Florentiner March (arr Rossi)

Julius Fučik

Julius Fučík (arr. Antonio Rossi)

This article is a stub. If you can help add information to it,
please join the WRP and visit the FAQ (left sidebar) for information.

This work bears the designation Opus 214.

General Info

Year: 1907 / 2007
Duration: c. 5:40
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Scomegna Edizioni Musicali
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €65.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo/Flute I
Flute II
Flute Junior (optional)
Oboe
E-flat Soprano Clarinet (optional)
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Junior (optional)
B-flat Bass Clarinet (optional)
B-flat Soprano Saxophone (optional)
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone (optional)
E-flat Cornet (optional)
B-flat Trumpet I-II
B-flat Tenor Horn
E-flat Horn or Alto I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani (optional)
Percussion, including:

Glockenspiel (optional)
Bass Drum
Snare Drum
Crash Cymbals

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Although most audiences remember Julius Fučik for his Entry of the Gladiators March, a recent international popularity poll indicates a preference for his Florentiner March. The length and content of this march lead the listener to suspect that, like Sousa with his Free Lance March, Fučik must have attempted to condense the most important material for an operetta into a march.

The work opens with a short bugle fanfare and proceeds directly into a strain of repeated notes which seem to picture a flighty Florentine signorina chattering to her gentleman friend from Berlin who is given only enough time to answer a (two-note) "ja-wohl!" occasionally. The work continues with another fanfare; a light and beautiful trio melody; an interlude; and a triumphant repeat with a challenging piccolo part.

In the November 1969 issue of The Instrumentalist, Uno Andersson notes that this march was originally titled La Rosa de Toscana, but that political reasons forced the composer to change his salute from the entire region of Tuscany to its capital, Florence.

- Program Note by Program Notes for Band

Fučik composed the Florentiner march in 1907 while he was the bandmaster for the 86th Infantry Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The band was stationed in Budapest at the time, and the garrison’s nine other military bands challenged Fučik to produce worthwhile band music, resulting in a particularly productive compositional period. Florentiner opens with a stern bugle call, after which the march becomes lighthearted. The main melody of spritely repeated notes in the upper voices is occasionally interrupted by sarcastic responses in the low brass. An expansive lyrical middle section is followed by a repeat of the initial material, this time with an added piccolo obbligato to close in a style reminiscent of John Philip Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever.

- Program Note from U.S. Marine Band concert program, 11 August 2022

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Symphony Symphonic Winds (Miriam Grisso, conductor) - 16 May 2018

Works for Winds by This Composer

Children of the Regiment (tr. Bourgeois) (ca. 1915/1996)
Concertino for Bassoon (arr. Belohoubek) (2015)
Der alto Brummbar. See: The Old Grumbly Bear and The Old Sore-Head
Entry of the Gladiators (arr. Balent) (1900/2004)
Entry of the Gladiators (arr. Holcombe Jr.) (1900)
Entry of the Gladiators (tr. Laurendeau; arr. Seredy) (1900/1936)
Entry of the Gladiators (tr. Laurendeau; arr. Seredy; ed. Ragsdale) (1900/1997)
Fanfare Sounds (arr. Bourgeois) (2017)
Florentiner (arr. Lake, ed. Fennell) (1907/1980)
Florentiner March (ed. Bourgeois) (1907/1999)
Florentiner March (arr. Rossi) (1907/2007)
Gigantic (arr. Sip) (2002/2016)
Kinizsi (ed. Ohnmeiss)
Kinizsi (arr. Borodach)
Marinarella (arr. Beek) (1907/2005)
Mississippi River (arr. Studnitzky) (1902/1995)
The Old Grumbly Bear (arr. Glover) (1910/2004)
The Old Sore-Head (arr. Rogers) (1910/2000)
Thunder and Blazes (arr. Foster Jr.) (1900/2011)
Unter Der Admirals Flagge (Singerling) (1983)
Victory Trophies (arr. Sip) (1915/2002/2016)

Resources

Perusal score
Smith, Norman E. (2002). ‘’Program Notes for Band.’’ Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 214-5.