San Pelayo

Victoriano Valencia Rincón

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General Info

Year: 2005 / 2007
Duration: c. 4:15
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Piles
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €59.00 | Score Only (print) - €33.50

Instrumentation

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

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

The present-day town of San Pelayo (C6rdoba Region, Colombia) was a settlement of vital importance in the expansion process of the rural bands (or pelayeras) of the Colombian Caribbean at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. One of the traditional genres of the pelayera bands is the fandango, taken from the Afro-Hispanic song forms and characterized by a soloist accompanied by backing choruses.

The melodic material of San Pelayo is based on the designs of improvised eight-bar phrases characteristic of fandango and passed along via oral tradition by bands. The percussion section is essential as much for metric stability as the expressive force of the piece and includes rhythm patterns associated with the percussion instruments traditionally found in the concert band (cymbals, snare drum, and bass drum) as well as in folkloric groups (guache, tambor alegre, and tambora). On an orchestration level, textural and dynamic growth is established through the distribution of the melodic role via solos at first, and by full sections later. The climax provides a strong contrast with melodic material stressing expressiveness that ascends by registers of the band and sets the stage for the coda.

San Pelayo was commissioned by the Student Symphonic Band of Neira (Caldas Region, Colombia) and honoured as the best unpublished piece at the National Bands Competition in Anapoima (Cundinamarca Region, Colombia) in 2005.

- Program Note from Vanderbilt University Wind Symphony concert program, 16 February 2023

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Banda Sinfonica de El Municipio de Villamaria Caldas (Villamaría, Colombia)

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn.) Wind Symphony (Thomas Verrier, conductor) – 16 February 2023 (CBDNA 2023 National Conference, Athens, Ga.)
Philharmonic Wind Orchestra (Singapore) – 30 April 2012

Works for Winds by This Composer

Resources

Valencia, V. (2007). San Pelayo: For Symphonic Band [score]. Piles: Valencia, Spain.
Victoriano Valencia website Accessed 19 January 2023