William Byrd Suite

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Gordon Jacob
Gordon Jacob

Gordon Jacob


Contents

General Info

Year: 1924
Duration: Unknown
Movements: Six (I. Earle of Oxford's March / II. Pavana / III. Jhon come kiss me now / IV. Mayden's Song / V. Wolsey's Wilde / VI. The Bells)
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Cost: Unknown


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Eb Soprano Clarinet
Bb Soprano Clarinet Solo
Bb Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
Eb Alto Clarinet (optional, doubles Alto Sax part)
Bb Bass Clarinet
Alto Saxophone
Tenor Saxophone
Cornet (in Bb) I-II
Trumpet (in Bb) I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba (divisi)
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Cymbal
  • Snare Drum


Errata

The following errors are in the SCORE:

Movement One

  • m.26, Euphonium, the 6th 16th-note should be a B-flat.
  • m.59, Alto Clarinet, last 16th-note should be a G (not a B).
  • m.59, Alto Saxophone, last 16th-note should be a G (not a B).
  • m.98, Euphonium, add accent to the first note and a slur to the first two 8th notes (to match up with what trombones are doing).
  • m.103-104, Snare Drum, add slurs to show the continuing roll.
  • m.105 Tuba, change all three notes to C.
  • m.114-115, Piccolo, Flutes, and Eb Clarinet, the flourish should come before the beat.

Movement Two

  • m.12, Cornet II, correct to read as it is in the score.
  • m.21, Eb Alto Clarinet and Alto Saxophone, change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.
  • m.23, Cornet I, add 16th flag (part is correct).

Movement Three

  • m.6, Eb Soprano Clarinet, the last note should be an E-natural (the part is correct).
  • m.8, Baritone, articulations should be the same as the basses, bassoons, and clarinets.
  • m.36, All parts from 2nd clarinet down, key signatures are missing.
  • m.39, Bb Clarinet I, Cornet II, the fifth 8th note should be an E-flat, the rest of the notes after that are natural.
  • m.48, Bass Drum and Cymbals, add ties to the upbeat of beat two and the downbeat of beat four.

Movement Four

  • m.65, Bb Cornet II, add an accent.
  • m.81, Eb Soprano Clarinet, add an accent on the first note.
  • m.82, Solo Bb Clarinet, dot missing from first 8th note.

Movement Five

  • m.8, Snare Drum, the first three notes should be 8th notes (part is correct).
  • m.20, Bb Cornet II, slur missing.

Movement Six

  • m.50-56, Timpani, add slurs to rolls.
  • m.56, Timpani, remove extra 8th rest (part is correct).
  • m.57, Trumpets, add 9/8 meter signature.
  • m.74, Tuba, remove the "3" that appears above the 16ths, this should not be a triplet.



The following errors are in the PARTS:

Movement One

  • Piccolo, m.114-115, the flourish should come before the beat.
  • Flutes, m.114-115, the flourish should come before the beat.
  • Oboe, m.69, the two 8th notes should be a dotted 8th note and a 16th (score is correct).
  • Eb Soprano Clarinet, m.64, 2nd 16th-note should be a B / m.114-115, the flourish should come before the beat.
  • Bb Soprano Clarinet, m.91-92, add a slur that covers both bars (score is correct).
  • Eb Alto Clarinet, m.55-56, slur is missing (score is correct) / m.21, change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.
  • Alto Saxophone, m.55-56, slur is missing (score is correct) / m.21, change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.
  • Cornet I, add a third flag to the 16th note figure (thus making it 32nd notes, score is correct).
  • Euphonium, m.26, the 6th 16th-note should be a B-flat / m.98, add accent to the first note and a slur to the first two 8th notes (to match up with what trombones are doing).
  • Tuba, m.57, add piano to the first beat / m.105, change all three notes to C.
  • Snare Drum, m.104, add flags to half note.

Movement Two

  • Flute, m. 6, add the 16th flag on the first pair of notes (score is correct).
  • Eb Alto Clarinet, m.21, change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.
  • Alto Saxophone, m.21, change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.

Movement Three

  • Eb Soprano Clarinet, m.81, add an accent on the first note.
  • Bb Clarinet I, m.39, the fifth 8th note should be an E-flat, the rest of the notes after that are natural.
  • Bb Clarinet II, m.59, change the first note to C (score is correct).
  • Eb Alto Clarinet, m.9-10, slur is missing (score is correct).
  • Alto Saxophones, m.9-10, slur is missing (score is correct).
  • Cornet II, m.39, the fifth 8th note should be an E-flat, the rest of the notes after that are natural.
  • Baritone, m.8, articulations should be the same as the basses, bassoons, and clarinets.
  • Bass Drum and Cymbals, m.48, add ties to the upbeat of beat two and the downbeat of beat four.

Movement Four

  • Flutes & Piccolo, m.43, the second beat should be two 8th notes (score is correct).
  • Solo Bb Clarinet, m.82, dot missing from the first 8th note.
  • Eb Soprano Clarinet, m.86-87, add a slur on the third beat (score is correct).
  • Bb Clarinet II, m.16, there should be two quarter-note rests.
  • Bb Cornet I, m.19, add a 16th flag following the dotted 8th note (the score is correct) / m.63, remove the 16th flag from the last note in the measure (score is correct).
  • Bb Cornet II, m.65, add an accent / m.97-98, the fortissimo and diminuendo should be moved from m.97 to m.98.
  • Trombone III, m. 63, remove the diminuendo and insert a crescendo (score is correct).

Movement Five

  • Piccolo, m.6, add a slur (score is correct).
  • Solo Bb Clarinet, m.2, add a slur (score is correct) / m.30, last note should be a quarter note (score is correct).
  • Eb Alto Clarinet, m.1, add a piano on the fourth beat (score is correct) / m.31, the first two notes should be 8th notes (score is correct).
  • Eb Alto Saxophone, m.1, add a piano on the fourth beat (score is correct) / m.31, the first two notes should be 8th notes (score is correct).
  • Bb Cornet II, m.20, slur missing.

Movement Six

  • Flute, m.61, add 16th flags (score is correct).
  • Bb Cornet I, m.59, add slur to the first two beats (score is correct) / m.69, 70, 81, add 16th flags (score is correct).
  • Trumpets, m.75-79, dots are missing from all half and quarter notes (score is correct).
  • Trombone I-II, m.85, the accents and articulations in the parts should be the same as in the score.
  • Tuba, m.74, remove the "3" that appears above the 16ths, this should not be a triplet.
  • Timpani, m.50-56, add slurs to rolls.


Program Notes

William Byrd (1543-1623) was the leading English composer of his generation, and together with continental composers Giovanni Palestrina and Orlando de Lassus, one of the great masters of the late Renaissance. Raised in the Royal Chapel, Byrd most likely studied with composer and chapel organist Thomas Tallis. Although raised in Protestant surroundings, Byrd remained a devout Roman Catholic and yet maintained favor with the throne throughout his life.

Keyboard music formed one of Byrd's main compositional endeavors, and the fruit of these labors provided the impulse for an entire school of Elizabethan keyboard composition. Most of these works were intended for performance at the virginal, a relative of the harpsichord in many timbral and mechanical aspects. Although Byrd's keyboard works first appear in the 1570s, they only circulate in manuscript until the publication of My Ladye Nevells Booke (1591) and Parthenia (1611). However, the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book languished in obscurity until 1899 before receiving publication. This collection comprises the largest set of Byrd's keyboard works - around seventy - and is also regarded as England's foremost collection of keyboard works. All of the movements Gordon Jacob set in William Byrd Suite have the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book as their source.

Gordon Jacob studied with Charles Villiers Stanford, Adrian Boult and Ralph Vaughan-Williams at the Royal College of Music. After teaching at Birbeck and Morley Colleges in London, Jacob joined the RCM staff in 1924 and remained until his retirement in 1966. His pupils included Malcolm Arnold, Imogen Holst and Joseph Horovitz. At the time of Jacob's death in 1984, he had written over 700 works. His numerous offerings for wind band, including Old Wine and New Bottles, Music for a Festival, Original Suite, Giles Farnaby Suite, The Battell and William Byrd Suite follow the precedent set by Gustav Holst and former teacher Ralph Vaughan Williams. These English composers' works formed the cornerstone of the wind band repertoire in the early part of the 20th century.

Jacob considered William Byrd Suite "freely transcribed," as virginal players had no means of creating dynamic shading or timbral contrast on their instrument. Composers created dynamic intensity by adding voices above and/or below the melody. Similarly, composers created musical intensity by adding lines of increasing complexity, ornamenting the melody. Jacob remained mostly faithful to Byrd's original melody, harmony, form and figuration, but added his own orchestrational color and dynamic shading to intensify the aforementioned expressive qualities of the music.

It is an overstatement to describe each movement simply as growing louder and more complex due to layers of ornamentation, variation and imitation. Although Byrd utilizes these compositional devices in all the works represented, his genius lies in how he utilizes these effects in varying degrees to avoid monotony. In "The Earl of Oxford's March," devices of crescendo, ornamentation and imitation are clearly evident. This movement, marked un poco pomposo, begins its stately procession through the two iterations of its form simply and very quietly, growing steadily stronger and more complex into the climactic final sections. Although originally attributed to Byrd, the slow, stately "Pavana" is now placed within Anthony Holborne's works list. Jacob alters the harmonic scheme of this movement, beginning each phrase in a different tonality, yet emphasizing Bb-major in them all. "Jhon come kisse me now," "The Mayden's Song" and "Wolsey's Wilde" are sets of variations upon an eight and two sixteen bar melodies, respectively. Imitation and ornamentation are the primary developmental tools in the first two, while the third follows a more conservative approach with far less figuration and only one variation. Jacob's orchestration of "Wolsey's Wilde" takes advantage of the instrumental forces, alternating loud and soft dynamics, and effectively utilizing the timbral possibilities of the winds. "The Bells" is structured in large musical paragraphs, a continuous motivic variation emanating from a single two-note ground in the bass. The work culminates with a tubular bell solo amidst a grandiose layering of contrapuntal texture.


Program Note by Brian K. Doyle


Commercial Discography


State Ratings

  • Arkansas:
    • Grade V: Any four movements
    • Grade VI: Complete Suite
  • Florida: V
  • Texas:
    • Grade III: Any two movements
    • Grade IV: Any three movements
    • Grade V: Movement 1 + 3 other movements


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