Hands of Mercy

Julie Giroux

Julie Giroux

Subtitle: In Memory of a Baby Girl

General Info

Year: 2001
Duration: c. 7:00
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Musica Propria
Cost: Score and Parts - $70.00   |   Score Only - $17.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
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
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:

• Bass Drum
• Crash Cymbals

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Grace Victoria Giroux was my niece. She developed a fatal birth defect one month before she was to be born. So debilitating was the defect, the doctors assured my brother Peter and his wife Cathy, that she would be stillborn and the safest thing for all involved would be to carry to term, have a C-section, a small chapel service and all would be over. I went with them to the hospital, just the three of us. The grandparents and other family on both sides were going to wait until that afternoon for the service.

Unfortunately for all involved, Grace was not stillborn. She was alive and they handed her to my brother right after the C-section and told him to just hold her -- it would not be long before she would pass. My brother and I took turns holding her until she died. It was five hours. It felt like an eternity.

We didn’t call anybody; we were both in shock. Cathy, her mother, was knocked out because the delivery was life-threatening for her as well. Just me and Peter, my brother, with that precious little baby, who looked just like his other three children when they were born. She was beautiful. It was very hard to believe there was even anything wrong with her. She never opened her eyes, but she smiled. She held our fingers in her tiny little hands.

It was the longest five hours of my life.
Five hours I would never wish to do again.
Five hours I would not trade for all others.
She was an angel.
Not many can say they have held an angel.

- Program Note by composer.

Premiered at the Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma Convention. July 24, 2001, Corpus Christi, Texas, With the composer conducting. Commissioned by Donna Beth McCormick in honor of Beta Gamma Chapter members of Tau Beta Sigma, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, and Patsy Drury Hejl, National President, 1967-1969.

In Memory of Grace Victoria Giroux, October 4, 2000 - October 4, 2000

- Program Note from score

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

• Ohlone Wind Orchestra (Fremont, Calif.) (Tony Clements, conductor) - 26 March 2023
• Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa) Wind Ensemble (Craig A. Hancock, conductor) – 15 April 2018
• Orange County Wind Symphony (Anaheim, Calif.) (Anthony Mazzaferro, conductor) - 23 November 2014
• CBDA All-State (Calif.) High School Symphonic Band (Tony Mazzafarro, conductor) - 23 February 2014
• Clarke Central High School (Athens, Ga.) Symphonic Winds (Robert Lawrence, Jr., conductor) - 29 April 2013

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

• The Bonsai Tree (Flex instrumentation) (2010/2020)
• Chanukkah, Oh Chanukkah (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
• Hark the Herald Angels Sing (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1739/2020)
• I'll Be Home A-fore Ye (Flex instrumentation) (2003/2020)
• Market Bridge (Flex instrumentation) (2013/2020)
• One Life Beautiful (Flex instrumentation) (2010/2020)
• Opa! (Flex instrumentation) (2017/2020)
• Our Cast Aways (Flex instrumentation) (2018/2020)
• A Time to Dance (2006) (Flex instrumentation) (2006/2020)

All Wind Works

• Across the Isle of Skye
• Af-free-kah! (2013)
• All Good Things (2003)
• All Through the Night (as arranger) (2011)
• Always (2019)
• Amaranthine (2008)
• Appalachian Portrait (2017)
• Arcus IX
• The Ash Grove (2019)
• Autumn Rose (2017)
• Away in a Manger (as arranger) (2011)
• Before the Sun (2013)
• Beyond Measure (2023)
• Beyond the Gates (2022)
• The Bench by the Sea (2017)
• The Blue Marble (2022)
• The Bonsai Tree (2010)
• Bookmarks from Japan (2013)
• Boston Liberties (2003)
• Burning the Wickerman (2020)
• Carnaval! (2013)
• Celestial Seas (2014)
• Chanukkah, Oh Chanukkah (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
• Chorale for Wind Band and Melodic Percussion (as arranger) (2015)
• Christmas and Sousa Forever (as arranger) (2010)
• Christmas Toons (2012)
• Christmas with Mozart (2007)
• Circus Franticus (2001)
• Córdoba (2013)
• Crown of Thorns (1998)
• Culloden (2000)
  • Culloden I and II
  • Culloden III
• Dragon Sky (2015)
• Dream Dancer (2005)
• The Elements. See: Symphony No. 5
• Empire (2006)
• An Epic Fanfare. See: Three Fanfares
• Fantasy in French (2012)
• Fields of Gold (2019)
• The First Noel (as arranger)
• Fort McHenry Suite (2000)
• Freedom Rising (2017)
• Glenbury Grove (2009)
• Glorious Light (2019)
• Godspeed (2023)
• The Grace in Being (2013)
• The Greatest Generation (2002)
• Hands of Mercy (2001)
• HardDrive (2010)
• Hark the Herald Angels Sing (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1739/2020)
• Hark! Those Bells Are Smokin’ (2011)
• The Hearthstone (2016)
• Husaria Cavalry Overture (2006)
• Hymn for the Innocent (2016)
• I Got Rhythm for Christmas (2012)
• Il Burlone (2000)
• I'll Be Home A'fore Ye (2006)
• I'll Be Home A-fore Ye (Flex instrumentation) (2003/2020)
• I'll Be Home for Christmas (as arranger) (1943/)
• Imbizo (2007)
• Impressions (2013)
• In My Father's Eyes (2017)
• In the Bleak Midwinter (as arranger) (1906/2018)
• Incantations (2019)
• Integrity Fanfare and March
• Italian Rhapsody (2005)
• Jerusalem (as arranger)
• Jingle Them Bells (as arranger) (1857/2011)
• Journey Through Orion (2006)
• Just Flyin'! (2015)
• K2 (2012)
• Kalanu (2002)
• Khan (2008)
• La Mezquita de Córdoba (2005)
• Legacy (2011)
• Let Your Spirit Sing (2003)
• The Little Drummer Boy's Bolero
• Louisiana Parish Sketches (2001)
• Mambo Perro Loco (2008)
• March of the Sun Dried Tomatoes (2000)
• Market Bridge (Flex instrumentation) (2013/2020)
• Medalist Fanfare (2013)
• Mile High (2023)
• Moonshine. See: Shine
• Movin' on Down the Line (2009)
• My Soul to Keep (2019)
• Mystery on Mena Mountain (1985)
• Mythic (2021)
• The Nature of the Beast (2001)
• Nearer, My God, To Thee (as arranger) (2010)
• Nihonbashi. See: Market Bridge
• No Finer Calling (2006)
• No Man's Land (2017)
• Nothing That Is (2000)
• Nutcracker Fantasia (as arranger) (1891/2012)
• O Holy Night (arr. Giroux) (1847/2011)
• Of Blood and Stone (2015)
• Of Silence and Sparrows (2022)
• One Life Beautiful (2010)
• One Life Beautiful (Flex instrumentation) (2010/2020)
• One Torch, Two Women, Three Ships and Men Rejoicing (2011)
• Opa! (2018)
• Ouachita (1987)
• Our Cast Aways (2018)
• Our Cast Aways (Flex instrumentation) (2018/2020)
• Outlander (2010)
• Overture in Five Flat (2010)
• Paprikash (2014)
• Peter Patapan (2011)
• Poseidon (2010)
• Primality 2006)
• Prisoner of the Ring (1986)
• Radiant Shadows (2016)
• Rain Softly on Me (2022)
• The Red Baron Drummer
• Riften Wed (2013)
• River Shannon (2020)
• Shadow Falls (2013)
• Shine (2017)
• Silent Night in Gotham (as arranger) (1818/2009)
• Space Symphony (1986/1991)
• The Speed of Heat (2010)
• Stealing Home (2016)
• A Stocking Full of Composers (2009)
• Strathcona Suite (2012)
• Sun Catcher (2022)
• Swashbuckler (2010)
• Symphony No. 1. See: Culloden
• Symphony No. 2. See: A Symphony of Fables
• Symphony No. 3. See: No Finer Calling
• Symphony No. 4. See: Bookmarks from Japan
• Symphony No. 5 (2017)
• Symphony No. 6. see: The Blue Marble
• A Symphony of Fables (2006)
• Taboo for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble
• Three Fanfares (2003)
• Three Wise Guys (2011)
• Tiger Tail March (2000)
• A Time to Dance (2006)
• To Walk with Wings (2000)
• Trillium
• The Twelve Days of Christmas (2012)
• The Twelve Gallon Hat (2013)
• Under the Influence (2022)
• Under the Willow (2015)
• A Very Merry Heart and Soul
• Vigils Keep (2005)
• Vortex (2015)
• Wagon Trail (2003)
• West Wind Overture (2012)
• What Child Is That Playing Carol of the Bells? (as arranger) (2011)
• What Goes in the Night (2000)
• When Country Comes to Town (2008)
• Where the Red Fern Grows (2016)
• Wild West Overture
• Winter from "The Four Seasons" (as arranger) (1725/)
• Without You
• Wolves in Moonlight (2019)
• Zephyr, Chorale and Dance (2012)

Resources

• Giroux, J. (2000). Hands of Mercy: For Concert Band [score]. Musica Propria: San Antonio, TX.
• Julie Giroux website Accessed 10 July 2021