or.k's A JOURNAL FOR THE CONTE MPORARY WIND BAND ISSUE 3 FALL 1999 CONTENTS Defining the Wind Band Sound WIND LIBRARY by Donald Hunsberger ... page 1 Fantasy Variations Tracing wind band development through by Donald Grantham .. page 20 American brass bands of the 1800s A prize-winning set of variations on a popular Gershwin composition CONVERSATIONS Dancin ' into the '20s A Talk with Timothy Reynish ... page 14 by Reeg, Scates, Herbert, and Levy ... page 22 Conductor and educator Reynish reflects on the A lively group of dance tunes from the early days wind band movement in England and abroad. ofthe 1900s INSIGHTS My Robin is to the Greenwood Gone Gershwin s Rhapsody in Blue by Percy Grainger ... page 2 4 by Thomas Verrier ... page 31 A new wind setting from Fred Sturm for this A detailed narrative on its evolution in scoring pastoral delight Concerto for Trumpet in E-jlat Major, Hob VIle: 1 INNOVATIONS by Franz Joseph Haydn ... page 26 Music Meets Technology ... page 30 The newest work from the Classical Wind Band Parts on CD-ROM point the way to the future! Accompaniment Project. DEFINING THE WIND BAND SOUND WIND SCORING IN AMERICA 1830-1890: THE BRASS BAND ERA BY DONALD HUNSBERGER During the nineteenth century, English military bands grew in a common heritage or of long-standing traditions. England and size and instrumentation through the stabilizing influence of pub­ various other countries in Europe were fairly homogeneous soci­ lished military band journals. Balanced instrumental family sec­ eties with long histories, but the new American population was, tions, along with logical scoring patterns, resulted in an emerging from its earliest days, a mix of national and ethnic backgrounds, repertoire that satisfied the military, social, and musical demands a land that accepted from its immigrants the benefit of their pre­ made of the wind band, especially during the second half of the vious experience and knowledge. century. While much of this repertoire was music of an occasion­ Thus, throughout the nineteenth century, the American band al nature, transcriptions of orchestral and operatic literature pro­ movement received direction and influences from England, vided a modicum of association with the classical music heritage Germany, France, and Italy regarding music, instrumentation, and of the country. most importantly, developments in instrument manufacturing. In the United States, a parallel maturation was taking more The importation of instruments such as the Halliday keyed bugle time, hindered by the relative youth of the country and its lack of (the family of instruments that formed the basis of many early nineteenth-century bands), the The Complete Catalog contains nearly 600 pages of single­ newly developed woodwinds spaced listings of musical works published from 1825 through (particularly flute and clarinet), 1870 by the 20 publishers on the Board of Music Trade, none of and the saxhorn and saxophone which are in existence today. Among major publishers of the peri­ families from Adolphe Sax od were Oliver Ditson and Co., Boston; William A. Pond, New enabled America to have its York; J. L. Peters, New York; John Church and Co., Cincinnati; own 'go-around' in sponsoring and Root and Cady, Chicago. Although the listings for "Songs" innovations in musical perfor­ ran from pages 3-153 , "Operas and Oratorios" pages 208- 259, mance. and "Waltzes" pages 4 17-451 , the total space for "Orchestra Advances in instrumentation Music" was one page (563) and "Band Music" only one and a half scoring and balances by pages (564-565), a third of which was taken up with a listing of Wilhelm Wieprecht (1802- 64 works arranged by B. A. Burditt and published by Ditson. 1872) in Prussia provided Frank J. Cipolla, in his article "Annotated Guide for the Study guidance in the distribution of and Performance of Nineteenth-Century Band Music in the voices throughout each tessitu­ United States" in the Journal of Band Research ( 1979), further ra, as did the creation of a balanced French instrumentation, with clarifies this lack of avai lable resources: its large woodwind and saxhorn secti ons. Italy was represented In the past, bands served primarily an utilitarian or entertainment through leaders such as Francis Scala (ca.l820-1903), who direct­ function; consequently, the archival value of the music performed ed the U.S. Marine Band during the middle of the century [see the was not considered, either from the artistic or hi storical stand­ Instrumentation sidebar, pages 10- 11, for more on Scala]. In point. More often than not, the existing music library for a par­ addition, English military band journals began to be imported into ticular group was discarded when a new leader took charge, as the United States during the latter decades of the century; this changes in instrumentation took place, or according to the musi­ source provided repertoire for the growth of balanced woodwind­ cal fashions of the time. Much material that did manage to sur­ brass-percussion ensembles such as those of Gilmore and Sousa, vive this initial purge was later discarded in the present century, which in turn became role models for other American bands. in "house-cleaning" operations in regimental armories, librari es, As wind band traditions grew in England from the eighteenth­ publishing institutions, and other repositories. century harmoniemusic ensemble and similar orchestral models, two primary performance media developed during the first half of Pre-1890 American wind music is primarily limited to collec­ the nineteenth century: the all-brass band and the woodwind-ori­ tions in the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the ented military band. These two performance ensembles continued library of the U. S. Marine Band in Washington, DC, numerous throughout the succeeding 150-plus years and still function (along state historical associations and libraries, and the libraries of such with the recently developed large wind orchestra) today. early bands as the Allentown Band, Allentown, PA (founded 1828), and the Ringgold Band of Reading, PA. EARLY AMERICAN WIND BAND SOURCES Two of the earliest extant publications of band music-a mixed Much of English wind band history may be documented woodwind-brass ensemble- are by William Webb, published by through historical holdings found in the British Museum in G. E. Blake, 13 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia. The first, Grand London, in collections at the Royal School of Military Music at Military Divertimentos, n.d. (ca. 1816- 20) is a set of24 pieces for Kneller Hall, in various separate military libraries, and in the piccolo, two flutes, two bassoons, bugle, two trumpets, two archives of publishers who produced the military band and brass French horns, and trombone or serpent. It may be found in the band journals. New York Public Library. The Second Sett of Grand Milital)l Unfortunately, researching early wind band music in America is Divertimentos (1828), now housed in the Scala Coll ection at the not quite as easy; large gatherings of sources with easily accessi­ Library of Congress, calls for the same instrumentation plus a ble performance scores or parts are not found.* A primary reason clarinet in F. Since most of the earliest band instrumentations in for this lack of resources is stated clearly by Dena J. Epstein of the the United States were a continuation of the European har­ University of Chicago in her introduction to the Da Capo Press moniemusic tradition, this instrumentation closely reflects those reissue (1973) of the Complete Catalog of Sheet Music and instrumental balances, with some expansion in the flutes and Musical Works, published by the Board of Music Trade of the brass. (The U. S. Marine Band, which celebrated its 200th United States of America in 1870: mmiversary on July 15 , 1998, began its life with two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, a bassoon and drums.) Excerpt I is from one The Complete Catalog of Sheet Music and Musical Works 1870 ofWebb's compositions. The individual parts in the score have not is the closest approach to a listing of music-in-print ever pub­ lished in the United States. Band music was not usually pub­ lished during the nineteenth century because personnel varied so * For in-depth research into the American wind band and its music prior to the scope of this paper, consult the writings of Raoul Camus, widely from band to band that each group made its own arrange­ who has documented the earliest periods of American wind history in ments. To a large extent thi s was true of orchestral music as well. Th e Militmy Music of the American Revolution, in American Wind Scores and parts for orchestras were more likely to be imported and Percussion Music, in articles in the Journal ofBand Research and than to be published in the United States. Th e Wind Ensemble and Its Repertoire, and in numerous other inter­ national sources. See the bibliography later in this article. 2 ~sue'Jhree Excerpt 1. "The Nightingale," Second Sett of Grand Military Divertimentos by William Webb. Score realized by Davi£1 Rivello a. 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