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Lincolnshire Posy

From Wind Repertory Project
Percy Aldridge Grainger

Percy Aldridge Grainger (ed. Frederick Fennell)


General Info

Year: 1937 / 1987 / 2010
Duration: c. 16:45
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: LudwigMasters Publications
Cost: Score and Parts - $200.00   |   Score Only - $50.00


Movements (may be played without pause)

1. Dublin Bay (Lisbon) - 1:20
2. Horkstow Grange - 2:50
3. Rufford Park Poachers - 4:00
4. The Brisk Young Sailor - 1:40
5. Lord Melbourne - 3:25
6. The Lost Lady Found - 2:20


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
Eb Soprano Clarinet
Bb Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
Eb Alto Clarinet
Bb Bass Clarinet
Soprano Sax
Alto Sax I-II
Tenor Sax I-II
Baritone Sax
Bass Saxophone
Trumpet (in Bb) I-II-III
Horn I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Trombone III (Bass)
Baritone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Cymbal (crash and suspended)
  • Glockenspiel
  • Handbells
  • Side Drum
  • Tubular Bells
  • Xylophone


Errata

It is highly recommended that conductors use the 1987 Frederick Fennell edition of Posy. While this edition is obviously not free of errors, it corrects and clarifies many ambiguities that exist in the original version.

1987 Version The following errors are in both the Score and the Parts:

  • The tempo for the third movement should be eighth note = 132, not quarter note = 132.

1987 Version The following errors are in the parts:

  • Trumpet I: Movement III, Version B, meas. 49, beat 1: the part should read A-flat - G natural - G-flat. It is correct in the score.
  • Baritone TC: Movement IV, meas. 22, beat 1: G should read F (concert F should be concert E-flat).


2010 Version The following errors are in the score:

  • Piccolo: Movement III Version A, meas. 10, beat 1: E-flat should read C.
  • 2nd trumpet: Movement IV, meas. 41, beat 3: E should read E-Flat.

2010 Version The following errors are in the parts:

  • 2nd trumpet: Movement IV, meas. 41, beat 3: E should read E-Flat.
  • F Horn 4: Movement II, meas. 33, beat 2: add whole note B-flat.


Program Notes

Lincolnshire Posy was commissioned by the American Bandmasters Association and premiered at their convention with the composer conducting. It is in six movements, all based on folk songs from Lincolnshire, England. Grainger's settings are not only true to the verse structure of the folk songs, but attempt to depict the singers from whom Grainger collected the songs. Since its premiere, it has been recognized as a cornerstone of the wind band repertoire.

Lincolnshire Posy, as a whole work, was conceived and scored by me direct for wind band early in 1937. Five, out of the six, movements of which it is made up existed in no other finished form, though most of these movements (as is the case with almost all my compositions and settings, for whatever medium) were indebted, more or less, to unfinished sketches for a variety of mediums covering many years (in this case, the sketches date from 1905 to 1937). These indebtednesses are stated in the score.

This bunch of "musical wildflowers" (hence the title) is based on folksongs collected in Lincolnshire, England (one notated by Miss Lucy E. Broadwood; the other five noted by me, mainly in the years 1905-1906, and with the help of the phonograph), and the work is dedicated to the old folksingers who sang so sweetly to me. Indeed, each number is intended to be a kind of musical portrait of the singer who sang its underlying melody -- a musical portrait of the singer's personality no less than of his habits of song -- his regular or irregular wonts of rhythm, his preference for gaunt or ornately arabesqued delivery, his contrasts of legato and staccato, his tendency towards breadth or delicacy of tone.

- Program Note by Percy Aldridge Grainger


Edition note. This history of errors in this work is legend. When Percy Grainger wrote it, he wrote out all of the parts FIRST, then made a “compressed full score," meaning a two-line score like a condensed score, but with much more complete information than your usual condensed score.

Using that process, and under time pressure for the premiere, many errors found their way into parts and score. In the original Schott/Shirmer publication, there are over **500** errors. Frederick Fennell found most of them; others were discovered by other conductors (H. Robert Reynolds, Jennifer Martin, several others), and by players young and old, and were sent to Fennell over the years. Fennell made his first edition principally to fix those errors and to clarify information discovered in Grainger’s manuscript score and parts, while working from an unpublished full score by Ward Hammond.

Even with all of those errors found over the years, and proofreading by many people, further errors were discovered in the first printing, and another one or two in printings two through four. And yet errors persist, or perhaps have been introduced, in the latest, 2010, printing. Users are encouraged to be on the lookout for errors in this complex work.

- Edition Note by Jennifer Martin


Commercial Discography


State Ratings

  • Florida:   ---  (The Florida Bandmasters Association denotes this as "significant literature.")
    • Grade IV: Movements 1 and 2.
    • Grade V: Movements 1, 2, and 6.
    • Grade VI: Any 4 movements.
  • Minnesota - Category I (any 4 movements)
  • New York
    • Grade VI: Any 5 movements
  • South Carolina: "Masterwork"
  • Virginia: VI
  • Texas
    • Grade II: Any one movement
    • Grade III: Any two movements
    • Grade IV: Any four movements


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • New York (N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Hana Kim, conductor) – 14 December 29
  • Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) Wind Ensemble (Christopher Morehouse, conductor)– 4 December 2019
  • Concordia College (Moorhead, Minn.) Symphonic Band (Nathaniel Dickey, conductor) – 24 November 2019
  • University of Texas (Austin) Wind Ensemble (Jerry Junkin, conductor) – 24 November 2019
  • Missouri Southern State University (Joplin) Wind Ensemble (Donald P. Linn, conductor) – 22 November 2019
  • State University of New York, Fredonia, Wind Ensemble (Paula Holcomb, conductor) – 20 November 2019
  • Delaware Winds (Dover) (Jordan E. Kinsey, conductor) - 29 October 2019
  • Lamar University (Beaumont, Tx.) Symphonic Band (Eric Shannon, conductor) – 17 October 2019
  • University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Wind Symphony (John R. Stewart, conductor) - 17 October 2019
  • The Ohio State University (Columbus) Wind Symphony (Russell C. Mikkelson, conductor) – 3 October 2019
  • University of Kansas (Lawrence) Wind Ensemble (Paul W. Popiel, conductor) – 1 October 2019
  • San Francisco Wind Symphony (Martin H. Seggelke, conductor) – 28 September 2019
  • Arkansas State University (Jonesboro) Wind Ensemble (Timothy Oliver, conductor) – 20 September 2019
  • Plainville (Conn.) Wind Ensemble (Ken Bagley, conductor) – 8 June 2019
  • University of Kentucky (Lexington) Wind Symphony (Cody Birdwell, conductor) – 29 May 2019 (Carnegie Hall, New York)
  • River Valley Wind Ensemble (Kankakee County, Ill.L) (David Conrad, conductor) – 5 May 2019
  • Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) Wind Symphony (James Spinazzola, conductor) – 5 May 2019
  • University of Southern California Thornton Wind Ensemble (H. Robert Reynolds, conductor) - 30 September 2012
  • Arts Academy Band [Interlochen, Mich.] (Frederick Fennell, conductor) - 11 January 1970


Works for Winds by this Composer


Resources

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