Spoon River

Percy Aldridge Grainger

Percy Aldridge Grainger (arr. Robert Sheldon)

Subtitle: Based on a fiddle-tune transcribed by Grainger

General Info

Year: 1999
Duration: c. 2:30
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Fiddle
Publisher: C. L. Barnhouse
Cost: Score & Parts - $68.00   |   Score Only - $5.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
English Horn
Bb Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
Eb Alto Clarinet
Bb Bass Clarinet
Bassoon
Alto Saxophone I-II
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
Trumpet (in Bb) I-II-III
French Horn I-II
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Piano
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:

• Bass Drum
• Cymbals
• Glockenspiel
• Gong (Tam-Tam)
• Snare Drum
• Tambourine
• Triangle
• Tubular Bells
• Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Incredible music based on a "fiddle" tune as transcribed by Percy Grainger. Robert Sheldon's delightful arrangement transforms the Grainger music into a exquisite band classic which is destined to become a standard of band literature.

- Program Note by publisher

Captain Charles H. Robinson heard the American fiddle tune Spoon River at a country dance in Bradford, Illinois, in 1897. When Edgar Lee Masters published his Spoon River Anthology in 1914, Robinson was amazed by the similar titles. He sent the folk tune to Masters, who sent it to Grainger. Grainger composed Spoon River in 1922, first as a piano solo and later utilizing elastic scoring, which allowed it to be played by any combination of instrumentalists from three to full orchestra. A version for band was performed in 1933 by Edwin Franko Goldman, but it was never published and the parts were lost.

- Program Note from University of North Carolina, Greensboro, University Band concert program, 2 October 2018

Commercial Discography

None discovered thus far.

Audio Links

None discovered thus far.

State Ratings

• Minnesota - Category I

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Ouachita Baptist University (Arkadelphia, Ark.) Symphonic Band (Jim Lloyd, conductor) – 12 March 2020
• Michigan State University (East Lansing) Spartan Youth Wind Symphony (Simon Holoweiko, conductor) – 22 April 2018
• Barber Middle School (Acworth, Ga.) Wind Symphony (Robert Grogan, conductor) - 22 March 2019 Music for All Southeastern Regional Concert Band Festival, Atlanta, Ga.
• Michigan State University (East Lansing) Symphony Band (John T. Madden, conductor) – 22 March 2016
• Indiana University Symphonic Band (Tiffany J. Galus, conductor) - 31 March 2015
• Antelope (Calif.) High School Wind Ensemble (Sonora Mello, conductor) - 21 March 2014 (2014 Sutherland Wind Festival, Fresno, Calif.)
• Cuesta Wind Ensemble (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) (Jennifer Martin, conductor) - 13 May 2012

Works for Winds by this Composer

Adaptable Music

• Molly on the Shore (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Sheehan) (1920/2020)
• O Mensch, Bewein' Dein Sünde Gross (Flex instrumentation) (setting) (1724?/1937-1942/1987)
• Prelude in the Dorian Mode (Flex instrumentation) (as scorer)
• Shepherd's Hey (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1918/2020)
• Two Movements from "Lincolnshire Posy" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Sweeney) (1937/2019)

All Wind Works

• The Annunciation Carol
• The Annunciation Carol (tr. Grainger) (13th Cent./1942/1993)
• Arrival Platform Humlet (arr. Eichenberger) (1912/)
• Arrival Platform Humlet (tr. Simpson) (1912/1916/1995)
• Arrival Platform Humlet (tr. Patterson) (1916/2011)
• Australian Up-Country Tune (arr. Bainum) (1930/1970)
• Bell Piece (ed. Duffy and Ould) (1935/1953/1991)
• Blithe Bells (arr. Jager) (1931/1989)
• Blithe Bells (ed. Ould) (1931/2013)
• Brigg Fair (arr. Ballenger) (1905/1991)
• Children's March (rev. Erickson) (1919/1971)
• Children's March (rev. Rogers) (1919/1995)
• Children's March (arr. Wagner) (1919/2000)
• Choral No 2 for Organ (as scorer; ed. Rogers) (1890/1941/20--?)
• Colonial Song (ed. Rogers) (1919/1997)
• Colonial Song (ed. Topolewski) (1919/2001)
• Colonial Song (arr. Wagner) (1919/2014)
• Country Gardens (arr. Sousa, Brion and Schissel) (1918/1953)
• Country Gardens (arr. Karrick) (1918/2013)
• Country Gardens (arr. Clark) (1918/1931)
• Danish Folk Music Settings (arr. Kreines) (1926-41/1950/)
• Died for Love
• Down Longford Way & Shenandoah (as orchestrator; arr. Osmon) (1928/1935/1990)
• Duke of Marlborough Fanfare, The (ed. Hunsberger) (1939/2000)
• Duke of Marlborough Fanfare, The (arr. Ragsdale) (1939/1995)
• Early One Morning (arr. Kreines). See: Two Grainger Melodies
• Faeroe Island Dance (1946/1969)
• Father and Daughter (arr. Ragsdale) (1912)
• Four Grainger Songs (arr. Svanoe) (2003) (unpublished)
• Gay but Wistful (tr. Patterson) (1916/2011)
• A Grainger Threesome (arr. Ragsdale) (2007)
• Green Bushes (1906/2007) (tr. Pappajohn)
• Gumsucker's March (arr. Rogers) (1914/1942/1996)
• Handel in the Strand (arr. Brion and Schissel) (1912/2001)
• Handel in the Strand (arr. Goldman) (1912/1961)
• Handel in the Strand (arr. Rohrer) (1912/2015)
• Harvest Hymn (tr. Kreines) (1940/1983)
• Hill Song No. 1 (adapt. Rogers) (1901/1922/1923/1997)
• Hill-Song Nr. 1 (trans. Clark) (1901/1922/1923/2019)
• Hill Song No. 2
• Horkstow Grange from "Lincolnshire Posy" (adapt. Sweeney) (1937/2008)
• The Immovable Do (1940)
• I'm Seventeen Come Sunday (tr. Daehn) (1905-12/1987)
• I'm Seventeen Come Sunday (arr. Wagner) (1905-12/1999)
• In a Nutshell (tr. Patterson) (1916/2011)
• In Dahomey (arr. Miller)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (1918)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (arr. Kreines) (1918/1996)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (ed. Renshaw) (1918)
• Irish Tune from County Derry (ed. Rogers) (1918/1994)
• Lads of Wamphray Ballad (arr. Ragsdale) (1905/2018)
• Lads of Wamphray March (ed. Kreines) (1905/1937)
• Lincolnshire Posy (ed. Fennell) (1937/1987/2010)
• Lincolnshire Posy (arr. Higgins) (1937/2008)
• Lisbon from "Lincolnshire Posy" (adapted. Sweeney) (1937/2017)
• Lord Maxwell's Goodnight (orch. Wilson)
• Lost Lady Found (arr. Sweeney) (1937/2011)
• Marching Song of Democracy (1917/1948/1991)
• Marching Song of Democracy (ed. Brion) (1917/1948/1991)
• Marching Tune (2013) (arr. Story)
• Merry King, The (ed. Schissel) (1905/2006)
• Mock Morris (arr. Kreines) (1910/1921)
• Mock Morris (arr. Perna) (1910/2010/2016)
• Molly on the Shore (1920)
• Molly on the Shore (ed. Clark and Schmidt) (1920/2002)
• Molly on the Shore (tr Ragsdale) (tr. Ragsdale) (1920/1978)
• My Dark-Haired Maid (ed. Ragsdale) (1899)
• Near Woodstock Town (arr. Cramer) (2004)
• Nightingale and the Two Sisters, The (arr. Kreines) (1931)
• O Mensch, Bewein' Dein Sünde Gross (Flex instrumentation) (setting) (1724?/1937-1942/1987)
• Pagodes from "Estampes" (as arranger)
• Percy Grainger Portrait, A (arr. Wagner) (2010)
• A Percy Grainger Suite (arr. Erickson) (1996)
• The Power of Rome and the Christian Heart (1947/1953)
• Prelude in the Dorian Mode (Flex instrumentation) (as scorer)
• Scotch Strathspey and Reel (arr. Osmon) (1901-1911.1982)
• Sheep Shearing Song (as arranger) (1904/1923/1942/2017)
• Shepherd's Hey (1918)
• Shepherd's Hey (ed. Rogers) (1918/1994)
• Shepherd's Hey (arr De Stefano) (1918/2012)
• Shepherd's Hey (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1918/2020)
• Spoon River (arr. Bainum) (1922/1967/2009)
• Spoon River (ed. Carson & Naylor) (1922/2010)
• Spoon River (arr. Sheldon) (1922)
• Spoon River (arr. Story) (1922/2014)
• The Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol (scored Goldman) (1916/1965)
• The Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol (arr. Clark) (1916/1996)
• The Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol (arr. Simpson) (1916/1988)
• Sussex Mummers' Christmas Carol, The (arr. Stotter) (1911/1916/2006)
• Themes from "Green Bushes" (arr. L. Daehn) (1906/1987)
• This is Not My Plaid (arr. Ragsdale) (2014)
• Three Tragic Ballads (arr. Ragsdale) (1924, 1902, 1909/2016)
• A Tribute to Grainger (arr. Ragsdale) (1999)
• Tuscan Serenade (as arranger) (1865/1937/1994)
• Two Grainger Melodies (trans. Kreines) (1912/1988)
• Two Grainger Sweets - Harvest Hymn and Mock Morris (arr. Krienes)
• Two Movements from "Lincolnshire Posy" (arr. Ryan) (1937/2019)
• Two Movements from "Lincolnshire Posy" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Sweeney) (1937/2019)
• Walking Tune (Woodwind Quintet) (1900)
• Walking Tune (arr. L. Daehn) (1900/1940/1988)
• The Warriors (tr. Pappajohn) (1916/1998)
• We Have Fed Our Sea for a Thousand Years (1911)
• Willow, Willow (1911/1992) (orch. Simpson)
• Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon (1949)
• Youthful Suite (tr. Rogers)
  • Northern March
  • Rustic Dance (1899/1950/2010)
  • Eastern Intermezzo
  • English Waltz (1899-1901/1940-1947/1999)
• Zanzibar Boat Song (arr. Hazzard) (1902/2013)

Resources

None discovered thus far.