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William Byrd Suite

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Gordon Jacob

Gordon Jacob


General Info

Year: 1924 / 1960
Duration: c. 20:20
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Virginal
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Cost: Score and Parts - $115.00   |   Score Only - $28.00


Movements

1. Earle of Oxford's March - 3:05
2. Pavana - 2:48
3. Jhon come kiss me now - 1:55
4. Mayden's Song - 4:05
5. Wolsey's Wilde - 2:10
6. The Bells - 4:35


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Solo-I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet (optional, doubling Alto Saxophone part)
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba (div.)
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Cymbal
  • Snare Drum


Errata

In Score:

Movement One

  • Piccolo, Flutes, and E-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.114-115: The flourish should come before the beat.
  • E-flat Alto Clarinet, m.59: Last 16th-note should be a G (not a B).
  • E-flat Alto Saxophone, m.59: Last 16th-note should be a G (not a B).
  • Euphonium, m.26: The 6th 16th-note should be a B-natural (add accidental).
  • Euphonium, m.98: Add accent to the first note and a slur to the first two 8th notes (to match up with what trombones are doing).
  • Tuba, m.105: Change all three notes to C.
  • Snare Drum, m.103-104: Add slurs to show the continuing roll.

Movement Two

  • E-flat Alto Clarinet and Alto Saxophone, m.21: change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.
  • B-flat Cornet I, m.23: Add 16th flag (part is correct).
  • B-flat Cornet II, m.12: Correct to read as it is in the score.

Movement Three

  • E-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.6: The last note should be an E-natural (the part is correct).
  • B-flat Soprano Clarinet I, B-flat Cornet II, m.39: The fifth 8th note should be an E-flat, the rest of the notes after that are natural.
  • All parts from 2nd clarinet down, m.36: Key signatures are missing.
  • Baritone, m.8: Articulations should be the same as the basses, bassoons, and clarinets.
  • Bass Drum and Cymbals, m.48: Add ties to the upbeat of beat two and the downbeat of beat four.

Movement Four

  • E-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.81: Add an accent on the first note.
  • Solo B-flat Clarinet, m.82: Dot missing from first 8th note.
  • B-flat Cornet II, m.65: Add an accent.

Movement Five

  • B-flat Cornet II, m.20: Slur missing.
  • Snare Drum, m.8: The first three notes should be 8th notes (part is correct).

Movement Six

  • B-flat Trumpets, m.57: Add 9/8 meter signature.
  • Timpani, m.50-56: Add slurs to rolls.
  • Timpani, m.56: Remove extra 8th rest (part is correct).


In Parts:

Movement One

  • Piccolo, m.114-115: The flourish should come before the beat.
  • Flutes, m.114-115: The flourish should come before the beat.
  • Oboe, m.69: The two 8th notes should be a dotted 8th note and a 16th (score is correct).
  • E-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.64: 2nd 16th-note should be a B
  • E-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.14-115: the flourish should come before the beat.
  • B-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.91-92: Add a slur that covers both bars (score is correct).
  • E-flat Alto Clarinet, m.55-56: Slur is missing (score is correct)
  • E-flat Alto Clarinet, m.21: Change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.
  • E-flat Alto Saxophone, m.55-56: Slur is missing (score is correct)
  • E-flat Alto Saxophone, m.21: change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.
  • B-flat Cornet I: Add a third flag to the 16th note figure (thus making it 32nd notes, score is correct).
  • Euphonium, m.26: The 6th 16th-note should be a B-natural
  • Euphonium, m.98: add accent to the first note and a slur to the first two 8th notes (to match up with what trombones are doing).
  • Tuba, m.57: Add piano to the first beat
  • Tuba, m.105: change all three notes to C.
  • Snare Drum, m.104: Add flags to half note.

Movement Two

  • Flute, m.6: Add the 16th flag on the first pair of notes (score is correct).
  • E-flat Alto Clarinet, m.21: Change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.
  • Alto Saxophone, m.21: Change trill on D-sharp to one on F-sharp.

Movement Three

  • E-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.81: Add an accent on the first note.
  • B-flat Soprano Clarinet I, m.39: The fifth 8th note should be an E-flat, the rest of the notes after that are natural.
  • B-flat Soprano Clarinet II, m.59: Change the first note to C (score is correct).
  • E-flat Alto Clarinet, m.9-10: Slur is missing (score is correct).
  • Alto Saxophones, m.9-10: Slur is missing (score is correct).
  • B-flat Cornet II, m.39: The fifth 8th note should be an E-flat, the rest of the notes after that are natural.
  • Baritone, m.8: Articulations should be the same as the basses, bassoons, and clarinets.
  • Bass Drum and Cymbals, m.48: Add ties to the upbeat of beat two and the downbeat of beat four.

Movement Four

  • Flutes & Piccolo, m.43: The second beat should be two 8th notes (score is correct).
  • Solo B-flat Clarinet, m.82: Dot missing from the first 8th note.
  • E-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.86-87: Add a slur on the third beat (score is correct).
  • B-flat Soprano Clarinet II, m.16: There should be two quarter-note rests.
  • B-flat Cornet I, m.19: Add a 16th flag following the dotted 8th note (the score is correct)
  • B-flat Cornet I, m.63, Remove the 16th flag from the last note in the measure (score is correct).
  • B-flat Cornet II, m.65: Add an accent
  • B-flat Cornet II, m.97-98: The fortissimo and diminuendo should be moved from m.97 to m.98.
  • Trombone III, m.63: Remove the diminuendo and insert a crescendo (score is correct).

Movement Five

  • Piccolo, m.6: Add a slur (score is correct).
  • Solo B-flat Clarinet, m.2: Add a slur (score is correct)
  • Solo B-flat Clarinet, m.30: last note should be a quarter note (score is correct).
  • E-flat Alto Clarinet, m.1: Add a piano on the fourth beat (score is correct)
  • E-flat Alto Clarinet, m.31: the first two notes should be 8th notes (score is correct).
  • E-flat Alto Saxophone, m.1: Add a piano on the fourth beat (score is correct)
  • E-flat Alto Saxophone, m.31: the first two notes should be 8th notes (score is correct).
  • B-flat Cornet II, m.20: Slur missing.

Movement Six

  • Flute, m.61: Add 16th flags (score is correct).
  • B-flat Cornet I, m.59: Add slur to the first two beats (score is correct)
  • B-flat Cornet I, m.69, 70, 81: Add 16th flags (score is correct).
  • Trumpets, m.75-79: Dots are missing from all half and quarter notes (score is correct).
  • Trombone I-II, m.85: The accents and articulations in the parts should be the same as in the score.
  • Timpani, m.50-56: Add slurs to rolls.


Program Notes

Keyboard music formed one of Byrd's main compositional endeavors, and the fruit of these labors provided the impulse for an entire school of Elizabethan keyboard composition. Most of these works were intended for performance at the virginal, a small relative of the harpsichord in many timbral and mechanical aspects (so named because it was often found in the bedrooms of unmarried young 17th century ladies). Although Byrd's keyboard works first appear in the 1570s, they only circulated in manuscript until the publication of My Ladye Nevells Booke (1591) and Parthenia (1611). However, the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book languished in obscurity until 1899 before receiving publication. This collection comprises the largest set of Byrd's keyboard works -- around seventy -- and is also regarded as England's foremost collection of keyboard works. All of the movements Gordon Jacob set in William Byrd Suite have the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book as their source.

Gordon Jacob considered William Byrd Suite "freely transcribed," as virginal players had no means of creating dynamic shading or timbral contrast on their instrument. Composers created dynamic intensity by adding voices above and/or below the melody. Similarly, composers created musical intensity by adding lines of increasing complexity, ornamenting the melody. Jacob remained mostly faithful to Byrd's original melody, harmony, form and figuration, but added his own orchestrational color and dynamic shading to intensify the aforementioned expressive qualities of the music.

It is an overstatement to describe each movement simply as growing louder and more complex due to layers of ornamentation, variation and imitation. Although Byrd utilizes these compositional devices in all the works represented, his genius lies in how he utilizes these effects in varying degrees to avoid monotony. In The Earl of Oxford's March, devices of crescendo, ornamentation and imitation are clearly evident. This movement, marked un poco pomposo, begins its stately procession through the two iterations of its form simply and very quietly, growing steadily stronger and more complex into the climactic final sections. Although originally attributed to Byrd, the slow, stately "Pavana" is now placed within Anthony Holborne's works list. Jacob alters the harmonic scheme of this movement, beginning each phrase in a different tonality, yet emphasizing Bb-major in them all. Jhon come kisse me now, The Mayden's Song and Wolsey's Wilde are sets of variations upon an eight and two sixteen bar melodies, respectively. Imitation and ornamentation are the primary developmental tools in the first two, while the third follows a more conservative approach with far less figuration and only one variation. Jacob's orchestration of Wolsey's Wilde takes advantage of the instrumental forces, alternating loud and soft dynamics, and effectively utilizing the timbral possibilities of the winds. The Bells is structured in large musical paragraphs, a continuous motivic variation emanating from a single two-note ground in the bass. The work culminates with a tubular bell solo amidst a grandiose layering of contrapuntal texture.

- Program Note by Brian K. Doyle


Jacob’s William Byrd Suite is one of 400 pieces completed by the prolific composer. It was composed in 1923 to honor the 300th anniversary of Byrd’s death (c.1623). A pupil of Thomas Tallis, William Byrd excelled at writing secular and sacred polyphonic choral and keyboard music in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Jacob chose six pieces to honor Byrd. Originally scored for orchestra, Jacob was asked by conductor Adrian Boult to score the work for massed military bands at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley Stadium on May 29, 1924.

- Program Note from The Ohio State University Symphonic Band concert program, 6 October 2016


Media


State Ratings

  • Arkansas:
    • Grade V: Any four movements
    • Grade VI: Complete Suite
  • Florida: V
  • Maryland
    • Grade V: Any 4 movements including 1 and 3
    • Grade V: Any 4 movements including 3 and 4
  • New York
    • Grade VI: Any three movements
  • North Carolina:
    • Grade VI: May omit movement 4
    • Masterworks: Play all
  • Texas:
    • Grade III: Any two movements
    • Grade IV: Any three movements
    • Grade V: Movement 1 + 3 other movements


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Symphonic Band (Jerry Luckhardt, conductor) -- 28 February 2023
  • Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Mason St. Pierre, conductor) - 25 January 2023
  • Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Terry Austin, conductor) - 20 April 2022
  • University of Texas at Arlington Wind Symphony (Douglas Stotter, conductor) - 14 March 2021
  • Butler University (Indianapolis, Ind.) Wind Ensemble (Michael Colburn, conductor) - 11 March 2021
  • Whitworth University (Spokane, Wash.) Wind Symphony (Richard Strauch, conductor) - 14 November 2020
  • Miami (Ohio) University Wind Ensemble (Gary A. Speck, conductor)– 11 March 2020
  • Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) Concert Band (Daniel J. Farris, conductor) – 1 March 2020
  • University of Texas at Tyler Wind Ensemble (Jeffrey Emge, conductor) - 27 February 2020
  • Temple University (Philadelphia, Penn.) Symphonic Band (Matthew Brunner, conductor) – 23 February 2020
  • Houghton (N.Y.) College Wind Ensemble (Timothy McGarvey, conductor) – 21 February 2020
  • Kennesaw (Ga.) State University Wind Ensemble (David T. Kehler, conductor) – 19 February 2020
  • Austin (Tx.) Symphonic Band (Bill Haehnel, conductor) – 1 February 2020
  • Philadelphia (Penn.) Wind Symphony (Paul Bryan, conductor) – 14 December 2019
  • Illinois Valley Community College (Oglesby) Wind Ensemble (Phil Whaley, conductor) – 12 December 2019
  • Nazareth College (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Symphony (Jared Chase, conductor) – 19 November 2019
  • Cuesta Wind Ensemble (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) (Jennifer Martin, conductor) – November 17, 2019
  • Parkland College (Champaign, Ill.) Concert Band (Larry Stoner, conductor) - 20 October 2019
  • Pima Community College (Tucson, Ariz.) Wind Ensemble (Mark Nelson, conductor) – 17 October 2019
  • University of Nebraska (Lincoln) Symphonic Band (Anthony Falcone, conductor) – 10 October 2019
  • University of Texas (Austin) Symphony Band (Joshua Gall, conductor) – 2 October 2019
  • Eastman Wind Ensemble (Rochester, N.Y.) (Frederick Fennell, conductor) – 17 November 1961 *Premiere Eastman Wind Ensemble Concert*


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

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