Threnos

From Wind Repertory Project
Steven Stucky

Steven Stucky


General Info

Year: 1988 / 2001
Duration: c. 7:30
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Merion Music, through Theodore Presser Company
Cost: Score and Parts - $176.95;   |   Score - $38.95


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II-III (Flute III doubling piccolo)
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
Eb Piccolo Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium I-II
Tuba
Piano
Percussion, I-II-III-IV-V, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Chinese Cymbal
  • Crotale (in B-flat)
  • Cymbals (suspended)
  • Glockenspiel
  • Gong (or Tam-tam)
  • Marimba
  • Snare Drum
  • Timpani (5)
  • Tom-Toms (4)
  • Tubular Bells
  • Vibraphone
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Threnos (lamentation and dirge) was commissioned by Marice Stith and the Cornell University Wind Ensemble in memory of my colleague and friend Brian Israel, a gifted American composer who died of leukemia at the age of thirty-five.

The music is dominated by three elements: the forceful arpeggiated gesture heard in the horns at the opening; the constant tolling of bells, both literal (piano, vibraphone, chimes, etc.) and figurative; a fragment of a lament-like melody first heard in the solo oboe near the beginning. At its climax, the music takes up this oboe melody in a full-throated cry of grief.

Threnos was completed in January 1988 and first performed March 6, 1988, in Ithaca, N.Y., by the Cornell University Wind Ensemble, conducted by Marice Stith.

- Program Note bycomposer


Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Eastman Wind Orchestra (Rochester, N.Y.) (Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor) – 24 February 2024 (CBDNA 2024 Eastern Division Conference, Ithaca, N.Y.)
  • Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Mason St. Pierre, conductor) - 28 February 2022
  • Arizona State University (Tempe) Wind Symphony (Elliott Tackitt, conductor) – 27 February 2020
  • University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Concert Band (Courtney Snyder, conductor) – 11 February 2019
  • University of Georgia (Athens) Hodgson Wind Ensemble (Cynthia Turner-Johnston, conductor) – 19 April 2016
  • Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Mark Scatterday, conductor) – 3 February 2016
  • San Francisco Wind Ensemble (Martin H. Seggelke, conductor) - 11 April 2015
  • Illinois State University Wind Symphony (Martin H. Seggelke, conductor) - 6 April 2015
  • Chicago College of Performing Arts Wind Ensemble (Stephen Squires, conductor) 18 September 2012
  • Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) Wind Ensemble (Marice Stith, conductor) - 6 March 1988 *Premiere Performance*


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources