Wedding Dances
Daron Hagen (orch. Mark Spede)
Subtitle: from the Opera Bandanna
General Info
Year: 1999
Duration: c. 8:35
Difficulty: IV-1/2 (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Voice and orchestra
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $95.00 | Score Only (print) - $20.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo I-II
Flute I-II
Alto Flute
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II (or Flugelhorn)
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Euphonium (optional)
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV
(percussion detail desired)
Mariachi Band
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
A concert version of the dance music from the second act of the sensational opera Bandanna, for voices and wind ensemble by Daron Aric Hagen, this varied and colorful piece will be a brilliant addition. The music dramatically reflects the growing conflicts of the story (based on Othello) and climaxes with a powerful setting of the big tune associated with the idea of "crossing over" from Mexico to the U.S., and from Life to Death. The Mark Spede arrangement was commissioned by the College Band Directors' National Association (CBDNA).
- Program Note from publisher
Touch of Evil is crossed with Under the Volcano in this searing, "soaringly eclectic" post-verismo retelling of the Bard's Othello set in the spiritual, physical, and ethical "liminal zone" of the Texas-Mexican border on the "Day of the Dead" in 1968.
Miguel Morales (Othello) is the police chief of a small town on the USA-Mexico border. He is married to a mestizo woman named Mona (Desdemona). His lieutenant Jake (Iago) spends his off-duty hours spiriting people across the border illegally; Kane (a Caucasian labor organizer from Chicago) is stirring up trouble. The action centers on the wedding of Jake and Emily (Emilia), and features the unfortunate planting of Mona's bandanna by Kane and Jake in Cassidy's (Cassio) pocket, and the subsequent murder of Mona by her husband. Set on the "Day of the Dead," the opera's unifying concept is the idea of the borderlines between emotional, metaphysical and moral states.
- Program Note from composer
- Program Note from score
Media
- Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown
- Audio CD: North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor)
State Ratings
- Georgia: V
- Louisiana: V
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Kansas (Lawrence) Symphonic Band (Robert E. Foster, conductor) – 27 February 1999 (CBDNA 1999 National Conference, Austin, Tx.) *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Agincourt Fanfare (2007)
- Bandanna (1998)
- Bandanna Overture (1999)
- The Banner of My Purpose(2006)
- Concerto for Flugelhorn (1994)
- Forward! (1998)
- The Heart of a Stranger (1999)
- Light Fantastic (2004)
- Night Again (1997)
- Prelude and Prayer (from Bandanna) (1999)
- Sennets, Cortage, and Tuckets (1989)
- Suddenly (1999)
- Wedding Dances (orch. Spede) (1999)
Resources
- Daron Hagen website Accessed 23 December 2021
- Hagen, D.; Spede, M. (1999). Wedding Dances: From the Opera Bandanna [score]. Carl Fischer: [New York].