Overture to "La Forza del Destino" (arr Odom)

From Wind Repertory Project
Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi (tr. Odom)


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General Info

Year: 1862
Duration: c. 8:30
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Manuscript


Instrumentation

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Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Giuseppe Verdi was a visionary and innovative composer of Italian opera. Works such as Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida, Otello and Falstaff are all commonly performed and hailed as the finest examples of the genre. In his later life, Verdi was also a politician and served in the local parliament. He worked to establish a hospital in Villanova sull’Arda, as well as a home for retired musicians in Milan.

La Forza del Destino, Verdi’s 22nd opera, was completed in 1862 and premiered in St. Petersburg on Nov. 10 of that year. The overture was not heard until Feb. 27, 1869, when the opera was revised and presented at La Scala in Milan.

This transcription, by Air Force retired Chief Master Sgt. Lawrence Odom, was dedicated to and conducted by the conductor emeritus of The United States Air Force Band, Air Force retired Col. Arnald D. Gabriel.

- Program note by TSgts. David Balandrin and Ricky Parrell


La Forza del Destino originally began with a prelude leading without a break into the first act of the opera. For the revision, Verdi lengthened and strengthened the prelude, making it into an overture coming to a full close before the curtain rises. Built from melodic, harmonic and rhythmic matters dealt with in the opera itself, the overture quotes and combines several of the most striking melodies as well as the ominous, opening, three-chord motif and the rapid, repeated, ascending accompaniment-figure associated in the opera with tragic destiny.

- Program Note from Program Notes for Band


Commercial Discography


Media

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State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 610.