Praeludium and Allegro

Vittorio Giannini

Vittorio Giannini

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: 1959
Duration: c. 7:30
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: G. Ricordi & Co.
Cost: Score and Parts - Out of print?

For availability information, see Discussion tab, above.

Instrumentation

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

• Bass Drum
• Crash Cymbals
• Snare Drum
• Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Praeludium and Allegro is Giannini’s first piece for band, commissioned for the Goldman Band in 1958.

The Praeludium introduces a sombre melody over a throbbing, pulsating accompaniment. Although the music is romantic in its emotional expressiveness, its rhythmic regularity and symmetrical phraseology suggest a Baroque movement that might be marked Grave. Even its contrasting two-part structure harks back to seventeenth-century practice. The Allegro introduces a rapidly scurrying idea in the woodwinds that unfolds with ingenious cross-rhythms. This idea is then developed in counterpoint with fragments of the Praeludium theme. An episode in which this theme is heard against highly dissonant chords leads to a recapitulation of the Allegro material, building to a climax at which point the Praeludium melody returns in abbreviated form, now as an outcry of despair.

- Program Note by Walter Simmons for liner notes for Naxos CD Giannini

Commercial Discography

• Audio CD: University of Houston Wind Ensemble (Tom Bennett, Conductor)

State Ratings

• Florida: VI
• Georgia: VI
• Louisiana: V
• Oklahoma: V-A
• Tennessee: VI

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Works for Winds by This Composer

• Dedication Overture (1965)
• Fantasia for Band (1963)
• Praeludium and Allegro (1959)
• Symphony No. 3 (1958/1961)
• Variations and Fugue (1967)

Resources

• Giannini, V. (1959). Praeludium and Allegro: For Symphonic Band [score]. G. Ricordi: New York.