Flourish for Wind Band

Ralph Vaughan Williams

General Info

Year: 1939
Duration: c. 1:55
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Military Band
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Cost: Score and Parts - $21.50 | Score Only - $20.95

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
E-flat Clarinet
B-flat Clarinet Solo
B-flat Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contralto Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-II
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Trombone III (bass)
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion, 1-2 players, including:

Bass Drum
Crash Cymbal
Snare Drum

Errata

B-flat Soprano Clarinet I, 3 after reh. D, beat 1: Should be a half note G (not a quartet note), just like the measure at reh. D

Program Notes

This short work (only about 90 seconds long) was scored for military band with numerous clarinets, cornets, saxophones, euphoniums and timpani. Having been written as an overture to a pageant in the Royal Albert Hall, the score was then lost -- only to reappear in 1971. Upon its discovery the work was adapted twice by Roy Douglas -- first for brass band and then for symphony orchestra. The orchestral version is scored for wind instruments, together with double basses, timpani and percussion. This version had its first performance by the Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra in 1974. The original and the adaptations have all been published by Oxford University Press, although no recordings are known.

- Program Note by Steve Schwartz

Ralph Vaughan Williams, a highly respected English composer, wrote some of the earliest works for twentieth-century concert band, with many of his pieces considered pillars of band literature. Flourish for Wind Band was written as an overture to the pageant Music and the People performed in the Royal Albert Hall in 1939. The score was then lost, only to reappear in 1971. It was not made available to American bands until it was published in 1972. Flourish for Wind Band followed on the heels of Vaughan Williams’ great masterworks for band, English Folk Song Suite and Toccata Marziale, and is significant, in part, because it is a relatively easy work (grade 3), by a composer of high stature and skill.

- Program Note by the Creekside Middle School Wind Symphony concert program, 20 December 2013

Media

Audio: Royal Northern College of Music (Timothy Reynich, conductor) - 1999

State Ratings

Alabama: Class CC
Arkansas: III
Georgia: III
Iowa: III
Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP III
Louisiana: II, IV, V
Maryland: III
Massachusetts: IV
Michigan: Senior High C
Mississippi: 5-A
New York: Concert Band IV
North Carolina: IV
South Carolina: IV
Texas: IV and V. Complete

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Bethel College (North Newton, Kan.) Wind Ensemble (Timothy Shade, conductor) - 22 November 2021
Gustavus Adolphus College (Saint Peter, Minn.) Wind Orchestra (Jonathan Listul, conductor) - 6 November 2021
Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah) University Band (Shaylee Croxall, conductor) - 6 April 2021
Benedictine College (Atchison, Kan.) Symphonic Band (Jennifer Whyte, conductor) - 20 March 2021
Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Mark Scatterday, conductor) - 17 February 2021
University of Louisville (Ky.) Symphonic Band "L1" (Frederick Speck, conductor) - 22 November 2020
Dordt University (Sioux Center, Iowa) Campus Band (Onsby C. Rose, conductor) - 21 November 2020
West Virginia University (Morgantown) Symphonic Band (Cheldon Williams, conductor) - 17 November 2020
Central DeWitt (Iowa) High School Concert Band (Josh Greubel, conductor) – 9 March 2020
Ball State University (Muncie, Ind.) Concert Band (Adam Friedrich, conductor) – 26 February 2020
Western Illinois University (Macomb) Showcase Honor Band (Robert Meunier, conductor) – 22 February 2020
Kings County Concert Band (Brooklyn, N.Y.) (Jasmine Britt, conductor) – 14 December 2019
Skidmore Community Concert Band (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) (Milton Lee, conductor) – 5 December 2019
Marietta (Ohio) College Wind Ensemble (Christopher Schletter, conductor) – 20 November 2919
Kennesaw (Ga.) State University Wind Symphony (Debra Traficante, conductor) – 18 November 2019
Kansas State University (Manhattan) Concert Band (Allegra Fisher, conductor) – 24 October 2019
Parkland College (Champaign, Ill.) Concert Band (Larry Stoner, conductor) - 20 October 2019
Lakeshore Wind Ensemble (Manitowoc, Wisc.) (Marc Sackman, conductor) – 19 October 2019
Oneonta (N.Y.) Community Concert Band (Andrew Pease, conductor) – 9 September 2019
Carthage College (Kenosha, Wisc.) Concert Band (James Ripley, conductor) – 17 May 2019
Smoky Hill High School (Aurora, Colo.) Symphonic Winds (Zak Ruffert, conductor) – 26 April 2019
High School Concert Band [Interlochen, Mich.] (Frederick Fennell, conductor) - 1 August 1986

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Folk Songs from Somerset (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
My Bonny Boy (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
Seventeen Come Sunday (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)

All Wind Works

Concerto for Bass Tuba (arr. Wick and Chambers) (1954/1992)
Concerto Grosso (arr. Grechesky) (1924)
Concerto in F minor for Tuba and Winds (arr. Hare) (1954/1992)
England's Pleasant Land (arr. Noble) (1938/2017)
English Folk Song Suite (1924)
English Folk Song Suite (arr. Villanueva) (1924/)
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (arr. Bocook) (1910/2006)
Fantasia on Greensleeves (arr. Wagner) (1934/2011)
Five English Folk Songs (arr. Feldman) (1913/2009)
Five Variants of "Dives and Lazarus" (arr. Gregson) (1939/2004)
Flourish for Glorious John (or. Boyd) (1957/1998)
Flourish for Wind Band (1939)
Folk Songs from Somerset (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
Golden Vanity, The (arr. Wagner) (1933/2009)
I Vow to Thee, My Country (as setter; ed. Grechesky) (1921/1988)
Lark Ascending, The (tr. Silvester) (1914/1925/2003)
Linden Lea (arr. Wagner) (1902/2013)
Linden Lea (arr. Stout) (1902/1984)
The Lowlands of Scotland (arr. Daehn) (1912/2006)
March Past of the Kitchen Utensils (arr. Erwin) (1909/2010)
My Bonny Boy (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
Norfolk Rhapsody (tr. Robert O'Brien) (1905)
Overture to "The Wasps" (tr. Frank Hudson) (1909)
Prelude, 49th Parallel (arr. van der Beek) (1960/2018)
Prelude: 49th Parallel (arr. Noble) (1941/2014)
Prelude: 49th Parallel (arr. Winkler) (1941/1960)
Prelude from "49th Parallel" (tr. Osmon) (1941/1960/1987/2002)
Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes (arr. Curnow) (1954/1982)
Prelude: The New Commonwealth (arr. Grauer) (1940/2006)
A Ralph Vaughan Williams Portrait (arr. Wagner) (2018)
Rhosymedre (tr. Beeler) (1920/1972)
Rhosymedre (tr. Johnston) (1920/2011)
Rhosymedre (tr. Baldwin) (1920/)
Running Set, The (tr. Silvester) (1933)
Scherzo alla Marcia (1956)
Sea Songs (1925)
Sea Songs (arr. Longfield) (1925/2006)
Seventeen Come Sunday (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1924/2020)
Sine Nomine (arr. Reed) (1976)
Sine Nomine (arr. Houseknecht) (1906/1960)
Songs of Travel (arr. Patterson) (1901-4)
Three Studies in English Folk Song (arr. Harbinson) (1927/1999/2003)
Toccata Marziale (1924)
Toccata Marziale (ed Battisti) (ed. Battisti) (1924/2005)
Variations for Wind Band (trans. Hunsberger) (1957/1988/1997)
Vaughan Williams Christmas, A (arr. Wagner) (1999)
Wassail (arr. Smith)

Resources

Miles, Richard B., and Larry Blocher. (2010). Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 1. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 319-325.