Kjos String Orchestra Grade 4 Full Conductor Score SO260F Richard Stephan $7.00 GGreensleevesreensleeves VVariationsariations SAMPLE Neil A. Kjos Music Company • Publisher 2 The Composer Richard Stephan earned degrees from the State University of New York at Fredonia and the Eastman School of Music, with advanced work at the University of Buffalo and Brigham Young University. He taught instrumental music in the public schools of Buffalo and was an orchestra director and Coordinator of Music in the Hamburg, New York, schools for thirteen years. In 1968, Mr. Stephan joined the faculty of the Crane School of Music, S.U.N.Y. at Potsdam, where he was the symphony orchestra conductor and string education professor for the following thirty-two years. Mr. Stephan has appeared as a guest conductor/clinician in New York, Ohio, Utah, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, and Ontario, Canada. He conducted the opening ceremonies of the 1980 Winter Olympics and in 1984 was honored with a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award to lecture and conduct in Australia. His Fanfare and Frippery was the 1986 National School Orchestra Association Composition Contest winner and he has over three dozen published works for string, full, and studio orchestra to his credit. Since his retirement from teaching in 2000, Mr. Stephan has continued his writing and guest conducting. The Composition I have always had a deep regard and admiration for the melody that we now know as “Greensleeves.” Using this as a basis for a set of variations was quite attractive to me. However, after much thought and with respect for the beauty of this time-honored tune, I decided to base the variations on the implied harmonic structure of the piece rather than on the melody. The original melodic presentation should grow from the simplicity of the legato celli statement to the full, balanced harmonization at measure 9. Both the theme and the first variation are best served with long, smooth bowing. The fermati between variations should be as brief as possible, allowing only enough time to prepare physically and mentally for the next tempo and style. The odd-numbered variations (with the exception of the last one) are generally in a slow tempo and are to be played with attention to beauty of tone and sensitivity to phrasing. The even-numbered variations (except Variation IV) need to be approached with both vigorous, firm bowing that digs well into the string, and with strict adherence to a lively, steady tempo. Pizzicato movements can easily end up racing to the finish. To maintain a steady, unrushed pace in Variation IV, have the students subdivide the beat by counting the “ands” while you conduct the piece in “one.” A few other details need to be considered, including the delicate staccato on beat two in Variation III; the balance in the second half of Variation V allowing the cello line to predominate; the accents that create the “rhythmic dissonance” in Variation VI; and a controlled ritard spread over three measures returning to the majestic Finale. Although the melody must come through clearly, it is also important that the divisi harmony voices are balanced properly to obtain the desired richness of texture. I hope you enjoy! Instrumentation List (Set C) 8 – 1st Violin 8 – 2nd Violin 5 – Viola 5 – Cello 5 – String Bass 1 – Full ConductorSAMPLE Score Additional scores and parts are available. Learning Bank Each student part includes a Learning Bank featuring historical information about “Greensleeves.” The Learning Bank is also printed on page 3 of this score. SO260 3 Learning Bank: The History of “Greensleeves” The song “Greensleeves” has a long and complicated history that spans over 400 years. Originally written by an anonymous English musician during the Renaissance, “Greensleeves” has traveled on an intriguing journey to reach our modern songbook. In the mid 16th century, it was very common for pieces of music to enter popular consciousness through anonymous sources. Legend has it, however, that the true composer of “Greensleeves” was King Henry VIII (1491-1547). Modern scholars know that the English king was an active musician and that he wrote lyrics to the “Greensleeves” melody for his friend Anne Boleyn. Despite this evidence, the theory that the famed Henry VIII wrote “Greensleeves” has been refuted by many music historians, who claim that the Italian-influenced style of the piece did not start appearing in England until after Henry’s death. The true origin of one of the most well- known songs in Western culture, therefore, remains a mystery. Lyrics to “Greensleeves” were first published in 1580, but the song almost certainly had a history in the oral tradition before that date. It was so popular in late Renaissance England that William Shakespeare even mentions it in his play The Merry Wives of Windsor (c.1602). At the end of the 16th century, lute player Francis Cutting wrote variations on the “Greensleeves” melody (“variations” are musical structures that repeat the same theme with different modifications each time). Unlike Richard Stephan’s Greensleeves Variations, which states the melody at the beginning, Cutting’s piece never states the actual melody. Many scholars agree that the tune was so popular at the time that the lute player did not need to play it at all; indeed, he simply needed to imply the melody through his variations for the audience to understand the musical reference. The large number of humorous parodies of the song from the same period also attest to the ubiquity of “Greensleeves” in late 16th century English life. In addition to its early history as a love song, “Greensleeves” was first given Christmas-themed lyrics in the mid 17th century (“The Old Year Now Away Has Fled”). This new holiday context for the song remains with us to the present day. In the 1860s, the Englishman William Chatterton Dix wrote yet another set of lyrics to “Greensleeves” and published his version under the title “What Child Is This?” Dix’s version endures today as a well-loved Christmas carol. SAMPLE SO260 4 Greensleeves Variations Full Conductor Score Approx. time – 8:00 Richard Stephan Peacefully, Smoothly (e = 90) 1 2 3 4 1 Violins 2 Viola Cello mf String Bass 5 6 7 8 9 Stately 1 mf f Vlns. Viola cue end cue Play 2 mf f mf Vla. mf f Cello SAMPLE f Str. Bass f ©2008 Neil A. Kjos Music Company, 4382 Jutland Drive, San Diego, California, 92117. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. WARNING! The contents of this publication are protected by copyright law. To copy or reproduce them by any method is an infringement of the copyright law. Anyone who reproduces copyrighted matter is subject to substantial penalties and assessments for each infringement. SO260 5 10 11 12 13 14 1 Vlns. 2 Vla. Cello Str. Bass Variation I 15 17 Calmly 16 18 19 1 Vlns. dim. mf 2 dim. mf Vla. dim. mf Cello dim. mf Str. Bass dim. 20 21 22 23 24 1 Vlns. 2 Vla. Cello SAMPLEpizz. Str. Bass mf SO260 6 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 f Vlns. 2 f Vla. f Cello f Str. Bass f Var. II 31 Aggressively (q = 135) 32 33 34 35 36 1 f Vlns. rit. 2 f rit. Vla. rit. f Cello rit. f arco Str. Bass rit. f 37 38 39 40 41 42 1 Vlns. 2 Vla. Cello SAMPLE Str. Bass SO260 7 43 44 45 46 47 48 1 Vlns. 2 Vla. Cello Str. Bass 49 50 51 52 53 54 1 mp cresc. mf mp cresc. Vlns. 2 mp cresc. mf mp cresc. Vla. mp Play cresc. mf mp cresc. 1st Time Tacit Cello mp mf cresc. 1st Time Tacit Play Str. Bass mf Var. III 57 Daintily (q = 90) 55 1. 56 2. 58 59 60 1 f f p Vlns. 2 f f p Vla. f f p Cello f f p SAMPLEpizz. Str. Bass cresc. f f p SO260 8 63 61 62 1. 64 65 1 Vlns. 2 Vla. Cello Str. Bass 67 66 2. 68 69 70 1 Vlns. , 2 Vla. Cello Str. Bass 71 72 73 74 75 76 1 f Vlns. dim. 2 f dim. Vla. f dim. Cello SAMPLEf dim. Str. Bass f dim. SO260 9 77 78 79 80 81 82 1 f Vlns. mp 2 mp f Vla. mp f Cello mp f Str. Bass