Requiem

From Wind Repertory Project
David Maslanka

David Maslanka


General Info

Year: 2013
Duration: c. 12:35
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Maslanka Press
Cost: Score and Parts - $180.00   |   Score Only - $70.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet I-II
E-flat Contra-alto Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
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-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Double Bass
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Crotales
  • Marimba
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Tam-Tam
  • Tubular Bells
  • Vibraphone
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

A requiem is a mass for the dead. This relatively brief instrumental piece with the title Requiem (2013) is not a mass but serves a parallel function, the need to lay to rest old things in order to turn the mind and heart toward the new.

I have an abiding interest in why humans go to war. I have recently read much about World War II, and was confronted once again with the awful fact of 50 million needless deaths. Dmitri Shostakovich thought of every one of his compositions as a tombstone, and wished that he could have written a separate memorial piece for every person who died in war.

I do believe that we are in a major transitional time, and that this transition happens first in each of us. My Requiem is both for the unnamed dead of all wars, and for each person making their own inner step, saying goodbye in order to say hello.

Requiem was commissioned by a consortium of bands led by the Brooklyn Wind Symphony, Jeffrey Ball, artistic director, and was premiered in New York City on June 15, 2013.

- Program Note by composer


Requiem is a single-movement fantasia written in response to an event of the Holocaust in World War II. It is not possible truly to grasp the deaths of millions of people, but the death of one, un this case a year-old baby, brought me face to face with the horror and revulsion of the whole. We think that history is past, and nothing can change it. But the effects of such things as the Holocaust are still immediately with us; the open wound has not been healed. It is my feeling that music can bring closure, and it is my hope that Requiem will serve in this capacity.

- Program Note by David Maslanka


David Maslanka's Requiem was commissioned by a consortium of university and high school bands initiated by the Brooklyn Wind Symphony. His compositional voice across his oeuvre is consistent with the present work. His distinctive use of minimal harmonic and melodic vocabulary is deceptive in its superficial calmness. Underneath the thinly textured wind writing is a rhythmic urgency that propels the work from serenity to cataclysm and back again.

- Program Note from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Wind Orchestra concert program, 5 March 2016


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Wind Ensemble (Martin I. Gaines, conductor) - 9 December 2023
  • Lamar University (Beaumont, Tex.) Wind Ensemble (Andrew McMahan, conductor) - 5 October 2023
  • Central Michigan University (Mount Pleasant) Symphony Band (Robert Lidahl, conductor) - 18 April 2023
  • Ithaca (N.Y.) College Wind Ensemble (Rebekah Daniel, conductor) - 9 March 2023
  • Lee University (Cleveland, Tenn.) Wind Ensemble (David Holsinger, conductor) - 21 February 2023
  • The Ohio State University (Columbus) Symphonic Band (Scott A. Jones, conductor) - 18 November 2022
  • Nicholls State University (Thibodaux, La.) Wind Ensemble (Jason Ladd, conductor) - 3 November 2022
  • University of Cincinnati (Ohio) College-Conservatory of Music Wind Ensemble (Thomas Gamboa, conductor) - 13 April 2022
  • University of Delaware (Newark) Wind Ensemble (Lauren Reynolds, conductor) - 17 March 2022
  • Lee University (Cleveland, Tenn.) Wind Ensemble (David Holsinger, conductor) – 25 February 2020
  • Ithaca (N.Y.) College Concert Band (Benjamin Rochford, conductor) – 11 December 2019
  • Heidelberg Wind Ensemble (Melbourne, Aus.) (Jason Noble, conductor) – 18 August 2018
  • University of British Columbia (Vancouver) Concert Winds (Christian Reardon MacLellan, conductor) – 6 April 2018
  • Eastman Wind Orchestra (Rochester, N.Y.) (Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor) – 2 March 2018
  • University of South Florida (Tampa) Wind Ensemble (John Carmichael, conductor) – 1 March 2018
  • Azusa Pacific University (Azuza, Calif.) Wind Ensemble (John Burdett, conductor) - 16 February 2018 (2018 CASMEC Conference, San Jose)
  • University of Arizona (Tucson) Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony (Gregg Hanson, conductor) – 30 November 2017
  • Culver-Stockton College (Canton, Mo.) Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band (Thomas Polett, conductor) – 12 November 2017
  • Taku Winds (Juneau, Alas.) (William Todd Hunt, conductor) – 29 October 2017
  • Aragon High School (San Mateo, Calif.) Wind Ensemble (Troy Davis, conductor) - 14 October 2017
  • Oklahoma State University (Stillwater) Symphonic Band (Doug Henderson, conductor) – 12 October 2017


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • Carmichael, John C. "Requiem." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 10, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 674-680. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2015.
  • Maslanka, D. (2013). Requiem: For Wind Ensemble [score]. Maslanka Press: New York.