Dybbuk Variations

Kenneth M. Snoeck

General Info

Year: 2007
Duration: c. 6:45
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Hal Leonard
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $95.00; (digital) - $95.00 | Score Only (print) - $10.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
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-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:

Chimes
Concert Bass Drum
Concert Toms
Crash Cymbals
Finger Cymbals
Marimba
Piccolo Snare Drum
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Tam-tam
Triangle
Vibraphone
Wood Block
Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

The word "dybbuk" is from European-Jewish folklore, meaning a possessing, sometimes malevolent spirit, which has not been able to fulfill its function in its lifetime. Here a workhorse tune, the most prosaic of musical forms, a school fight song, gets an opportunity to live a much more varied and expressive existence, one that it did not have the chance to live in its former "life." While never stated literally, the theme and its deconstructed motives are used to provide compositional motivation, always in a hidden or disguised form and in a hopefully somewhat unusual or even subverted way.

The individual variations are subtitled With Urgency; Sassy; Deliberately, with Pent Anger; Seductively; and With Energy.

- Program Note by composer

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown
Audio CD: VanderCook College of Music Symphonic Band (Charles Menghini, conductor) - 2007 Midwest Clinic

State Ratings

Tennessee: V

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

VanderCook College of Music (Chicago, Ill.) Symphonic Band (Kenneth Snoeck, conductor) – 21 December 2007 (2007 Midwest Clinic)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Baksheesh (2011)
Dybbuk Variations (2007)
Gayaneh Dance Suite No. 1 (as arranger) (1939/2009)
Rasputin
Scaramouch (1973)

Resources

Kenneth M. Snoeck website Accessed 18 April 2021
Perusal score
Snoeck, K. (2007). Dybbuk Variations [score]. Music Works: Milwaukee, Wisc.