Then I Saw the Lucent Sky
General Info
Year: 2008
Duration: c. 3:40
Difficulty: II (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Alfred Music Publishers
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $55.00; (digital) - $55.00 | Score Only (print) - $7.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (5 players), including:
- Bass Drum
- Bells
- Chimes
- Gong
- Mark Tree
- Suspended Cymbal
- Vibraphone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
This work was inspired by the music of Hildegard von Bingen, a medieval Benedictine nun whose chant melodies are remarkable for their soaring passages and simple beauty, and whose theological and visionary writing were unique for her time. The title comes from one of her writings:
Then I saw the lucent sky, in which I heard different kinds of music, marvelously embodying all the meaning I had heard before.
By basing the work on a short quotation from one of her chant, the composer has attempted to create an ethereal effect that tries to express the grandeur of what she might have seen in her vision.
The commission for this piece was funded by the Normal Community High School Bands, the Harmon Arts Grant Foundation of the town of Normal, Illinois, and by the David A. Gilbert Memorial Fund.
- Program Note from score
Media
State Ratings
- Florida: I
- Georgia: I
- South Carolina: I
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Escape Route (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
All Wind Works
- As the Robin to the Meadow (2006)
- The Capital March (as arranger) (1920/2014)
- Castles and Dragons (2005)
- Christmas Fanfares (2004)
- Clouds That Sail in Heaven (2007)
- Counterbalance (2013)
- Critical Mass (2010)
- Cut to the Chase (2012)
- The Dragon's Lair (2008)
- Dynamo (2015)
- Écossaise for Military Band (as arranger)
- Escape Route (2020)
- Escape Route (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Fighting Falcon March (2006)
- Gather Ye Rosebuds (2019)
- Glen Crossing (2010)
- Ignition (2011)
- In tantum lux (2016)
- Knox Bridge Jubilee (2018)
- Lightning! (2004)
- Loco Motion (2015)
- Longthorpe Tower (2019)
- March, Opus 108 (as arranger) (1841/2011)
- Mechanism (2014)
- My Soul a Canvas (2019)
- Noel! (2010)
- Poème (2007)
- Quasars (2009)
- Rampage! (2009)
- Rephrygeration (2016)
- Scramble (2012)
- Shadows Unseen (2017)
- Shady Grove (2011)
- Sketches on a Kentucky Hymn Tune (2005)
- Three Welsh Songs (2013)
- Then I Saw the Lucent Sky (2008)
- Trumpets of Symphony Hall (2012)
- Two Renaissance Sketches (2009)
- Vier Deutsche Weihnachtslieder (as arranger)
- Whirlybird (2013)
- Wildflowers (2018)
- With Uncommon Valor (2017)
Resources
- Hildegard of Bingen. Wikipedia. Accessed 21 March 2022
- Perusal score
- Stalter, T. (2008). Then I Saw the Lucent Sky [score]. Alfred Publishing: Van Nuys, Calif.