Farewell Overture
for Concert Band
Farewell Overture has a chamber version as the first movement of Miniatures for piano and woodwind quintet.
Frühjahrsmüdigkeit [6']
I frequently write chamber versions first when composing pieces for large
forces. In 2015, from January through August, I wrote for concert band. One
piece was Popular Music of Planet X,
and another was Tilting at Windmills. A
Little Poem, from the first, and Sevillana,
from the second, had chamber versions for woodwind quintet and piano. This is a
very interesting ensemble which has had my attention for some years. After
completing my Cello Concerto in late
January, I felt it was time to write a third movement to make a complete
composition for this chamber group. The new movement became the Farewell Overture, inspired in a way by
Groucho Marx in Animal Crackers, and
also by my uncertainty as to how much more music I will be able to write. I
then arranged the overture for concert band. Work was considerably delayed by
health concerns.
Frühjahrsmüdigkeit, the tempo marking,
is German for a sense of listlessness brought on by the coming of spring.