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Elegy on an Evening Hymn
Contents
General Info
Year: 2013
Duration: c. 12:00
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: TRN Music Publisher
Cost: Score and Parts - $95.00 | Score Only - $15.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
Eb Clarinet
Bb Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
Bb Bass Clarinet
Eb Contrabass Clarinet
Eb Alto Saxophone I-II
Bb Tenor Saxophone
Eb Baritone Saxophone
Cornets I-II-III
Bb Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium (Bass Clef & Treble Clef)
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crash Cymbals
- Bar Chimes
- Bells
- Marimba
- Sizzle Cymbal
- Suspended Cymbal
- Temple Blocks
- Tenor Drum
- Tom-Tom
- Triangle
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
Piano
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
The Elegy was commissioned by the Mississippi Bandmasters Association to honor the lives and legacy of the late Mr. and Mrs. John McArthur, long-time band directors and the only husband and wife team ever inducted into the MBA Hall of Fame. In the annals of Mississippi high school band music, they were a legendary couple whose standards of excellence set the level for all others in the state to attain. However, as with all teachers, especially music teachers, their legacy extended far beyond the classroom into the personal and professional lives of many students over their 40+ year careers.
That in a nutshell is the promise of a word like "legacy." All of us who are musicians especially are part and parcel of every teacher with whom we have shared experiences. We have been inspired, motivated and set upon a course that, hopefully, will inspire others after us. I know that personally I had a husband-and-wife team of band directors who literally changed my life and set me on the course of who and what I am today.
I have attempted to portray this enduring responsibility of legacy in this setting of a hymn tune that speaks to an eternal promise.
On a personal note, contrary to common belief, music does not come to us in a dream 99 percent of the time. For me, it's usually a slow arrival of an idea and then a frantic binge of activity to get it all on paper...or in this day and age on a computer screen. And this Elegy was one of my slowest starts ever. It seemed I couldn't find that motivic spark.
My instructions were basically to write a hymn-tune-style piece. And although I had several communications from family members, no one really had any suggestions on which hymn to use. Not knowing the McArthurs personally, I struggled with the hymn selection and decided on Abide with Me, written in 1847 by Scottish Anglican Henry Francis Lyte as he lay dying of tuberculosis. The hymn is a prayer asking God to remain present throughout life, trials and death. The opening line alludes to Luke 24:29, "Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent."
It was until after the piece was finished that I believe the purpose for selecting that hymn hit home. A young instructor at our university, whom I had had as a student years before, and who had gone on to get his Masters and DMA and had returned to teach with us at Lee, was involved in car crash that took his life at age 28. He left behind his young wife and four-month-old baby boy. Coinciding with the Elegy's Mississippi premiere, the Lee University Wind Ensemble performed this piece in remembrance of our friend.
Perhaps inspiration does come in a dream, especially when God whispers in your ear.
"Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me."
-Program Note by composer
Commercial Discography
None discovered thus far.
Audio Links
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Recent Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
Works for Winds by this Composer
- Abram’s Pursuit (1998)
- Adagio (2000)
- Adventures of Kid Cam, the Rocketman!, The (2014)
- American Faces (1996)
- Ancient Dances
- Armies of the Omnipresent Otserf, The
- Army Ants March and Boogie
- At the Strongholds of En Gedi (1996)
- Ballet Exaltare
- Ballet Sacra
- Battle Music
- A Call to Celebration (2012)
- Canticles!
- Case of the Mysterious Stranger, The
- Chase, The
- A Childhood Hymn (as arranger) (1862/1991)
- City Symphony
- Cluster Bluster Fluster March, The
- Connacht Rhapsody (2014)
- Consider the Uncommon Man
- Deborah's Triumph/Jael's Revenge (2016)
- Deerpath Dances
- Divertimented Dances
- The Easter Symphony (2001)
- Elegy on an American Folk Tune
- Elegy on an Evening Hymn (2013)
- Every Morning New
- Falcon Attack!
- Fanfare for Brass and Timpani
- Fanfare for Such a Time as This
- Fanfare for the Glorious NayCart
- Fantasy on a Gaelic Hymnsong (1999)
- Fantasy on Old Hundred (2018)
- Festiva Jubiloso
- Festival Music for a Silver Celebration
- Fort Canterbury March
- Gathering of the Ranks at Hebron, The (1988)
- Gears Pulleys Chains
- Gmyway’s Revenge!
- Graysondance
- Gypsydance (1994)
- Havendance (1982)
- Helm Toccata
- Hero Music (2005)
- Homage: Three Tapestries
- Hopak Raskolniki (1980)
- If You Must Doodle, Doodle Somewhere Else
- In Praise of Gentle Pioneers
- In the Spring At the Time When Kings Go Off to War (1991)
- Jolly Walk in Hibbertland, A
- Kaylen Dreaming (2006)
- Kansas City Dances
- Lake Canterbury Regatta
- Last Run
- Little Adventure Music, A
- Little Fantasy on an American Hymn
- Little Mystery Music, A (1996)
- Liturgical Dances (1982)
- Maelstrom, The
- March of the Combat Patrol, The
- March of the Grand High Poobah (2006)
- March on a Russian Hymnsong
- Mobbusters!
- Nilesdance
- On a Children's Sunday Song
- On a Hymnsong of Lowell Mason (1990)
- On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss (1988)
- On a Hymnsong of Robert Lowery
- On a Southern Hymnsong (1993)
- On an American Spiritual (1991)
- On Ancient Hymns and Festal Dances
- On the Cul-de-sac, Three O’clock, Friday Afternoon
- On the Grand Prairie Texas (1989)
- On the Overland Stage to El Paso
- One Day in a Small Town
- Otserf II : Revenge of the Warrior Prince
- Partita Allegro
- Peasant Village Dance, The
- Praises! (2001)
- Prairie Dances (1998)
- Prelude and Presto (2018)
- Prelude and Rondo (1976)
- Pride of Buxmont, The
- Providence Unfinished
- Quiet River (2011)
- Reagan of Illinois (2011)
- Reagan of Illinois Part II (2013)
- Riding With the Frontier Battalion
- Scaling the North Wall
- Scootin’ on Hardrock (1990)
- Scrappy Bumptoe’s Picture Cards and Ragtag Diary
- Sinfonia Voci (1993)
- Soliloquy
- Some Give All (2016)
- A Song of Moses
- Summer to Fall: A Love Song
- Symphonia Glorioso (2006)
- Symphonic Movement (Holsinger)
- Texas Promenade
- Til His Hand Grew Tired and Froze to the Sword
- To Live the Life Triumphant
- To Tame the Perilous Skies (1990)
- Von Grrrhart’s 613th Regimental March
- War Trilogy: 1971, The
- The White Rose (as arranger) (1917/)
- Zinphonia (2017)