Impressionist Prints

From Wind Repertory Project
Aldo Rafael Forte

Aldo Rafael Forte


Subtitle: Six Masters in Two Galleries


General Info

Year: 2000
Duration: c. 19:52
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: TRN Music Publishers
Cost: Score and Parts - $125.00   |   Score Only - $20.00


Movements

1. Gallery I - Monet: Impression Sunrise - Imposing Houses of Parliament in Fog - 2:51
2. Gallery I - Degas: Ballerinas, "The Star" - 3:31
3. Gallery I - Van Gogh: His Storms, "Wheatfield with Crows" - 2:29
4. Gallery II - Renoir: Elegance and Beauty, "La Parisienne" - 4:43
5. Gallery II - Seurat: Pointillism, "The Side Show" - 2:08
6. Gallery II - Toulouse-Latrec: At the Moulin Rouge, "La Goulue"/"Jan Avril" Dansant/"Valentin-le Desosse" 4:10
7. Epilogue - The Impressionists


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Bell Tree
  • Chimes
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Glockenspiel
  • Gong
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Tambourine
  • Tom-Tom
  • Triangle
  • Vibraphone
  • Xylophone


Errata

  • Euphonium, m.361: The two Cs should be Cb.


Program Notes

Impressionist Prints is a major work for band inspired by six Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters. The work consists of six contrasting sections depicting the work of the six painters. These sections can be played with virtually no break. Furthermore, the work is cast into two so-called “galleries.” Each “gallery” can stand on its own, and the work can be played with a pause between the two galleries.

Monet is the first artist to be portrayed. The work begins calmly with atmospheric Impressionist overtones symbolizing the famous Monet painting Impression: Sunrise which gave the entire Impressionist movement its name. This painting shows boats in calm water as the sun rises. This mood is contrasted with an ominous section depicting the mysterious The House of Parliament in a thick London fog.

The second section is a study in three-quarter time titled Degas' Ballerinas - The Star. Edgar Degas loved to paint ballerinas. Whereas mostly he painted ballerinas in rehearsal, The Star is one of his few paintings of a dancer in performance. This section features all sorts of experimentation with displaced accents mostly in a waltz feel and even includes a rhythm based on the syllables “tip-pi-toe."

The third section, Van Gogh's Storms, is very turbulent like the life of the artist himself. The inspiration for this movement is the painting Wheatfield with Crows, which Van Gogh painted shortly before he shot himself in a wheat field. Minor chords and augmented chords predominate this section.

A calm contrast is achieved with the beautiful music of Renoir's Elegance and Beauty. Renoir’s art never had any “rough edges.” His canvases were often filled with portraits of elegant and beautiful upper-class women like La Parisienne, the main inspiration for this section. This section features an alto saxophone solo.

The fifth section is titled Seurat's Pointillism. The painter Georges Seurat, popularized by the musical Sunday in the Park with George, developed the unique art of pointillism in which the artist applies colored dots on the canvas. When viewed up close, the viewer sees the individual dots. However, from a distance, the dots blend together into a unified whole to create paintings of striking originality. The Side Show is the inspiration for this section. The painting features a sinister-looking trombone player leading musicians on a dimly lit stage. Listen for the “dots” which appear as short notes. Eventually the dots begin to “come together” as the music builds.

The final section is Toulouse-Lautrec At the Moulin Rouge. The painter Toulouse-Lautrec was born into a family of royal lineage. Left deformed and handicapped after a teenage accident, he loved to sit at the famous cabaret the Moulin Rouge and paint the nightlife. His subjects were often “socially undesirable” individuals which had not previously figured in the paintings. The raucous and outrageous cabaret atmosphere is recreated here with very lively music inspired by one of the famous advertisement posters which Toulouse-Lautrec painted for the Moulin Rouge, featuring the dancer La Goulue and her male partner, the angular looking Valentin-le Desosse, as well as by the slightly more sophisticated cabaret dancer portrayed in Jane Avril Dansant.

After some lively references to the Can-Can we are led to the Epilogue of the Impressionists, featuring a dramatic return of the opening “impressionist” music symbolizing Monet and the entire Impressionist movement that he cultivated. Brief quotations from the Seurat, Degas ”(tip-pi-toe)", and Toulouse-Lautrec sections bring the work to a “spectacular” conclusion.

Impressionist Prints is dedicated to Major Larry H. Lang and the USAF Heritage of America Band. Impressionist Prints was awarded First Place in the 2001 National Federation of Music Clubs American Music in the United States Armed Forces Composition Competition.

- Program Note from score


Awards


Media


State Ratings

  • Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP I


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • The Knightwind Ensemble (South Milwaukee, Wisc.) (Erik N, Janners, conductor) - 29 October 2023
  • University of Nebraska-Lincoln Wind Ensemble (Carolyn A. Barber, conductor) - 8 October 2021
  • The College of Saint Rose (Albany, N.Y.) Wind Ensemble (Robert Hansbrough, conductor)– 8 March 2018
  • James Logan High School (Union City, Calif.) Wind Symphony (Patrick Refsnider, conductor) – 13 July 2015 - WASBE Conference, San Jose, Calif.
  • San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra (Jennifer Martin, conductor) - 21 March 2015
  • University of Nebraska Lincoln Wind Ensemble (Carolyn Barber, conductor) - October 2014


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • Forte, A. (2000). Impressionist Prints: Six Masters in Two Galleries [score]. [s.n.: United States]
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