Fanfare Prelude on "Joy to the World"

James Curnow

James Curnow

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General Info

Year: 1985
Duration: c. 2:10
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $60.00   |   Score Only (print) - $6.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
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
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II

(percussion detail needed)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Joy to the World is a popular Christmas song.

The words are by English hymn writer Isaac Watts, based on the second half of Psalm 98 in the Bible. The song was first published in 1719 in Watts' collection; The Psalms of David: Imitated in the language of the New Testament, and applied to the Christian state and worship. Watts wrote the words of Joy to the World as a hymn glorifying Christ's triumphant return at the end of the age, rather than a song celebrating his first coming. The nations are called to celebrate because God's faithfulness to the house of Israel has brought salvation to the world.

The music was adapted and arranged to Watts' lyrics by Lowell Mason in 1839 from an older melody, which was then believed to have originated from Handel, not least because the theme of the refrain (And heaven and nature sing...) appears in the orchestra opening and accompaniment of the recitative Comfort ye from Handel's Messiah, and the first four notes match the beginning of the choruses Lift up your heads and Glory to God from the same oratorio. However, Handel did not compose the entire tune. The name "Antioch" is generally used for the tune.

As of the late 20th century, Joy to the World was the most-published Christmas hymn in North America.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Commercial Discography

None discovered thus far.

State Ratings

• Tennessee: III

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Stonewall Brigade Band (Staunton, Va.) (Bob Moody, conductor) – 12 December 2016
• Gulf Breeze (Fla.) High School Concert Band (Zach Dykes, conductor) - 2015

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)
• Amber Waves of Grain (1994)
• Amber Waves of Grain (Flex instrumentation) (1994)
• Appalachian Dances (2008)
• Beyond the Stars
• Bridge of the Gods (2012)
• Canticle of the Creatures (1984)
• Canticum (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
• 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)
• 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 Prelude (1876/1983)
• Fanfare Prelude on "Joy to the World" (1985)
• Fanfare Prelude on Lobe Den Herren (1982/1997)
• Fantasia di Falcone
• Fantasy on a Colonial Air
• Festive Fanfare for the Holidays (2006)
• Festivity (1993)
• Festivo Fantastico (1998)
• Finale for a Winter Festival (2004)
• Freedom Road (1994)
• French Christmas Carol Fantasy (1989)
• Golliwog's Cakewalk (as arranger)
• Guadalcanal March (as arranger) (1952/1989)
• Illini Fantasy (2006)
• In Storm and Sunshine (as arranger) (1884/1986)
• In the Valley of the Sun (2013)
• Inventions from the Sacred Harp (2005)
• Journey (2009)
• Jubilee (Variations on "Saints Bound for Heaven")
• 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)
• 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)
• Quintessence
• Rejouissance (1988)
• 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)
• Seacliffe Overture (1983)
• 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
• Suite from "Messiah" (as transcriber) (1741/1989)
• Symphonic Chorale for Band (1989)
• Symphonic Triptych (1978)
• Symphonic Variants (1998)
• Three Colonial Ballads (as arranger)
• 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)
• 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. (1985). Fanfare Prelude on "Joy to the World" [score]. Jenson: New Berlin, Wisc.
• Joy to the World, Wikipedia Accessed 9 December 2015