To Reap the Blessings of Freedom

Douglas E. Wagner

Subtitle: A Medley of Hymns of the United States Armed Forces

General Info

Year: 2002 / 2005
Duration: c. 4:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Alfred Music Publishing
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $67.00 | Score Only (print) - $9.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:

*Bells

*Chimes

*Crash Cymbals

*Snare Drum

*Suspended Cymbal

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

An exceptionally reverent and meaningful medley of the hymns of the United States Armed Forces. This sensitive setting will be a moving part of any Veteran's Day, Memorial Day or patriotic ceremony. The powerful text from which the title is taken is included with the score and may be read aloud or printed in the program.

- Program Note from publisher

This reverent medley presents the hymns of the major branches of the United States Armed Forces and includes (in order of appearance) Eternal Father, Strong to Save/Eternal Father, Lord of Hosts (Navy/Coast Guard), Lord, Guard and Guide the Men Who Fly (Air Force), From the Halls of Montezuma (Marines), and God of Our Fathers (Army).

The title of the work takes a phrase from Thomas Paine’s tract, The American Crisis (No. 4), written September 12, 1777, the day after the bloodiest conflict of the Revolutionary War on the Battlefield at Brandywine. The text begins as follows:

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. The event of yesterday was one of those kinds of alarms, which is sufficient to rouse us to duty, without being of consequence enough to depress our fortitude. It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences are the same.

Paine’s words have as a profound meaning today as they did in 1777, eerily reminiscent of carnage of another sort some 224 years later on September 11, 2001. Whether that “few acres of ground” be a battlefield or the heart of one of our largest cities, we can be sure that the American spirit will triumph and that the brave men and women of our armed forces will be there to ensure our lasting freedom and democratic way of life for all time.

For Matt Rund.

- Program Note from score

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Ithaca (N.Y.) College Concert Band (Benjamin Rochford, conductor) - 17 September 2023
Fishers High School (Pendleton, Ind.). Concert Band – 21 April 2012

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

You'll Be Back (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (2015/2020)

All Wind Works

American Salute (as arranger)
Annabel Lee (2000)
And All the Bells on Earth Shall Ring
Appalachian Tapestry (2009)
Baba Yetu (as arranger) (2005/2015)
Beetlejuice (as arranger) (1988/2015)
Brother James' Air (as arranger) (1915/1995)
Canticle (1996)
Carols from the British Isles (as arranger) (2013)
A Celtic Christmas
Children's March (as arranger) (1919/2000)
Christmas Bells Overture (2010)
Christmas from the '50s (2009)
A Classic Christmas
Cole Porter Classics (as arranger) (2004)
Colonial Song (as arranger) (1919/2014)
The Dam Busters March (as arranger) (2004)
Doctor Who (as arranger) (1963/2015)
Down in Some Lonesome Valley (2002)
Ellan Vannin Suite
Engines of Change (2015)
Festivo (as arranger) (1968/2008
From Sea to Shining Sea (as scorer; arr. Whitney) (1882/1963/2017))
Glory! (2016)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (as arranger) (1944/2006)
Hymn for Those Who Serve (2015)
I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' (as arranger)
I'm Seventeen Come Sunday (as arranger) (1905-12/1999)
Irish Suite: The Last Rose of Summer (as arranger) (1950/2010)
Irish Suite: The Wearing of the Green (as arranger) (1947/2009)
Japanese (as arranger) (2006)
March for a Norwegian Penguin
March On, America! (as arranger) (2014)
Morris Dance Tunes (as arranger) (1910/2010)
On a Tune of William Billings (2015)
Over the Sea to Skye (as arranger) (2014)
Promenade (as arranger) (1945/2017)
A Quiet Music (2007)
A Ralph Vaughan Williams Portrait (as arranger) (2018)
Santa in the Mix (as arranger) (2021)
Screamers! (as arranger) (2013)
Selections from Leroy Anderson's "Irish Suite" (as arranger) (2011)
Slane (as arranger) (1994)
Three Movements from "Water Music" (as arranger) (1715/2014)
To Reap the Blessings of Freedom (2002/2005)
Two Variants on Dives and Lazarus (2014)
United States Armed Forces Salute (as arranger) (2020)
U.S. Field Artillery March (as arranger)
A Vaughan Williams Christmas (as arranger) (1999)
We Will Remember Them (2021)
Welcome Christmas (as arranger) (1997/2013)
Windforce (2016)
You'll Be Back (as arranger) (2015/2020)
You'll Be Back (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (2015/2020)

Resources

Douglas Wagner website Accessed 11 September 2023
Perusal score