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Power of Rome and the Christian Heart, The

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Percy Aldridge Grainger

Percy Aldridge Grainger


Subtitle: For Military Band and Pipe or Electric Organ (String Orchestra at will)


General Info

Year: 1943 / 1947 / 1953
Duration: c. 12:40
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Kalmus
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $89.95   |   Score Only (print) - $14.95


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo I-II (II optional)
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon (written for in score, no part provided)
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-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
B-flat Cornet (or Trumpet) I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
B-flat Baritone
Euphonium
Tuba
Harp (the more, the better) (optional)
Piano (the more, the better) (optional)
Celesta and/or Dulcitone (optional)
Organ
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Crash Cymbals
  • Glockenspiel
  • Tam-tam
  • Marimba
  • Snare Drum
  • Swiss Hand Bells
  • Suspended Cymbals
  • Tubular Bells
  • Vibraphone (written as Metal Marimba or Vibraharp)
  • Xylophone

Violin I-II (optional)
Viola (optional)
Cello (optional)
String Bass (optional)


Errata

  • Contrabassoon. Written in score but no part provided.


Program Notes

Grainger described his thoughts concerning this work as follows:

Just as the early Christians found themselves in conflict with the power of ancient Rome, so, at all times and places, the Individual Conscience is apt to feel itself threatened or coerced by the Forces of Authority -- and especially in wartime. Men who hate fighting are forced to be soldiers, are horrified to find themselves called upon to fight in the ranks of their enemies. The sight of young recruits doing bayonet practice in the First World War gave me the first impulse to this composition which, however, is not in any sense program music and does not portray the drama of actual events. It is merely the unfoldment of musical feelings that were started by thoughts of the eternal glory of the Individual Soul in conflict with the Powers That Be.

- Program Note from Program Notes for Band


The Power of Rome and the Christian Heart was commissioned in 1947 for two reasons: to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the League of Composers, and for the 70th birthday of Edwin Franko Goldman. It is Grainger’s largest work for winds and percussion and calls for an organ to supplement the orchestra. The Power of Rome and the Christian Heart first began in 1918, and completed in 1943 for full symphony orchestra and organ. Faced with the commission and nothing yet on paper, Grainger decided to rescore it for the occasion. Openly admitting what he had done, he explained: “As it takes me about 20 years to finish a tone-work, the best thing I could do was to fix up my Power of Rome so it could be played without strings.” The Power of Rome and the Christian Heart is Percy Grainger’s last original work for band.

The chronological span of the composition includes the end of one world war and the onset of a second. Grainger, a conscientious objector, repeatedly referred to The Power of Rome in these terms. The following two quotes support Grainger’s viewpoints:

“Just as the Early Christians found themselves in conflict with the Power of Ancient Rome so, at all times and places, the Individual Conscience is apt to feel itself threatened or coerced by the Forces of Authority. The sight of young recruits doing bayonet practice, in the First World War, gave the first impulse to this composition, which, however, is not in any sense programme-music and does not portray the drama of actual events. It is merely the unfoldment of musical feelings that were started by thoughts of the eternal agony of the Individual Soul in conflict with The-Powers-That-Be.”

“I think that young men in their teens respond (at least to the foreword of) my Conscientious- Objector piece The Power of Rome and the Christian Heart. But on the whole I think the entire musical world is entirely oblivious of the whole world of bitterness, resentment, iconoclasm and denunciation that lies behind my music. If they were aware of it I am not sure it would make any difference ... And the worth of my music will never be guessed, or its value to mankind felt, until the approach to my music is consciously undertaken as a ‘a pilgrimage of sorrows’.”

- Program Note from the West Texas A&M Wind Ensemble concert program, 11 February 2016


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