Gallimaufry

Guy Woolfenden

General Info

Year: 1983
Duration: c. 13:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Ariel Music
Cost: Score & Parts - $190.00

Movements (Played without pause)

1. Church and State
2. Inn and Out
3. Starts and Fits
4. Father and Son
5. Advance and Retreat
6. Church and Status Quo

Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II (II doubling Cor Anglais)
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani (3 drums)
Percussion I-II, including:

Bass Drum
Chimes
Clash cymbals
Glockenspiel
Police whistle
Side drum
Suspended cymbal
Tabor or Tom tom
Tam-tam
Tambourine
Vibraphone (optional)
Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Gallimaufry: A medley, any confused jumble of things, but strictly speaking a hotch-potch made up of all the scraps of the larder. Cf Shakespeare The Winter’s Tale “a gallimaufry of gambols”.

This suite for concert band was inspired by Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays and derived from music written for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions which opened the Barbican Theatre, London, in June 1982. Dedicated to the director, Trevor Nunn, then the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with grateful thanks for his suggestion that I should expand and mold the music for these productions into a form suitable for concert performance. My thanks also to Timothy Reynish and BASBWE who, with funds provided by North West Arts, commissioned the work and helped to ensure its first performance, which I conducted on September 24th 1983 with the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra.

The work is continuous, and the thematic material of each of the six sections closely related.

Movement One: Church and State
Leadership; the establishment; temporal and ecclesiastical power

Movement Two: Inn and Out
The Boar’s Head Tavern; the Stews; low-life revels

Movement Three: Starts and Fits
Tavern Brawl; Gadshill ambush; Pistol “the swaggerer” evicted; Mistress Quickly’s rescue.

Movement Four: Father and Son
Relationship of King Henry and Falstaff to Prince Hall; real and surrogate parent.

Movement Five: Advance and Retreat
Recruiting March derived from the Tavern tune

Movement Six: Church and Status Quo
Falstaff rejected. Hal becomes King; order restored

- Program Note by Guy Woolfenden

Awards

Gallimaufry has been recommended as interesting, serious and distinctive music by members of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE).

Media

Audio CD: Royal Northern College of Music (Guy Woolfenden, conductor).

State Ratings

Florida: VI --- (The Florida Bandmasters Association denotes this as significant literature)

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Shishiki Gakuen Music University (Tokyo, Japan) Green Tie Wind Ensemble (Timothy Reynish, conductor) - 5 December 2023
Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester) Wind Ensemble (Timothy Reynish, conductor) - 29 June 2023
North Cheshire (UK) Wind Orchestra (Timothy Reynish, conductor) – 12 March 2023
The Knightwind Ensemble (South Milwaukee, Wisc.) (Erik N. Janners, Conductor) - 22 April 2022
Stuttgart (Germany) Symphonic Youth Wind Orchestra (Alexander Beer, conductor) – 20 November 2021
Connecticut (Fairfield) Symphonic Winds (Charles Brian Depaul, conductor) - 16 November 2019
Irish Symphonic Wind Orchestra (Limerick) (Timothy Reynish, conductor) - 3 November 2019
North Dakota State University (Fargo) Wind Symphony (Matthew Winarski, conductor) – 2 December 2018
Sierra Nevada Winds (Yuba City, Calif.) (Robert Hesketh, conductor) – 19 November 2016
Washington and Lee University (Lexington, Va.) Wind Ensemble (Christopher Dobbins, conductor) – 3 November 2015
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Wind Ensemble (Andrew McMahan, conductor) - 7 June 2013
SUNY Fredonia NYSSMA Zone Honours Band (Timothy Reynish, conductor) - November 2007
Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, Eng.) Wind Ensemble (Guy Woolfenden, conductor) - 24 September 1983 *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Resources

Woolfenden, G. (1984). Gallimaufry: For Concert Band [score]. Ariel Music: Sibford Ferris, Oxfordshire, England.