Novo Lenio

From Wind Repertory Project
Samuel Hazo

Samuel Hazo


General Info

Year: 2002
Duration: c. 6:15
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Wingert-Jones
Cost: Score and Parts - $65.00   |   Score Only - $10.00


Movements (played without pause)

1. Remembrance
2. Qui Non Proficit Deficit
3. A New Beginning


Instrumentation

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

  • Bass Drum
  • Bells
  • Chimes
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Marimba
  • Ride Cymbal
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Tam-Tam
  • Tom-Tom
  • Wood Block


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

This is Samuel Hazo's National Band Association award-winning composition, a continuous three-movement work that offers various styles and much to keep your interest. Based on a school alma mater, the sections are varied in mood yet cohesive in thematic material. The first movement, Remembrance, is somewhat somber in tone; the second movement Qui Non Proficit Deficit is more dissonant; and the final movement A New Beginning is meant to sound full and proud.

-Program Note from publisher


Novo Lenio, two Latin words meaning a new and better change, is a piece for wind symphony in three contiguous movements. Each movement acts as musical documentation of a time period for Upper St Clair High School. Key to each movement are musical quotes from the school's alma mater as well as a new theme representing change and betterment. Each time the alma mater and the new theme appear, they sound different, so as to describe the mood of the time period being depicted.

In the first movement , Remembrance, the two themes seem to sound somewhat somber. The movement was inspired by a walkthrough of the old school halfway through its demolition, and the memories that the partially standing structures brought back. At measure 20, there is even a quote from Claude T. Smith's Emperata Overture, which was one of Jim Bennett's (the band director) favorite wind compositions to perform when I was in his band.

Qui Non Proficit Deficit, the second movement, depicts the construction of the new school. This Latin phrase translates as 'He who does not progress, weakens'. It is also the Latin phrase that appears on the crest of the Upper St. Clair School District. The movement is meant to sound like the dissonance of construction. When the alma mater appears in this movement it is played against percussive sounds and a theme in the low register in which the notes go one step higher each time a section repeats, so as to musically suggest the "building up" of something. If it sounds like the alma mater is chaotic, the effect is deliberate. Also, in the second half of this section, the alma mater is turned upside down and used as a countermelody against the theme representing change and betterment.

Just when the tension of the music needs to break, the third movement, A New Beginning, is introduced. The movement portrays the glorious look of Upper St. Clair's new school. The theme representing change and betterment is meant to sound full and proud. This last movement closes with three repeating quotes of the alma mater's opening passage and ends with the section of the alma mater in which "dear old Upper St. Clair" would be sung.

- Program Note by composer


Awards

  • National Bandmasters Association/Merrill Jones Memorial Composition Contest, 2001, winner


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • South Harrison High School (Bethany, Mo.) Concert Band (William Licop, conductor) - 30 November 2023
  • University of Dubuque (Iowa) Honor Band (Nolan Hauta, conductor) - 20 January 2023
  • Mukwonago (Wisc.) High School Symphonic Band (Emma Angoli, conductor) – 19 May 2021
  • State University of New York, Fredonia, Concert Band (Ray Stewart, conductor) – 5 March 2020
  • Southern Mississippi University (Hattiesburg) Concert Band (James Standland, conductor) – 26 February 2019
  • Oregon State University (Corvallis) Wind Symphony (Olin Hannum, conductor) – 27 February 2018
  • University of Iowa University Band (Nolan Hauta, conductor) - 1 May 2017
  • University of California, Berkeley, Wind Ensemble (Robert Calonico, conductor) – 12 August 2015
  • Mundy's Mill High School (Jonesboro, Ga.) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Lewis Sharpe, Jr., conductor) – March 2014
  • Buchholz High School (Gainesville, Fla.) Wind Symphony (Linda Moorhouse, conductor) – 19 December 2002 (2002 Midwest Clinic)


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Hazo, S. (2002). Novo Lenio [score]. Wingert-Jones: Kansas City, Mo.