Canticle of the Creatures

James Curnow

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General Info

Year: 1984
Duration: c. 13:20
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Hal Leonard
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $70.00 | Score Only (print) - $10.00

Movements

1. Prologue
2. Brother Sun
3. Sister Moon And Stars
4. Brother Fire
5. Mother Earth
6. Epilogue

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I
Oboe I
Oboe II/English Horn
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 Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III-IV
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV

(percussion detail desired)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

This work was inspired by the writings of Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) who founded the Franciscan religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. His simple life of poverty inspired many men during the Middle Ages. Today, people admire Francis because of his love of peace and his respect for all creatures. He expressed his religious ideas in poems as well as through his ministry. These poems and lauds were not written to be read in prayer books, but to be sung either by their friars as part of their preaching exercises or as a part of their own devotions.

Canticle of the Creatures sings praise to many of God's creations, with each movement depicting the stanza of the poem after which it is entitled.

- Program Note from the University of North Dakota Wind Ensemble concert program, 13 October 2020

This distinctive six-movement suite is one of Jim Curnow's most requested works. Inspired by the writings of Saint Francis of Assisi, it graphically expresses his love of peace and his respect for all creatures. Each movement is like a short tone poem, using the modern concert band as the canvas on which to paint spectacular images.

- Program Note from publisher

Commissioned by the North Hills High School Band, Pittsburgh, Penn., Warren Mercer, director.

- Program Note from score

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

Alabama: Class A
Georgia: VI
Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP I
Iowa: IV
Kansas: V
Michigan: Senior High AA
Minnesota: II
North Carolina: VI
Oklahoma: V-A
South Carolina: VI
Tennessee: VI
Virginia: VI

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

University of North Carolina School of the Arts (Winston-Salem) Wind Ensemble (Mark A. Norman, conductor) - 5 November 2021
University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) Wind Ensemble (James Popejoy, conductor) - 13 October 2020
Sacramento (Calif.) Winds (Timothy Smith, conductor) – 15 March 2020
Taylor University Wind Ensemble (Upland, Ind.) (Joel Walters, conductor) – 15 March 2018
Taylor University (Upland, Ind.) Wind Ensemble (Al Harrison, conductor) – 1 November 2017
Banda Municipal de Villena (Spain) (Pedro Ángel López Sánchez, conductor) – 2012

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Amber Waves of Grain (Flex instrumentation) (1994)
Canticum (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
Fanfare and Flourishes (Flex instrumentation) (1995/2013)
Korean Folk Rhapsody (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
Nathan Hale Trilogy (Flex instrumentation) (1990/2013)
Renaissance Suite (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (c.1551/1983/2016)
Valdres (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1904/1985/2015)

All Wind Works

African Sketches (1992)
Album for the Young (Op. 39) (as arranger) (1878/2007)
Amber Waves of Grain (1994)
Amber Waves of Grain (Flex instrumentation) (1994)
Appalachian Dances (2008)
Apple Island Legend (1997)
Beyond the Stars
Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair (as arranger) (1985)
Blazon (1997)
Bridge of the Gods (2012)
Canadian Sketches (1996)
Canterbury Coronation (1996)
Canticle at Christmastide (2006)
Canticle of the Creatures (1984)
Canticum (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
The Carnival of the Animals (as arranger) (1886/2008)
Celebration Fanfare
Celebration (1994)
Ceremonial Flourishes (1988)
Chinese Folk Fantasy (2013)
Christmas Classics (1993)
Christmas Fancies (2000)
Christmas Flourish, A (1998)
Christmas Prelude (as arranger) (1989)
Christmas Travelogue (as arranger)
Classical Suite for Piano and Band (as arranger) (2006)
Concertino for Tuba and Band (1978/2001)
Concertpiece (1990)
Concertpiece for Clarinet, Winds and Percussion (1990)
Dance Episodes (2006)
Day at the Circus, A (1998)
Day at the Museum, A (1997)
Day in Space, A
Dialogues for Saxophone Quartet, Winds and Percussion (2005)
Dimensions of Seven
Dublin Sketches
Fanfare and Flourishes (1995)
Fanfare and Flourishes (Flex instrumentation) (1995/2013)
Fanfare for Christmas (2004)
Fanfare for Spartacus (1996)
Fanfare Prelude: "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" (1999)
Fanfare Prelude on "God of Our Fathers" (1876/1983)
Fanfare Prelude on "Joy to the World" (1985)
Fantasia di Falcone
Fantasy on a Colonial Air
Festive Fanfare for the Holidays (2006)
Festivity (1993)
Festivo Fantastico (1998)
Fiddle Tunes (as arranger) (2002)
Finale for a Winter Festival (2004)
Folk Dances (as arranger (1942/2000)
Freedom Road (1994)
Freedom's Song (2009)
French Christmas Carol Fantasy (1989)
Golliwog's Cakewalk (as arranger)
Guadalcanal March (as arranger) (1952/1989)
Heroic Tribute (2006)
Illini Fantasy (2006)
In Storm and Sunshine (as arranger) (1884/1986)
In the Valley of the Sun (2013)
International Christmas Salute (1996)
Inventions from the Sacred Harp (2005)
Irish Legends (1994)
Journey (2009)
Jubilee (2012)
Kentucky Kaleidoscope
Korean Folk Rhapsody (1988)
Korean Folk Rhapsody (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
Land of Tomorrow (2010)
Lion of Lucerne (1986)
Lone Star Celebration (1995)
Megaforce (1997)
Midway March (as arranger)
Moment in Time, A
Mutanza (1981)
Nathan Hale Trilogy (1990)
Nathan Hale Trilogy (Flex instrumentation) (1990/2013)
Nexus (2015)
Nulli Secundus (Curnow)
Nutcracker Suite (as arranger) (1891/1987)
Overture to a Winter Festival (1995)
Peter and the Wolf (as arranger) (1936/1986)
Praetorius Variations
Prelude and Celebration (1996)
Prelude on a Hymn of Praise (1996)
Prelude on Lobe Den Herren (1982/1997)
The Promise of Living (as arranger) (1954/2012)
Quintessence
Rejouissance (1988)
Renaissance Festival (as arranger) (2008)
Renaissance Suite (as arranger) (c.1551/1983)
Renaissance Suite (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (c.1551/1983/2016)
Rhapsody for Euphonium and Band (1978/1999)
Rhapsody on American Shaped Note Melodies (1996)
Romanza (2017)
Russian Christmas Music (as arranger) (1944/1990)
Russian Folk Fantasy (1992)
Sea to Shining Sea (2006)
Seacliffe Overture (1983)
Selections from "Slavonic Dances," Op. 46 (as transcriber) (1878/)
Selections from "Suite of Old American Dances" (as arranger) (1950/2005)
Selections from Walt Disney's "Fantasia" (1992)
Slavonic Dances, The (as transcriber)
Songs of the West (as arranger) (1907/1986)
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (as arranger) (1897)
Sovereign Variants
Spirit of the Pioneers (2007)
Suite from "Messiah" (as transcriber) (1741/1989)
Suncatcher (2000)
Symphonic Chorale for Band (1989)
Symphonic Suite from "The Right Stuff" (as arranger) (1983/1984)
Symphonic Triptych (1978)
Symphonic Variants (1998)
Three Colonial Ballads (as arranger)
The Three Drummers (2004)
Toward the Sunrising (1999)
Turkish March (as arranger) (1809/2001)
Valdres (arr Curnow) (as arranger) (1904/1985/2016)
Valdres (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1904/1985/2015)
Vanguard (2003)
Voluntary on Old Hundreth (as transcriber) (/2000)
A Wexford Reverie (as arranger) (2005)
When the Morning Stars Sang (2005)
Where Never Lark or Eagle Flew (1993)
Winds of Change

Resources

Curnow, J. (1984). Canticle of the Creatures [score]. Jenson Publications: United States.