Smetana Fanfare

Karel Husa

Karel Husa

General Info

Year: 1984
Duration: c. 3:25
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Associated Music Publishers, Inc.
Cost: Score and Parts - $50.00   |   Score Only - $7.50

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II-III (III doubles piccolo)
Oboe I-II-III
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
Eb Soprano Clarinet
Bb Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
Eb Alto Clarinet
Bb Bass Clarinet
Bb Contrabass Clarinet
Alto Saxophone I-II
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
Bb Bass Saxophone
Trumpet (in Bb) I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III-IV
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:

• Bass Drum
• Cymbal (crash and suspended)
• Gong (Tam-tam)(large)
• Snare Drum
• Tom-toms
• Xylophone (2)

Errata

See the article: Scatterday, Mark D. (1998, Spring). “Karel Husa’s Smetana Fanfare: An analysis and discussion of performance issues.” CBDNA Journal No. 12, 38-46.

Program Notes

Smetana Fanfare for Wind Ensemble was commissioned by the San Diego State University for the 1984 Festival of Music honoring the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. It was first performed on April 3, 1984, in San Diego by the SDSU Wind Ensemble, on the occasion of the centennial celebration of Smetana's death. This short work uses two excerpts from Smetana's symphonic poem The Wallenstein's Camp, completed in 1859 in Goteberg, Sweden, during his exile from Prague.

- Program note from printed score

Husa’s Smetana Fanfare holds an important place in San Diego State University’s history. Now a significant piece in the wind repertoire, Smetana Fanfare was commissioned by the SDSU Wind Ensemble in 1984 and given its world premiere performance at the International Musicological Conference and Festival of Czechoslovak Music. The 1984 festival was held to honor the centennial of Czech nationalist composer Bedrich Smetana’s death.

For this opportunity Husa undertook the difficult task of combining his modern voice with the nationalist voice of Smetana. Husa accomplished this synthesis in Smetana Fanfare by borrowing heavily from Smetana’s symphonic poem Wallenstein’s Camp, integrating his own distinctive harmonic and developmental language. The work begins with a direct quote from Wallenstein’s Camp: a fanfare intoned by four trumpets accompanied by a timpani roll. As the composition progresses, the fanfare begins to transform into Husa’s style. The composer adds dissonance by stacking statements of the fanfares in different keys. This technique, coupled with the coexistence of major and minor chords (described by Husa as “Renaissance thirds”), and repeated rhythmic motives, make the fanfare characteristically Husa. The piece grows in volume and intensity from beginning to end, finishing with a climatic unison statement by the entire ensemble.

- Program note from San Diego State University Wind Symphony concert program, 13 March 2014

Commercial Discography

• Audio CD: Ithaca College Wind Ensemble (Rodney Winther, conductor).
  

• Audio CD: Cincinnati Wind Symphony (Mallory Thompson, conductor).

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Temple University (Philadelphia, Penn.) Concert Band (Amanda Dumm, conductor) – 21 November 2019
• North Dakota State University (Fargo) Wind Symphony (Warren Olfert, conductor) – 4 May 2019
• Dallas (Tx.) Winds (Jerry Junkin, conductor) – 30 April 2019
• Texas Christian University (Houston) Wind Ensemble (Brian Youngblood, conductor) – 20 February 2019 (CBDNA 2019 National Conference, Tempe, Ariz.)
• Texas Christian University (Fort Worth) Wind Symphony (Bobby R. Francis, conductor) – 19 November 2018
• Penn State University (University Park) Symphonic Band (Dennis Glocke, conductor) – 14 February 2019
• Indiana University (Bloomington) Wind Ensemble (Rodney Dorsey, conductor) – 6 November 2018
• University of Texas (Austin) Wind Ensemble (Jerry Junkin, conductor) – 23 March 2018
• University of Oregon (Eugene) Symphonic Band (Nicholas Soenyun, conductor)– 14 March 2018
• University of Oklahoma (Norman) Symphony Band (Brian A. Britt, conductor) – 26 February 2018
• The Florida State University (Tallahassee) Symphonic Band (Patrick Dunnigan, conductor) – 24 February 2018 (CBDNA 2018 Southern Conference, Tampa, Fla.)
• University of Miami (Coral Gables) Frost Wind Ensemble (Craig McKenzie, conductor) – 21 February 2018
• Florida State University (Tallahassee) Symphonic Band (Patrick Dunnigan, conductor) – 20 February 2018
• Amador Valley High School (Pleasanton, Calif.) Wind Ensemble I (Jonathan Grantham, conductor) - 17 February 2018 (2018 CASMEC Conference, San Jose)
• University of Iowa (Iowa City) Concert Band (Kevin Kastens, conductor) – 4 December 2017
• Eastman Wind Orchestra (Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor) – 1 December 2017
• Northshore Concert Band (Evanston, Ill.) (Mallory Thompson, conductor) - 8 November 2017
• Northshore Concert Band (Evanston, Ill.) (Mallory Thompson, conductor) - 5 November 2017
• University of Cincinnati (Ohio) College-Conservatory of Music Wind Ensemble (Kevin Holzman, conductor) – 2 November 2017
• College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, Wind Ensemble (Rob Stull, conductor)—2 November 2017
• Kennesaw (Ga.) State University Wind Ensemble (David T. Kehler, conductor) – 23 October 2017
• University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) Wind Ensemble (David Blumenthal, conductor) – 26 April 2017
• University of Arizona (Tucson) Wind Ensemble (Chad R. Nicholson, conductor) – 27 April 2017

Works for Winds by this Composer

• Al Fresco (1973)
• Apotheosis of this Earth (1970)
• Cheetah (2007)
• Concertino for Piano and Wind Ensemble (1984)
• Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band (1967)
• Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble (1970)
• Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Orchestra
• Concerto for Wind Ensemble (1982)
• Divertimento for Brass and Percussion (1957)
• Divertimento for Symphonic Winds and Percussion (arr. John Boyd) (1995)
• Fanfare for Brass and Percussion (1981)
• Les Couleurs Fauves (1996)
• Music for Prague 1968 (1968)
• Smetana Fanfare (1984)

Resources

• Scatterday, Mark D. (1998, Spring). “Karel Husa’s Smetana Fanfare: An analysis and discussion of performance issues.” CBDNA Journal No. 12, 38-46. [includes some errata]