Grant Them Eternal Rest

Andrew Boysen, Jr.

General Info

Year: 2003
Duration: c. 17:30
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Neil A Kjos Music
Cost: Score & Parts - $90.00 | Score Only - $9.00

Movements

1. Introit - 2:35
2. Kyrie - 3:45
3. Dies Irae - 3:50
4. Sanctus - 1:55
5. Agnus Dei - 4:00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
Eb Contra-Alto Clarinet
Bassoon I-II
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-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Piano
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:

Brake Drum
Crash Cymbal
Crystal Glass
Finger Cymbals
Glockenspiel
Gong (Tam-tam)
Marimba
Sandpaper Blocks
Sizle Cymbal
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal (medium)
Temple Blocks (5)
Timpani (4)
Tom-Toms (4)
Triangle
Tubular Bells
Vibraphone
Wind Chimes
Xylophone

Players singing

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Grant Them Eternal Rest was commissioned by Andrew Mast and the St. Ambrose University Symphonic Band and is dedicated to those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. The piece follows the general outline of a requiem mass, but without voices, including five movements: Introit, Kyrie, Dies Irae, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

Dr. Mast and I are good friends and I was extremely honored when he asked me to write a piece for him and his ensemble. Over the course of several months, he and I discussed various approaches to the commission and eventually we settled on a multi-movement work that would reflect various aspects of childhood. I began to play around with some ideas and to search for poetic texts that might influence the piece.

I was almost ready to begin the work and spent part of the September 8-9 weekend finalizing ideas. All of that changed, of course, on the eleventh. The overwhelming emotions that I experienced on that Tuesday were something that I had never before experienced in relationship to an event outside of my personal sphere. I can't begin to explain them. I simply knew that I wanted to express them somehow. Dr. Mast agreed that changing the focus of the piece might be a worthy and appropriate thing to do, so I set to work on the new plan.

The concept behind the piece is expressed clearly in the title. I have no interest in exploring or re-living the moments of that day. Instead, the work is simply a prayer to bless those who died so needlessly. The pitch material for the piece is taken primarily from the Dies Irae and a chord progression that I originally sketched for possible use in my Symphony No. 2 for baritone, winds and percussion. The text under the original passage was "Lord, have mercy" and I felt a connection between the material and my thoughts about the piece.

Each movement is intended to reflect the text of the requiem mass, with the Dies Irae movement forming the centerpiece and giving the whole piece an arch form. I eliminated some of the movements of the traditional requiem mass so that the work as a whole would have a balanced effect. Instead, I chose the five movements whose text most accurately reflected the emotions that I wished to convey.

- Program Note by composer

Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)

State Ratings

Minnesota - Category I

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

East Carolina University (Greenville, S.C.) Concert Band (Michael Lewis, conductor) - 30 September 2021
Indiana State University Symphonic Band (Doug Keiser, conductor) - Spring 2011

Works for Winds by This Composer

Alchemy (2008/2013)
All the Pretty Little Horses. See: Three Folk Song Settings for Band
Ancient Runes (2017)
Apples (2018)
Branden's Rainbow (1997/2002)
Bright Sunny Days (2013)
By My Side (2018)
Casus Belli (2018)
Celebration In Brass (1995)
Concerto for Percussion (as transcriber) (1994/1997)
Conversations with the Night (1994)
Dance, from All Hail the Power
December Dance (2005)
Diamond Jubilee Suite (2018)
Distorted Images: A Jazzman's Nightmare (1989)
A Fallen Leaf (2004)
Fanfare: In Memoriam (2015)
Fantasy on a Theme by Sousa (2003)
Frenzy (2010)
The Four Horsemen (1989)
A Glimpse through the Trees (2014)
Grant Them Eternal Rest (2003)
Havener Fanfare (2012)
Heirloom (2009)
I Am (1990)
John Henry (1990)
Joyride (2003/2008)
Kinetic Energy (1994)
Kirkpatrick Fanfare (1999)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (2006)
Metamorphosis (2013)
Old Ben's Farm (2016/2019)
On the Merrimack (2010)
Ovations (1995)
Phoenix (2020)
Poor Wayfaring Stranger. See: Three Folk Song Settings for Band
Relentless (2000)
Scarborough Fair. See: Three Folk Song Settings for Band
Scherzo (1995)
Scherzo No 2 (2013)
Shades of Ivory (1996)
Simple Song (1995)
Snowflakes Dancing (2012/2016)
Song for Lyndsay (2005)
Song for My Children (2013)
Song for My Parents (2020)
Song of Loudest Praise, A (2010)
Song of the Sea Maidens (1994)
Stamp, from A Jack Stamp Suite (2017)
Star-Crossed (2013)
Symphony No. 1 for Winds and Percussion (1997)
Symphony No. 3 (1999)
Symphony No. 4 (2006)
Symphony No. 6 (2012)
Symphony No. 8 (2015-2016)
- Winter of the World
Symphony No. 10 (2019)
This Is the Drum (2013)
Thoughts of You (1998)
Three Folk Song Settings for Band
- Poor Wayfaring Stranger (2007/2012)
- All the Pretty Little Horses (as arranger) (2014)
- Scarborough Fair (as arranger) (2013)
Time Streams (After Tricycle) (2011)
To Break Earth's Sleep (2015)
Tricycle (1997)
Twilight of the Gods (2010)
An Uncommon Man (1993)
Unraveling (2006)
Urban Scenes (1993)
The Vikings (2015)

Resources

Andrew Boysen Jr. website
Boysen, A. (2003). Grant Them Eternal Rest [score]. Neil A. Kjos Company: San Diego, Calif.