Awake, You Sleepers!

Laurence Bitensky

Subtitle: For Trumpet & Wind Ensemble

General Info

Year: 2002
Duration: c. 16:30
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: silly black dog music
Cost: Score and Parts – Free.

Movements

1. Tekiah
2. Shevarim
3. Teruah

Instrumentation

Full Score
Solo C Trumpet
C Piccolo
Flute I-II (II doubling Alto Flute)
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III (I doubling E-flat Soprano Clarinet)
B-flat Bass Clarinet
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 I-II
Tuba
String Bass
Piano (doubling Celesta)
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:

Bass Drum
Crotales
Glockenspiel
Maracas
Marimba
Rainstick (large)
Slapstick
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Tambourine
Tam-tam
Tom-toms (4)
Triangle
Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

The ancient instrument known as the shofar, or ram's horn, has a special place in the Jewish tradition. Legend recounts that its sound was heard at the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, the tumbling walls of Jericho, as a call for battle, and that its sound will be heard to herald a messianic era. The instrument has survived through post-Biblical and contemporary times and features prominently in the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

The blowing of the shofar in the Rosh Hashanah service is a call for repentance, symbolically awakening the sleeper from a moral and spiritual slumber. Each of the three movements of Awake, You Sleepers! is based on one of the three calls associated with the blowing of the shofar. Tekiah is a long note rising in pitch; shevarim is three shorter notes; and teruah is a long repeated staccato blast. Each movement is also preceded by well-known verses from the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. Much of the music for Awake, You Sleepers! is based on Rosh Hashanah motives and melodies that occur in the German/East-European musical tradition.

I Tekiah. “ . . . as morning dawned, there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud over the mountain; there was a loud shofar blast, and all the people in the camp trembled.” (Exodus 19:16)

II Shevarim. “The great shofar is sounded, and a still small voice is heard.” (excerpt of the Unetaneh tokef prayer, attributed to Rabbi Amnon of Mainz)

III Teruah. "Awake you sleepers! Awake from your sleep! You slumberers, awake from your slumber!” (Maimonides, Hilkhot Teshuvah III. 4)

This piece was made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation.

- Program Note from score

Commercial Discography

Audio CD: U.S. Marine Band (Michael Colburn, conductor; John Hagstrom, trumpet) - 2010

Media

Audio: Reference recording. University of Kentucky Wind Ensemble (Timothy Reynish, conductor)

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Michael Colburn, conductor; John Hagstrom, trumpet) – 16 December 2010 (2010 Midwest Clinic)
Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, Eng.) Wind Orchestra (Tim Reynish, conductor; John Hagstrom, trumpet) – 2 July 2002 *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Resources

Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Laurence Bitensky." Accessed 23 June 2021
Laurence Bitensky website Accessed 23 June 2021
Perusal score