Praetorius Variations

Jim Curnow

James Curnow

General Info

Year: 1996
Duration: c. 12:30
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Curnow Music Press, through Hal Leonard
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $129.00   |   Score Only (print) - $25.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II (doubling English Horn)
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contra Alto Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III-IV
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV

• Bar Chimes
• Bass Drum
• Chimes
• Crash Cymbals
• Mark Tree
• Snare Drum
• Suspended Cymbal
• Tam-Tam
• Tom-Tom (2)
• Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Praetorius Variations is a set of three expansive variations based on Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming. All of the melodic and motivic material presented in these variations is taken from the main theme. After an introductory fanfare and prelude, which presents themes for each variation, the composition works its way through an energetic scherzo, a very intense yet introspective intermezzo and a driving rondo that concludes the piece with the only complete version of the main theme. With this recently composed large-scale composition, James Cumow pushes the wind ensemble to its limit in terms of technical and artistic difficulty.

- Program Note by William V. Johnson for the Cuesta Wind Ensemble concert program, 15 December 1996

Media

• Audio: Shobi Wind Orchestra
• Audio CD: Shobi Wind Orchestra - 1996

State Ratings

• Alabama: Class AA

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Agrupació Musical L'Artística de Carlet (Valencia, Spain) (Fernando Hernández García, conductor) - 27 April 2014
• San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Wind Orchestra (William V. Johnson, conductor) - 12 December 2009

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

• Amber Waves of Grain (Flex instrumentation) (1994)
• Canticum (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
• Fanfare and Flourishes (Flex instrumentation) (1995/2013)
• Korean Folk Rhapsody (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
• Nathan Hale Trilogy (Flex instrumentation) (1990/2013)
• Renaissance Suite (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (c.1551/1983/2016)
• Valdres (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1904/1985/2015)

All Wind Works

• African Sketches (1992)
• Album for the Young (Op. 39) (as arranger) (1878/2007)
• Amber Waves of Grain (1994)
• Amber Waves of Grain (Flex instrumentation) (1994)
• Appalachian Dances (2008)
• Apple Island Legend (1997)
• Beyond the Stars
• Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair (as arranger) (1985)
• Blazon (1997)
• Bridge of the Gods (2012)
• Canadian Sketches (1996)
• Canterbury Coronation (1996)
• Canticle at Christmastide (2006)
• Canticle of the Creatures (1984)
• Canticum (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
• The Carnival of the Animals (as arranger) (1886/2008)
• Celebration Fanfare
• Celebration (1994)
• Ceremonial Flourishes (1988)
• Chinese Folk Fantasy (2013)
• Christmas Classics (1993)
• Christmas Fancies (2000)
• Christmas Flourish, A (1998)
• Christmas Prelude (as arranger) (1989)
• Christmas Travelogue (as arranger)
• Classical Suite for Piano and Band (as arranger) (2006)
• Concertino for Tuba and Band (1978/2001)
• Concertpiece (1990)
• Concertpiece for Clarinet, Winds and Percussion (1990)
• Dance Episodes (2006)
• Day at the Circus, A (1998)
• Day at the Museum, A (1997)
• Day in Space, A
• Dialogues for Saxophone Quartet, Winds and Percussion (2005)
• Dimensions of Seven
• Dublin Sketches
• Fanfare and Flourishes (1995)
• Fanfare and Flourishes (Flex instrumentation) (1995/2013)
• Fanfare for Christmas (2004)
• Fanfare for Spartacus (1996)
• Fanfare Prelude: "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" (1999)
• Fanfare Prelude on "God of Our Fathers" (1876/1983)
• Fanfare Prelude on "Joy to the World" (1985)
• Fantasia di Falcone
• Fantasy on a Colonial Air
• Festive Fanfare for the Holidays (2006)
• Festivity (1993)
• Festivo Fantastico (1998)
• Fiddle Tunes (as arranger) (2002)
• Finale for a Winter Festival (2004)
• Folk Dances (as arranger (1942/2000)
• Freedom Road (1994)
• Freedom's Song (2009)
• French Christmas Carol Fantasy (1989)
• Golliwog's Cakewalk (as arranger)
• Guadalcanal March (as arranger) (1952/1989)
• Heroic Tribute (2006)
• Illini Fantasy (2006)
• In Storm and Sunshine (as arranger) (1884/1986)
• In the Valley of the Sun (2013)
• International Christmas Salute (1996)
• Inventions from the Sacred Harp (2005)
• Irish Legends (1994)
• Journey (2009)
• Jubilee (2012)
• Kentucky Kaleidoscope
• Korean Folk Rhapsody (1988)
• Korean Folk Rhapsody (Flex instrumentation) (1988/2011)
• Land of Tomorrow (2010)
• Lion of Lucerne (1986)
• Lone Star Celebration (1995)
• Megaforce (1997)
• Midway March (as arranger)
• Moment in Time, A
• Mutanza (1981)
• Nathan Hale Trilogy (1990)
• Nathan Hale Trilogy (Flex instrumentation) (1990/2013)
• Nexus (2015)
• Nulli Secundus (Curnow)
• Nutcracker Suite (as arranger) (1891/1987)
• Overture to a Winter Festival (1995)
• Peter and the Wolf (as arranger) (1936/1986)
• Praetorius Variations
• Prelude and Celebration (1996)
• Prelude on a Hymn of Praise (1996)
• Prelude on Lobe Den Herren (1982/1997)
• The Promise of Living (as arranger) (1954/2012)
• Quintessence
• Rejouissance (1988)
• Renaissance Festival (as arranger) (2008)
• Renaissance Suite (as arranger) (c.1551/1983)
• Renaissance Suite (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (c.1551/1983/2016)
• Rhapsody for Euphonium and Band (1978/1999)
• Rhapsody on American Shaped Note Melodies (1996)
• Romanza (2017)
• Russian Christmas Music (as arranger) (1944/1990)
• Russian Folk Fantasy (1992)
• Sea to Shining Sea (2006)
• Seacliffe Overture (1983)
• Selections from "Slavonic Dances," Op. 46 (as transcriber) (1878/)
• Selections from "Suite of Old American Dances" (as arranger) (1950/2005)
• Selections from Walt Disney's "Fantasia" (1992)
• Slavonic Dances, The (as transcriber)
• Songs of the West (as arranger) (1907/1986)
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice (as arranger) (1897)
• Sovereign Variants
• Spirit of the Pioneers (2007)
• Suite from "Messiah" (as transcriber) (1741/1989)
• Suncatcher (2000)
• Symphonic Chorale for Band (1989)
• Symphonic Suite from "The Right Stuff" (as arranger) (1983/1984)
• Symphonic Triptych (1978)
• Symphonic Variants (1998)
• Three Colonial Ballads (as arranger)
• The Three Drummers (2004)
• Toward the Sunrising (1999)
• Turkish March (as arranger) (1809/2001)
• Valdres (arr Curnow) (as arranger) (1904/1985/2016)
• Valdres (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1904/1985/2015)
• Vanguard (2003)
• Voluntary on Old Hundreth (as transcriber) (/2000)
• A Wexford Reverie (as arranger) (2005)
• When the Morning Stars Sang (2005)
• Where Never Lark or Eagle Flew (1993)
• Winds of Change

Resources

• Curnow, J. (1996). Praetorius Variations: For Symphonic Winds and Percussion [score]. Curnow Music: Wilmore, Ky.