Begin the Beguine

From Wind Repertory Project
Cole Porter

Cole Porter (arr. William Teague)


General Info

Year: 1935 / 1941
Duration: c. 3:45
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Harms
Cost: Score and Parts – Out of print.

For availability information, see Discussion tab, above.


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
D-flat Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
B-flat Trumpet I-II
E-flat Horn or Alto I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Snare Drum


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Begin the Beguine is a popular song written by Cole Porter. Porter composed the song between Kalabahi, Indonesia, and Fiji during a 1935 Pacific cruise. In October 1935, it was introduced by June Knight in the Broadway musical Jubilee, produced at the Imperial Theatre in New York City.

At first, the song gained little popularity, perhaps because of its length and unconventional form. Josephine Baker danced to it in her return to America in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, but neither she nor the song were successful. Two years later, however, bandleader Artie Shaw recorded an arrangement of the song, an extended swing orchestra version, in collaboration with his arranger and orchestrator, Jerry Gray. Begin the Beguine became a best-selling record in 1938, peaking at No. 3, skyrocketing Shaw and his band to fame and popularity.

A beguine was originally a Christian lay woman of the 13th or 14th century living in a religious community without formal vows, but in the creole of the Caribbean, especially in Martinique and Guadeloupe, the term came to mean "white woman", and then to be applied to a style of music and dance, and in particular a slow, close couples dance. This combination of French ballroom dance and Latin folk dance became popular in Paris and spread further abroad in the 1940s, largely due to the influence of the Porter song.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


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

  • Atascadero (Calif.) Community Band (Fletcher Ferrara, conductor) – 28 October 2018
  • United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Michelle A. Rakers, conductor) – 11 March 2018
  • Foothill Symphonic Band (Palo Alto, Calif.) (David Bruce Adams, conductor) – 12 March 2017
  • Houston (Tex.) Pride Band (Jason Stephens and Deborah Hirsch, conductors) – 15 October 2016
  • John A. Logan Community Band (Michael Hanes, conductor; Gene Stiman, trombone) – 14 April 2013


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources