Our Work
The Hounds of Spring is a concert overture for wind instruments written by the American composer, Alfred Reed in 1980. Reed was inspired by the poem Atalante in Calydon (1865), by Victorian era English poet, Algernon Charles Swinburne, a recreation in modern English verse of an ancient Greek tragedy. According to Reed himself, the poem's magical picture of young love in springtime, forms the basis for his musical setting in traditional three-part overture form. It was Reed's desire to capture the dual elements of the poem - high-spirited youthful jauntiness and the innocence of tender love.
To quote the composer, “For centuries, composers have been inspired by the beautiful O Magnum Mysterium text (“O Great Mystery”) depicting the birth of the newborn King amongst the lowly animals and shepherds. This affirmation of God's grace to the meek and the adoration of the Blessed Virgin are celebrated ... through a quiet song of profound inner joy.” Morton Lauridsen (b. 1943), Professor of Composition at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, is noted for his many vocal works. O Magnum Mysterium has become one of the world’s most performed and recorded compositions since its premiere in 1994 by the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The symphonic wind band version was arranged by H. Robert Reynolds, Principal Conductor of the Wind Ensemble at the Thornton School of Music and former Director of Bands at the University of Michigan.
One of Aaron Copland’s most recognized works, Variations on a Shaker Melody, is an excerpt from his Pulitzer Prize winning ballet, Appalachian Spring (1944), that the composer wrote for Martha Graham. This setting for concert band was completed by the composer during 1956 and premiered at Northwestern University on March 2, 1958. Copland selected the then obscure Shaker tune Simple Gifts for his variations. The unsung text, Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free, was also relevant to the ballet's larger themes of peace, war, remembrance, and national identity.
Douglas, the capital of the Isle of Man, was a holiday mecca in Victorian times for people from Northern England. Even before Haydn Wood (1882-1959) was born, his family had regularly journeyed there from Slaithwaite, Yorkshire. At the beginning of the 1885 tourist season, Haydn's elder brother Harry was hired as leader and soloist of the large orchestra at the Falcon Cliff Castle in Douglas. That summer, Sabra Wood brought the entire family, including her little son Haydn, age 3, to proudly watch and listen to Harry and the orchestra. From the age of 7, Haydn studied the violin with Harry. He loved being a member of Harry's Students Orchestra and performed regularly on the Isle of Man. By the late 1920s, Haydn Wood was becoming known as a conductor of his own music, and he conducted concerts at the Palace from then and throughout the 1930s.
It was not until 1931 that Haydn Wood started composing his large-scale Manx (i.e., of the Isle of Man) orchestral pieces. The first of these to be played in Douglas was Mannin Veen, on July 9, 1933. The composition exhibits both symphonic grandeur and Celtic tunefulness, often featuring the principal clarinet.
​Candide was Leonard Bernstein’s third Broadway musical, following On the Town and Wonderful Town. Adapted by Lillian Hellman from Voltaire’s 18th-century satire on blind optimism. Opening on Broadway on December 1, 1956, Candide was perhaps a bit too intellectually weighty for its first audiences and closed after just 73 performances. Bernstein was less concerned over the money lost than the failure of a work he cared about deeply. The critics had rightly noted a marvelous score, and Bernstein and others kept tinkering with the show over the years. With each revival, Candide won bigger audiences. In 1989, the already seriously ill Bernstein spent his last ounces of vital energy recording a new concert version of the work. “There’s more of me in that piece than anything else I’ve done.”
Charles Ives is among the most significant American composers. His innovative compositions preceded many musical developments that helped shape the development of 20th century music. He was born in Danbury, Connecticut and was the son of a U.S Army bandleader in the Civil War. He felt that his New England background in hymn tunes, patriotic songs and town band music was the foundation that his music needed in order to be nationalistic and distinctly “American.” And so, at age 17, Ives composed a set of variations for organ that was based off of the patriotic song, America and premiered it himself at a Fourth of July celebration. These variations are light-hearted and somewhat satirical, as they feature the use of barbershop harmonies, several modulations, a polonaise variation in a minor key and two interludes that are written in two keys at once. In 1963, William Schuman, an American symphonist and promoter of American music, orchestrated these organ variations to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Broadcast Music Incorporated. The version you will hear today has been transcribed for symphonic wind ensemble by William E. Rhoads
Our Musicians
Dr. Timothy Yontz, Music Director
Flutes
Julie Meschko
Libby O’Connor
Wendy Willis
Oboe
Patricia Gosnell
Dianne Ritz-Salminen
E Flat Clarinet
John Salminen
Clarinets
Joe Duffy
Karen Marcotte-Eckler
Val Esnes
Lorraine Wistrom
Alto Clarinet
Anna Fernald
Bass Clarinet
Richard Wessler
Alto Saxophones
Matthew Csontos
Renee Asper
Tenor Saxophone
Jeff Ricigliano
Baritone Saxophone
Lou Debonzo
Trumpets
Dick Miller
Peter Davis
Andrew DePree
Drew Bardagjy
Mary Zitnik
French Horns
Rachael Jacoby
Ellen Klein
Dave Drewek
Timothy Wilcox
Euphoniums
Ken Wistrom
Staci Hatmaker
Trombones
Curt Kumpf
Dennis Viers
Bass Trombone
Michael Ciccarone
Tubas
Todd Handley
Raymond Brown
Percussion
Fred Eckler
Marilyn Marszalek
Rob Platter