Phantasmagoria
General Info
Year: 2019
Duration: c. 5:50
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Alfred Music Publishing
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $85.00; (digital) - $85.00 | Score Only (print) - $10.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo/Flute I
Flute II
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass 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
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Piano
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:
- Bass Drum
- Bells
- Chimes
- Crash Cymbals
- Mark Tree
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tam-Tam
- Vibraphone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Phantasmagoria is defined as "a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination." In this highly descriptive piece, key centers shift like the shapes and shadows created by magic lantern projections. Creating a sense of wonder with concealed, dark undertones, musical lines quietly appear and then vanish like wisps of mist that appear out of nowhere, swirling about before fading away.
- Program Note from publisher
One definition from Dictionary.com describes phantasmagoria as "a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination." Throughout history this definition of phantasmagoria developed as a form of horror theater produced by a magic lantern to project frightening images onto walls, smoke, or screens that increase or diminish in size, pass into each other, or dissolve. Many of the shows began as séances in Germany in the late 18th century, and as they gained in popularity, became a form of entertainment. As the concept grew, the proprietors of these shows developed new techniques and evolved into trick films that used transformations, superimpositions, disappearances, and rear projections. Many modern-day horror films use elements from these shows.
Wikipedia tells a fascinating history of people's interest in the gods, spirits, and particularly the dark arts and conjuring of things from beyond. It calls to our inner curiosity and our attraction to the unknown and the macabre. This piece makes heavy use of chromatic mediants to give it a constant feeling of ambivalence in tonal center, creating a sense of mystery and fascination in the unknown. The key centers shift several times throughout the piece, just like the phantasms created by the projections, and its chromaticism creates a feeling of awe and wonder but with a concealed, dark undertone, beckoning to this part of our primordial brains. It's that desire to figure out, "What was that noise?" when our more sensible self tells us otherwise.
- Program Note by composer
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Spring Garden Band of York (Penn.) (Jeffrey Shaull, conductor) - 23 October 2022
- University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) Wind Ensemble (James Popejoy, conductor) – 3 December 2019
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Defenders of the Realm (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
All Wind Works
- The Addison Red Line (2016)
- Beyond the Shores of Avalon (2020)
- The Black Eagles (2012)
- Celtic Wedding (2018)
- Defenders of the Realm (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Dream Tides (2015)
- Einherjar (2017)
- Escape from Dead Raider's Hollow (2016)
- Forgotten Heroes (2014)
- Gentle Daybreak (2016)
- Havasu Falls (2011)
- Memories from Another Time (2017)
- Phantasmagoria (2019)
- Red River Station (2017)
- Reign of Fire (2015)
- Un Petit Café a Paris (2017)
- The Wind Racers (2015)
Resources
- Jeremy Bell website Accessed 2 December 2019
- "New Music Reviews." The Instrumentalist, 75/1 (August/September 2020), p. 26.
- Perusal score
- Phantasmagoria, Wikipedia Accessed 2 December 2019