NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY an Annotated Catalog of Marimba
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY An Annotated Catalog of Marimba Concertos with Winds A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS Field of Percussion Performance By Anthony Joseph Calabrese EVANSTON, ILLINOIS June 2014 2 © Copyright by Anthony Joseph Calabrese 2014 All Rights Reserved 3 ABSTRACT An Annotated Catalog of Marimba Concertos with Winds Anthony J. Calabrese This document is a musical catalog of concertos for one or two solo marimbas originally written with wind accompaniment. Chapter One summarizes the development of the marimba since the early 1900s. Chapter Two presents charts and descriptions of 45 works in this genre, based on works written between 1974 and 2013. Composers of these works are based in Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Taiwan, and across the United States. The descriptions address composition dates, instrumentation and timing, solo instrument range and technical requirements, including cadenzas, publishers, arrangements, recordings, commissions and premieres, style, and other details in the scores. Musical incipits are provided where available. Sixteen works are detailed here for the first time, including the first known works in the genre. Readers should also see Andrew Lance Dancy’s document (2008) for complementary information on certain works. Chapter Three examines similarities and differences, and trends among all 45 works in the genre based on the catalog’s details. Ideas on how to solicit new works are identified from past studies and applied to the wind ensemble idiom. This study informs percussionists and conductors as they select concertos for performance, it informs composers of past works, and identifies trends. 4 Acknowledgments I want to recognize my former teachers: Gordon Stout, John H. Beck, Michael Burritt, and James Ross, as well as my advisory committee: She-e Wu, Drew Davies, and Mallory Thompson, for their invaluable guidance and support. All are artists and professionals of the highest order who have left an incredible impression on me. Many thanks also for the patience and faith of the larger doctoral committee at Northwestern University, and thanks to James Giles, and Marcia Bosits, and to Donna Wang Su, who always made me feel like I was a priority. Thanks to the Japanese Federation of Composers for their assistance in contacting composers. My sincere thanks to the composers and publishing companies named throughout the document for granting scores and permission for use in this study, such as Atelier M. Many composers offered their unpublished materials, and Gordon Stout mailed to me an original manuscript. I feel humbled and blessed. Thanks to those who offered recordings and out-of-print scores, such as Music Information Centre Norway, the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman School of Music, and people like William Moersch, Jason K. Nitsch, Chin- Cheng “Jim” Lin, Gerard Brophy, Benoît Chantry, Vicente Ortiz Gimeno, Satoshi Takeshima, Terumichi Tanaka, and Stephanie Webster for providing materials. Thanks to a local friend, etymologist and taiko drummer Masanori Seto, for his translation services. 5 Glossary 4.0-Octave: Describes the formerly standard range of a marimba, from E3 to E7 4.3-Octave: Describes a standard range of a marimba, from A2 to C7 4.6-Octave: Describes a standard range of a marimba, from E2 to C7 5.0-Octave: Describes a standard, full-size range of the modern marimba, from C2 to C7. 5.5-Octave: Describes an extended-range marimba, C2-F7. 5.6-Octave: Describes a very rare range, C2-to Gb7. C2: Lowest pitch on a 5.0-octave concert grand marimba. C4: Commonly known as ‘middle’ C. C7: Highest pitch on a 5.0-octave marimba. Harmonie: French, meaning military band or wind band (Wotton, 2009, p. 26). Keyboard Percussion: Sometimes referred to as “mallet instruments” or “mallet percussion”, consists of the xylophone, marimba, chimes, vibraphone, glockenspiel or concert bells, marching bell lyre, celesta, and electronic keyboard musical instruments digital interface (MIDI) controllers (Cook, 2006). Percussion Concerto: a work for solo percussionist with ensemble accompaniment in which the soloist plays several non-pitched or relative-pitched instruments, sometimes with one or more keyboard percussion instruments. 6 Dedication This document is dedicated to: my parents Mary Anne and Jim, for having supported me in so many ways; my wife, Angela, for her love and support, for accommodating my writing time by taking care of our daughter, while actively singing, teaching, and pursuing additional education; Giuseppe and Francesca Libertella, for helping me register for the 2006 “Giornate delle Percussione” competition, which fortunately I won; my brother Mario, and all my family, for being supportive and encouraging; my late Uncle Eugene Campbell, for developing my familiarity with classical composers and their works, and for years of piano lessons; my late Uncle Lewis Campbell, who worked through significant challenges to achieve his goals; my professors and musical colleagues, past and present, for demonstrating the highest level of professionalism and artistry; my former teachers working “in the trenches” of public education, who deserve copious praise and better conditions for all they do; my wonderful friends, for their invaluable help, support, and babysitting. I am able to complete this document and the degree Doctor of Musical Arts with the love, support, and good examples of everyone mentioned above. Finally, may this document be an example of determination, commitment, and hard work to some infinitely special people: my children. 7 Table of Contents List of Figures and Graphs 9 Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study 10 History of the Marimba as a Concert Instrument 10 Purpose of the Study 15 Literature Review 17 Definition of Terms, Method 19 Limitations of the Study 21 Chapter 2: Catalog of Concertos for Marimba and Wind Ensemble 23 Authors’ Prior Contributions 23 Chronological List of Concertos for Marimba and Winds 24 Works Arranged by Composer 27 Works Currently Unavailable, Other Works 119 Works Arranged by Duration 121 Works Arranged by Marimba Range 124 Works Arranged by Number of Ensemble Performers 127 Chart of Arrangements 134 Chapter 3: Conclusions on the Genre and Recommendations for Further Research 140 Growth of the Genre: Number of Compositions by Decade 140 Summary of Trends 145 8 Recommendations for Further Research 148 References 150 Appendix: Publishing Companies and Composers 165 9 List of Figures and Graphs 1 Aqua Vitae Stage Setup 58 2 Newly Composed Marimba Concertos by Decade 141 10 Chapter 1: Introduction A Brief History of the Marimba as a Concert Instrument “Throughout history, a multitude of bar percussion instruments existed across the globe. The earliest instrument related to the modern marimba comes from Southeast Asia” (England, 1971, p. 87). Early versions in Indonesia involved “a long, narrow, hollow wooden box open at the top” over which pitched bars made of bronze or iron were placed (England, 1971, p. 87). The gender, used in Java and Bali from about 1157, used individually tuned bamboo resonators for each pitch. There were other precursors to the marimba in Africa and Central America. Sebastian Hurtado of Guatemala changed the layout from one diatonic to two chromatic rows of tone-bars in about 1880 (Stevens, 2010a). Guatemalan marimbas spanned up to a 6.5- octave range. These were “the only ones [in the 19th century] that approximate the range capabilities of the piano” (MacCallum, 1968, p. 3). The wood used in Guatemala allowed for accurate-sounding pitches. The first solo marimba players lived in Guatemala (Smith, 1995). The Hurtado brothers introduced the marimba to the US on their tour in 1908. Two years later, John Calhoun Deagan established a company that built and marketed the first US marimbas, using tapered metal resonators. One of his best-known models, the Nabimba, was a custom-made instrument up to seven octaves in range, inspired by the extended range of Central American marimbas. (MacCallum, 1968, p. 4). The common range of marimbas produced by the J.C. Deagan Company until about 1920 was 4.5 to 5 octaves. Frank MacCallum states that Around 1920, all manufacturers of bar percussions, as if by unanimous agreement discontinued making any instruments with notes lower than C, one octave below 11 Middle C. In doing so they put an end to the idea of marimba bands and ensemble playing in the United States and limited the marimba to solo playing only, with a piano or orchestral accompaniment (1968, p, 4). Since Central and South America received the marimba as a by-product of the African slave trade, Europe did not encounter the marimba until North Americans brought it there some time during the second decade of the 20th century, according to Leigh Stevens (2010b). For several years beginning in about 1926, George Hamilton Green performed on live radio broadcasts every Wednesday evening, and the program that featured his ensemble could be heard in most major cities from the East Coast to the Midwest, including Boston, Washington DC, New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis, Davenport, and St. Louis, among others (Lewis, 2009). Through his technical, improvisatory, and compositional prowess, Green bolstered the public’s interest in the xylophone. Green published a technical manual and body of literature still in use today. The ragtime style was the vehicle through which Green solidified one identity of keyboard percussion in his time. Clair Omar Musser was active at the same time as Green, but Musser’s style was much more in the classical vein. Musser invented a four-mallet technique in 1920, and wrote solo compositions employing four-mallet technique. Musser performed in Europe and America, and during his career he would perform internationally in more than 400 concerts. Musser also taught at Northwestern University, and is said to have taught roughly 1400 students (Gerhardt, 1965, p.