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£33.35Polka from 'The Bartered Bride' (Brass Band) Smetana arr. Rob Bushnell
Considered a major contribution to the develop of Czech music, The Bartered Bride by Bedrich Smetana is a comic opera in three acts that premiered, in its final version, in 1870; having not been a great success when the original two-act version premiered at the Provisional Theatre, Prague on 30 May 1866. The opera was part of Smetana's aim to create a native Czech music after the conductor Johann von Herbeck commented that Czechs were incapable of making music of their own. Whilst he avoided the direct use of folksongs, Smetana did use numerous traditional Bohemian dance forms, such as the furiant and the polka, leading to music that was Czech in spirit. 'Sold Bride', a more accurate translation of the original Czech title (Prodana nevesta), tells the story of two lovers (Marenka and Jenik) who want to marry despite Marenka's father's obligations for his daughter to marry the son of a wealthy landowner, Micha. Scheming, condition proposals and secret identities leads to a happy ending. The polka was not in the original 1866 version. A revision in October 1866 saw the addition of a gypsy dance near the start of act 2. But by the next performance in January 1869, this had been replaced by a polka. In June 1869, a new polka replaced the January version's (as well as being moved to the end of act 1) and this is the one that we know and love today. This arrangement is for British-style brass band, with *alternative parts for horns in F and bass-clef lower brass. Instrumentation: Soprano Cornet Eb Solo Cornet Bb Repiano Cornet Bb 2nd Cornet Bb 3rd Cornet Bb Flugel Horn Bb Solo Horn Eb* 1st Horn Eb* 2nd Horn Eb* 1st Baritone Bb* 2nd Baritone Bb* 1st Trombone Bb* 2nd Trombone Bb* Bass Trombone Euphonium Bb* Bass Eb* Bass Bb* Timpani Percussion (Triangle, Cymbal(s) & Bass Drum)
In Stock: Estimated dispatch 1-3 working days
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£45.00Lament (Brass Band - Score and Parts) - Bridge, Frank - Hindmarsh, Paul
The English composer Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941) did not take an active part in the First World War. However, he was devastated by the slaughter on the western and the eastern fronts, especially the loss of so many of his musicians friends and colleagues. Writing in 1963, his former pupil Benjamin Britten confessed that 'a lot of my feelings about the First World War which people seemed to see in the War Requiem came from Bridge. He had written a piano sonata in memory of a friend killed in France and though he didn't encourage me to take a stand for the sake of a stand, he did make me argue and argue and argue. His own pacifism was not aggressive, but typically gentle'.Bridge composed this Lament for string orchestra on 14 June 1915, in memory of Catherine Crompton, who drowned when the Cunard liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine on 7 May, 1915. According to figures researched by Liverpool historian Kevin Roach (www.lusitania.net), 1201 men, women and children lost their lives out of the 1962 people aboard. Ninety-four children died, including Catherine, her twin brother Paul and four other siblings. Paul Crompton, Snr. (44), a British businessman working in Philadelphia, his wife Gladys (40) and the family nanny were also drowned. How Bridge's dedication came about is uncertain. The music critic Edwin Evans, who knew Bridge well, has written that the Catherine was a young friend. It is also possible that he came across the family photograph which was published in many newspapers in the wake of the tragedy. By that time, Bridge was greatly distressed by the war as a whole. It seems perfectly in keeping with his pacifist leanings and the strength of his reaction, that this poignant and deeply touching 'war memorial' should mourn a child who he did not know, rather than one of the thousands of young men who fell in battle.Through the musical tears of this melancholy lullaby, Bridge may have regarded the death of young Catherine Crompton as symbolic of the loss of so many innocent lives in wartime. His response to this personal tragedy was characteristically spontaneous and utterly sincere. It is one of his most effective miniatures, poignant yet restrained in its lyrical beauty, with a compelling directness and simplicity of construction.This brass band transcription is pitched one tone lower than the original for string orchestra.- Paul HindmarshDuration: 5.00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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