Circa 1600

Donald Grantham

General Info

Year: 2018
Duration: c. 9:40
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Hymns
Publisher: Piquant Press
Cost: Score and Parts - Rental ($300)

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass 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
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion, including:

Bass Drum (3: small, medium and large)
Glockenspiel
Snare Drum (3)
Suspended Cymbal
Tambourine
Triangle
Tubular Bells
Vibraphone (2)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

The year 1600 was an exciting time to be a composer, and much intriguing, imaginative, and innovative music was created immediately before and after that date. My Circa 1600 is based on three chorales written about that time which I find particularly attractive. I became familiar with them in my role as choir director at St. Luke’s on the Lake Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas. These tunes appear in the Episcopal hymnal, and on numerous occasions I ‘improvised’ anthems on them with my choir -- treating them canonically, providing descants and alternate harmonizations, altering the rhythm and meter, and subjecting them to various other procedures (or indignities, depending upon your viewpoint). Some of these techniques are featured in this wind ensemble version.

The three tunes are Es ist das Heil by Hans Leo Hassler, Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam by Lucas Osiander, and Allein Gott in der Hoh by Hieronymous Praetorius. I use the tunes in three distinct but connected sections and in that order. The first and third tunes are bright, radiant -- even jaunty. The second tune is much darker, more weighty, and rather foreboding. This chorale appears three times in the brass, accompanied by a fierce tarantella-style tune in the woodwinds and insistent drumming in the percussion.

Circa 1600 was commissioned by the Ronald Reagan High School Band, San Antonio, Texas, Dan Morrison, conductor, and Texas A&M University Bands, Timothy Rhea, Director of Bands. The work is dedicated to the memory of Alex Jones, a Reagan High School graduate and former Reagan Band member.

- Program Note by composer

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

Temple University (Philadelphia, Penn.) Wind Symphony (Patricia Cornett, conductor) - 28 April 2023
University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) Wind Ensemble (Christopher Knighten, conductor) - 29 April 2022
Illinois State University (Normal) Wind Symphony (Anthony Marinello, III, conductor) - 15 November 2021
Ball State University (Muncie, Ind.) Wind Ensemble (Thomas Caneva, conductor) – 6 December 2019
University of Nebraska (Lincoln) Wind Ensemble (Carolyn Barber, conductor) – 2 October 2019
University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) – 19 September 2019
University of Texas (Austin) Symphony Band (Joshua Gall, conductor) – 10 April 2019
Texas A&M University (College Station) Wind Symphony (Timothy Rhea, conductor) - 2 March 2019
Texas A&M University (College Station) Wind Symphony (Timothy Rhea, conductor) - 14 February 2019 (2019 TMEA Conference, San Antonio)
Ronald Reagan High School (San Antonio, Tex.) Wind Ensemble (Dan Morrison, conductor) - 21 December 2018 (2018 Midwest Clinic) *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

After Hafiz (2016)
Amber Sky
Baron Cimetiere's Mambo (2004)
Baron Piquant on Pointe (2011)
Baron La Croix's Shuffle (2007)
Baron Samedi's Sarabande (and Soft Shoe) (2005)
Bum's Rush (1994)
Chant and Hymn for Our Lady
Circa 1600 (2018)
Cloudless Day, Bitter Sky (2002)
"Come Memory..." (2002)
Concerto in One Movement for Bass Trombone (1979)
Court Music (2005)
Don't You See? (2001)
Effulgent Light (2017)
Exhilaration and Cry (2008)
Fantasy on "In Dulci Jubilo" (2015)
Fantasy on "La Golondrina" (2003)
Fantasy on Mr. Hyde's Song (1998)
Fantasy Variations (1927/1998)
Farewell to Gray (2001)
Fayetteville Bop (2002)
From "An Alabama Songbook" (2007)
- Honey in the Rock (2008)
JS Dances (2003)
J'ai été au bal (1999)
Kentucky Harmony (2000)
Let Evening Come (Grantham) (2014)
Lone Star Twister (2008)
Music for the Blanton (2006)
Northern Celebration (2001)
Phantasticke Spirites (2002)
Shenandoah (2017)
Southern Harmony (1998)
- Wondrous Love (2008)
Sol y Sombra (2014)
Spangled Heavens (2010)
Starry Crown (2007)
Symphony for Winds and Percussion (2009)
- Stomp (Grantham) (2009)
Summer of 2008 (2008)
Thunderbird
Trumpet Gloria (2006)
Tuba Concerto (Grantham) (2012)
An Uneasy Mrch
Variations on an American Cavalry Song (2001)
What Comes Around... (2017)
A Winter Sky (2022)

Resources

Donald Grantham website
McCallum, Wendy Zander. "Circa 1600." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 12, Compiled and edited by Andrew Trachsel, 521-531. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2021.
Perusal score