Flag of Stars

Gordon Jacob

Subtitle: Salute to America

General Info

Year: 1954 / 1956
Duration: 10:30
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Cost: Rental

Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Solo
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet (doubling Bass Saxophone)
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
Bass Saxophone
B-flat Cornet Solo
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion, including:

Bass Drum
Crash Cymbal
Snare Drum
Tambourine

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

The overture was written during the end of 1953 and the beginning of 1954 and is intended as a gesture from an inhabitant of the Old World to those of the New.

The introductory fanfare and the slow section which follows it recalls the sacrifices made by your country in both world wars in the struggle with dark forces of destruction. The allegro is prompted by thoughts of the energy, vitality, and cheerfulness of the American people - young, optimistic, and full of their faith in their destiny. The second subject in 3/4 time might perhaps suggest a sort of national song and right at the end there is a brief quotation from the "Star Spangled Banner." But apart from any extra-musical meaning the work is constructed solidly on classical formal lines though its musical language is that of the 20th century (though not of an extreme type).

- Program Note by composer

Flag of Stars is a symphonic overture commissioned by the Pi Kappa Omicron Band Fraternity. The work was written in 1954 and published in 1956. The dedication reads, “For the Symphonic Band of Louisville University, Kentucky, USA.” Though written by a British composer, the work is infused with American patriotism. The title is taken from the Walt Whitman poem “Flag of Stars! Thick–sprinkled Bunting!” Jacob referred to Flag of Stars as “a gesture from an inhabitant of the Old World to those of the New.” So unsubtle are the patriotic references that in the closing measures, Jacob quotes the final couplet of The Star-spangled Banner.

Gordon Jacob wrote of Flag of Stars,

The introductory fanfare and the slow section which follows it recalls the sacrifices made by your country in both world wars in the struggle with dark forces of destruction. The allegro is prompted by thoughts of the energy, vitality, and cheerfulness of the American people—young, optimistic, and full of their faith in their destiny. The second subject in 3/4 time might perhaps suggest a sort of national song.

In the foreword to the published score to Flag of Stars, Jacob offers one more American patriotic gesture by quoting the final stanza of Walt Whitman’s Song of the Redwood Tree.

Fresh come to a New World indeed, yet long prepared,
I see the Genius of the Modern, child of the Real and Ideal,
Clearing the ground for broad humanity, the true America,
heir of the past so grand,
To build a grander future.

- Program Note by State University of New York, Potsdam, Crane Concert Band concert program, 5 October 2016

Media

Audio CD: Composer's Collection: Gordon Jacob. North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Corporon, conductor)

State Ratings

Florida: VI
North Carolina: VI

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Southeastern Louisiana University (Hammond) Wind Symphony (Robert Schwartz, conductor) - 7 March 2023
West Chester (Penn.) University Wind Symphony (M. Gregory Martin, conductor) - 29 April 2021
State University of New York, Fredonia, Concert Band (Ray Stewart, conductor) – 5 March 2020
State University of New York, Potsdam, Crane Concert Band (James T. Madeja, conductor) – 5 October 2016
University of Louisiana-Lafayette Wind Ensemble (William Hochkeppel, conductor) - 26 April 2016
Florida State University (Tallahassee) Summer Music Camp Wind Orchestra (Patrick Dunnigan, conductor) - 2015

Works for Winds by This Composer

The Battell (as transcriber) (1964)
Cameos for Bass Trombone and Wind Band
Celebration Overture (1984)
Concerto for Band (1969)
Concerto for Bassoon and Strings (or Band) (1948)
Concerto for Horn (tr. Rogers) (1951)
Concerto for Timpani and Band (1984/1988)
Concerto for Trombone (1956/1995)
Concerto for Trombone (arr. Denis Wick) (1956/1999)
Divertimento in E-flat for Wind Octet (1969)
Double Concerto for Clarinet and Trumpet and Band (1929/1979/1983)
Fantasia for Euphonium and Band (1969/1973)
Fantasia on an English Folk Song (1984)
Fantasia on the Alleluia Hymn (arr. Wagner) (1949/2012)
First Saxophone Quartet. See: Saxophone Quartet No. 1
Flag of Stars (1956)
Giles Farnaby Suite
Moorside March (as arranger) (1928/1960)
More Old Wine in New Bottles (1978)
Music for a Festival (1951)
Old Wine in New Bottles (1958)
An Original Suite (1928)
Overture: Alexandra Palace (1975/1994)
Prelude to a Comedy
Saxophone Quartet No. 1 (1974)
Saxophone Quartet No. 2 (1979)
Second Saxophone Quartet. See: Saxophone Quartet No. 2
Sir Godfrey Kneller's March
Suite in B-flat
Sweet Nightingale
Symphony AD 78
Tribute to Canterbury (1972/1977)
William Byrd Suite (1924/1960)
William Byrd Suite (ed. Trachsel) (1924/1960/2007)

Resources

Jacob, G. (1956). Flag of Stars [score]. Boosey & Hawkes: [s.l.].
Montesinos, Sixto F. "Gordon Jacob's Flag of Stars." The Instrumentalist. September 2017, pp. 16-20, 39. Print.