Elegy for Albinoni

From Wind Repertory Project
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Shelley Hanson

Shelley Hanson


General Info

Year: 2011
Duration: c. 5:05
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Cost: Score and Parts - $65.00  |   Score Only - $7.50


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II (I optional B-flat Soprano Clarinet or Soprano Saxophone)
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet I-II
E-flat Contra Alto Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpets I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Baritone
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani (optional)
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Marimba
  • Vibraphone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Elegy for Albinoni is a memorial piece in honor of the prolific but now rarely performed Baroque-era composer Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751). After an opening theme which sets the ultra-romantic tone of this piece, the second theme is based on rhythmically and harmonically altered versions of a few measures of one of Albinoni's violin sonatas. The two themes are used in alternation, in fragments, or simultaneously throughout the piece.

Albinoni's music was admired by one of the greatest composers of his time, Johann Sebastian Bach. Though Albinoni was 14 years older than Bach, he outlived him, perhaps partially because, as the independently wealthy son of a paper merchant, Albinoni never struggled financially. Bach used the older man's bass lines as examples in his teaching, as well as using some of Albinoni's themes as the basis for some of Bach's own pieces. Albinoni's oboe concerto is one of the standards of the oboe repertoire. However, the most familiar piece associated with Albinoni, the well-known Adagio, is actually by 20th-century composer Remo Giazotto, who says he based that piece on several measures of one of Albinoni's lost works.

Elegy was originally commissioned for string orchestra in 2008 by Breck School (Minn.) in honor of Claudette Laureano, recipient of the Jean Wigley Award for Outstanding Teaching. A full orchestra version was commissioned in 2009 by the Minnesota Youth Symphonies (Claudette and Manny Laureano, Co-Music Directors). This version for winds was commissioned in 2010 by Adam Sroka and the St. Michael-Albertville (Minn.) High School Wind Ensemble.

- Program note from score


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Carter, Scott. "Elegy for Albinoni." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 10, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 381-388. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2015.
  • The Horizon Leans Forward..., compiled and edited by Erik Kar Jun Leung, GIA Publications, 2021, p. 347.