After Hafiz

From Wind Repertory Project
Donald Grantham

Donald Grantham


This work is the composer's Symphony No. 2


General Info

Year: 2016
Duration: c. 17:20
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Piquant Press
Cost: Score and Parts - Rental ($350.00)


Movements

1. Listen to this Music - 4:10
2. Greeting God – 5:15
3. I Hold the Lion's Paw – 7:45


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
C Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano/Celesta
Harp
Timpani
Percussion (4 players), including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Bell Tree
  • Bongos
  • Claves
  • Crash Cymbal
  • Crotales
  • Congas
  • Drum Set
  • Glockenspiel
  • Guiro
  • Floor Tom
  • Marimba
  • Slap Stick
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Tambourine
  • Tam-tam
  • Tom-tom (4)
  • Triangle (2; small and medium)
  • Tubular Bells
  • Vibraphone
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Symphony after Hafiz was commissioned to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of The Midwest Clinic and in honor of Richard Crain, President of The Midwest Clinic.

Of his new work for wind ensemble, the composer writes:

The three movements of my Symphony after Hafiz are inspired by three of the poet’s poems. Daniel Ladinsky, the translator whose renderings of Hafiz were my point of reference, provides the following brief introduction to the life and work of Hafiz:

Hafiz (1320—89) ... is the most beloved poet of Persians. He was born and lived in Shiraz, a beautiful garden city, where he became a famous spiritual teacher. His Divan (collected poems) is a classic in the literature of Sufism and mystical verse. The work of Hafiz became known to the West largely through the passion of Goethe. His enthusiasm deeply affected Ralph Waldo Emerson, who then translated Hafiz in the nineteenth century. Emerson said of Hafiz, ‘Hafiz is a poet for poets’ and Goethe remarked, ‘Hafiz has no peer.’ Hafiz’s poems were also admired by such diverse notables as Nietzsche and Arthur Conan Doyle, whose wonderful character Sherlock Holmes quotes Hafiz; Garcia Lorca praised him, the famous composer Johannes Brahms was so touched by his verse he put several lines into compositions, and even Queen Victoria was said to have consulted the works of Hafiz in times of need.

The range of Hafiz’s verse is indeed stunning. He says, ‘I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath moves through -- listen to this music:’ And the music of Hafiz’s poetry is indeed very wide ranging. Frequent themes are both spiritual and carnal love, song, dance, stunted religiosity, and an all-embracing mystical pantheism.

- Program Note from U.S. Marine Band concert program, 14 December 2016


Listen to this Music

I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath
moves through—listen to this music.
I am the concert from the movement of every
creature singing in myriad chords.
And every dancer, their foot I know and lift.
And every brush and hand, well, that is me
also who caresses any canvas or cheek.

How did I become all these things, and beyond
all things?
It was my destiny, as it is yours. My songs are
about our glorious journey.
We are a hole in a
flute, a moment in space, that
the Christ’s body can move through and sway
all forms—in an exquisite dance—as the wind
in a forest.

Greeting God

I hear
The nightingale greeting
God.
I hear
The rain speaking to the roof
Of my heart.
Like a winter blanket of snow gently
Tucking in the earth
I let a great yearning within my ken
Lay down next
To Him
I hear
A sorrowful lover being true
No matter what, even if the Beloved seems
Cruel
Tonight
There is a jeweled falcon singing
in a Blessed pain using the tongue
Of
Hafiz.


I Hold the Lion’s Paw

I hold the Lion’s Paw
Whenever I dance.
I know the ecstasy of the falcon’s wings
When they make love against the sky.
And the sun and moon
Sometimes argue over
Who will tuck me in at night.
If you think I am having more fun
Than anyone on this planet
You are absolutely correct.
But Hafiz
Is willing to share all his secrets
About how to befriend God.
Indeed, dear ones,
Hafiz is so very willing
To share all his secrets
About how to know the
Beautiful
One.
I hold the Lion’s Paw whenever I dance..


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • McCallum, Wendy Zander. "Symphony No. 2: "after Hafiz"." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 11, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 1026-1039. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018.
  • Perusal score