Victory Tide

William Grant Still

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Subtitle: Or Song of the City

General Info

Year: 1939 / 1942 / 1945
Duration: c. 3:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Voice and piano
Publisher: William Grant Still Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $99.00 | Score Only (print) - $15.95

For further availability information, see Discussion tab, above.

Instrumentation

Condensed Score
C Piccolo/Flute III
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Bass Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
E-flat Horn or Alto I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion

(Percussion detail desired)

SATB Choir (optional)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

A committee assigned the responsibility of selecting music for the 1939–1940 New York World’s Fair commissioned Still to write a theme song to be aired in the fair’s Perisphere, the huge white sphere that greeted visitors at the exhibition’s entrance. The result, Rising Tide, a three-minute piece also known by the titles Song of a City and Victory Tide, played continuously, or approximately fifty or sixty thousand times, during the two years of the fair. The recorded version was conducted by Andre Kostelanetz.

- Program Note from Music of the World War II Era

Media

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

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

United States Coast Guard Band (New London, Conn.) (Jeffrey Spenner, conductor) – 22 November 2021

Works for Winds by This Composer

Africa: Land of Superstition (arr. Tam)
Afro-American Symphony for Band (arr. West Point Military Academy) (1930/1970)
Afro-American Symphony. See also: Symphony No. 1
- Scherzo from "The Afro-American Symphony" (1930/1970)
The American Scene (1957)
Choreographic Prelude (arr. Lloyd) (1970)
Dances in the Canebrakes (as orchestrator; arr. Brown) (1953/)
Entrances of the Porteuses (arr. Perna; ed. Lloyd)
Fanfare for American War Heroes (arr. Lloyd) (1942 / )
Fanfare for the 99th Fighter Squadron
Folk Suite for Band (1966)
Frisco Jazz Band Blues (1919)
From the Delta (1945)
The Hesitating Blues (as arranger) (1916)
Kaintuck' (tr. Perna) (1935)
Land of Peace
Little Folk Suite from the Western Hemisphere
Little Red Schoolhouse (arr. Steele) (1957/1977)
Miniatures (1963)
Old California
Rising Tide. See: Victory Tide
"Scherzo" for Band. See: Afro-American Symphony for Band
Song of the City. See: Victory Tide
Summerland: From Three Visions (arr. Teter) (1937/2013)
Summerland: For Wind Ensemble (arr. Teter) (1937/2013)
Symphony No. 1 (1931/1946)
Symphony No. 1. See also: Afro-American Symphony for Band
To You, America! (1952/1956)
Victory Tide (1939/1942/1945)
Wood Notes (arr. Mauldin) (1948/1959/2022)

Resources

Still, W. (1945). Victory Tide [score]. J. Fischer & Bros.: New York.
Young, William H, and Nancy K. Young. Music of the World War II Era. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2008. Internet resource.