Phantasticke Spirites

From Wind Repertory Project
Donald Grantham

Donald Grantham


This article is a stub. If you can help add information to it,
please join the WRP and visit the FAQ (left sidebar) for information.


General Info

Year: 2002
Duration: c. 11:25
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Piquant Press
Cost: Score and Parts (print) – Rental ($350)   |   Score Only (print) - $55.00


Instrumentation

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

This work, based on six Elizabethan madrigals, was commissioned by a consortium of university and high school ensembles including Riverside Community College Wind Ensemble (Kevin A. Mayse), California State University at Fullerton Wind Ensemble (Mitch Fennell), and The University of Texas at Austin Wind Ensemble (Jerry F. Junkin).

- Program Note from publisher


The late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in England, the Elizabethan period, were times of immense musical productivity and invention. Two of the most charming and entertaining genres to appear were the madrigal, or ‘Fa La’ as they were sometimes called due to the use of these or other nonsense syllables in their refrains; and the ayre -- usually a love song and often accompanied by the lyre. The emotional range of these short pieces is striking, with texts dealing with everything from the bawdy, to the absurd, to the tender and melancholy.

In Phantasticke Spirites (the title is borrowed from Thomas Weelkes), the composer has assembled six of his favorite madrigals and ayres that represent this diversity, and that also fit together in a satisfying and balanced way to form a longer composition. The six works are: Strike It Up Tabor by Thomas Weelkes, Turn Back, You Wanton Flyer by Thomas Campian, Nightingale, Lark, Thrush, Blackbird and Cuckoo by Weelkes, Away Delight by Robert Johnson, Come Again by John Dowland, and Ha, Ha. This World Doth Pass by Weelkes. The three pieces by Weelkes are from his Ayres or Phantasticke Spirites for three voices (1601). Turn Back, Delight, is best known for the songs he composed for Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and Dowland’s Come Again is from his first book of Songs of Ayres (1597).

- Program Notes from Lone Star Wind Orchestra concert program, 11 May 2014


Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of Texas Arlington Wind Symphony (Douglas Stotter, conductor) – 21 February 2020 (CBDNA 2020 Southwestern Division Conference, Norman, Okla.)
  • University of Texas, Arlington, Wind Symphony (Douglas Stotter, conductor) – 18 October 2019
  • University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Wind Ensemble (Lance Sample, conductor) – 11 December 2018
  • Temple University (Philadelphia, Penn.) Wind Symphony (Patricia Cornett, conductor)- 14 February 2018
  • University of Illinois (Champaign) Wind Symphony (Stephen G. Peterson, conductor) – 30 October 2016
  • University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Symphony Band (Michael Haithcock, conductor) – 5 February 2016
  • Lone Star Wind Orchestra (Dallas, Tex.) (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) 11 May 2014


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

Retrieved from "https://www.windrep.org/index.php?title=Phantasticke_Spirites&oldid=279044"