'Dell, conductor) – 8 June 2019
- University of Missouri, Kansas City, Wind Ensemble (Joseph Parisi, conductor) – 13 March 2019
- University of Iowa (Iowa City) Symphony Band (Mark Heidel, conductor) - 4 October 2018
- Tallahassee (Fla.) Winds (Patrick Dunnigan, conductor) – 2 October 2018
- TMEA Texas All-State Concert Band 2008-2009
- San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Wind Orchestra (William V. Johnson, conductor) - 2 June 2002
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
- Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "La Forza del Destino: Overture." Accessed 8 July 2014
- Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 610.
- Verdi, G.; Rogers, M. (1980). Overture La Forza Del Destino [score]. Southern Music: San Antonio, Tx.