Exploring Concert Duets & Trios: History and Composers Behind the Music
The purpose of this page is to provide history and context for the music found in the Compatible Wind Ensembles Concert Duets and Trios series published by Carl Fischer. There are brief biographical and historical accounts provided on the composers and folk music used within the work for the benefit of directors, private teachers, and students.
Concert Duets Composer Biographies and Piece Background
Background on the composers and the compositions included in the Concert Duet book have been listed in alphabetical order by piece title.
Florence Beatrice Price (1887-19553) is the first prominent African American female composer to gain national status. As a result of being awarded first prize for her Symphony in E minor in the Wanamaker Competition, she became a pioneer in the classical world as it was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933. While she composed numerous orchestral symphonies, concertos, and choral music, “Adoration” is a popular piece for organ composed in 1951, with simple elegance in form its form and structure.
“Alla Sicilianna” is extracted from the second movement of Amy Beach’s (1867-1944) Gaelic Symphony in E minor. Completed in 1894, it debuted two years later as the first symphony composed and published by a female American composer. The influence of English, Irish, and Scottish melodies ultimately led to the naming of the symphony Gaelic.
Jane Ross learned the tune “Londonderry Air” in 1851 from a traveling fiddler player on the streets of Limavady, Ireland. While his name was not recorded in the annals of history, the lyrics come from a British lawyer by the name of Frederic Weatherly in 1913. “Oh Danny Boy” has become beloved across generations of male and female performers and wide array of audiences.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) composed “Ecossaise” in 1810. This short and lively piano piece likely was influenced by the contradense, a French form of a country dance popular in France and Great Britain at the end of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th. This setting has been adapted from its original key of G Major.
Scott Joplin (1868-1917), known as the “King of Ragtime”, was an American composer and pianist. While his opera Treemonisha became an intensive personal project for Joplin, He is best remembered and admired for his classic rags for piano, including “The Entertainer” which garnered a warm reception to a new generation after its use in the 1970’s movie The Sting.
French composer Charles Gounod (1818-1893) wrote 12 operas and a large amount of church music, but is perhaps best remembered for some of his shorter works. The 1972 television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents made use of “Funeral March of a Marionette” as its main theme. Originally the work was written as part of a suite for solo piano in 1872, but Gounod later abandoned the idea and transformed it into a piece for full orchestra in 1879.
“Lamma bada yatathanna” is a song standard within the repertoire of Arabic and Middle Eastern music. The song is an example of a muwashshah, an genre of secular Arabic music in strophic form that dates back to the 11th and 12the centuries in Muslim Spain. The melodic mode of the song is harmonic minor,
Aniceto Ortega (1825-1875) was a Mexican physician, composer, and pianist. Although he held a distinguished medical career, he is remembered for his music including his first composition “Marcha Zaragoza”, completed in 1862. The piece was named for Mexican patriot and general Ignacio Zaragoza, and it became Mexico’s second national anthem.
“Mizmor Shir” is a Hebrew folk song. The text translates to “a song of praise for the Sabbath day”. The phrase was used during ancient times to direct the Levites, the musicians in the Temple play musical instruments the Temple as they sang the liturgy during worship services.
Known to many as the father of Czech Music, Bedřich Smetana’s (1824-1884) compositions came to be associated with his country’s movement towards becoming an independent statehood. While his compositional output was prodigious across many genres, Smetana is perhaps best remembered for his cycle of six poems entitled Ma Vlast, or ‘My Fatherland’. One of the popular works from this cycle is the “Moldau”, a melody loosely based upon an Italian folk song attributed to tenor Giuseppe Cenci.
A virtuoso pianist and teacher of the Romantic era, Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) produced symphonies, choral works, chamber pieces, and wide-ranging piano music. During the 19th century, Farrenc was the only female professor hired at the famous Conservatory of Music in Paris. “Nocturne” was dedicated to Madame Marie Campenon, a French educator and the lady in waiting to Marie Antoinette.
“An Original Jig” is a duet created for this compatible wind ensemble series. I am drawn to the whimsy and buoyancy found in jigs, and the opportunity to write in my favorite meter was appealing. While I have set a number of different pieces in 6/8, for the most part they are in major keys, and this jig in contrast is in minor.
Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) was one of the prominent 19th century Russian composers known as “The Five” (alongside Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov). Borodin was also a chemist of Georgian-Russian parentage. He is best known for his symphonies, two string quartets, the symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia and his opera Prince Igor from which “Polovtsian Dance (Gliding Dance of the Maidens)” is found.
“Scarborough Fair” refers to both the well-known English folk song (often associated with Simon & Garfunkel’s version) and a historic marketplace in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The ballad advances the concept of unrequited love telling of a man and woman setting each other to complete impossible tasks. The fair itself was a medieval market that existed from the 14th to the 18th centuries.
Albert Ellmenreich (1816-1905) was a German actor, singer, dancer and composer. He is best known for “Spinning Song”, a work popular among piano recital programming. Melodically, the piece is cheerful and syncopated, accompanied by a rhythmic ostinato bass to convey the humming sound of a spinning wheel.
“Steal Away” is a popular African-American spiritual attributed to Wallace Wills, at some point before 1862. Wallace was overheard singing the tune by Alexander Reid, a minister, who then transcribed it and sent it to the Fisk University Jubilee Singers. In addition to the expression of their faith in God, “Steal Away”, like “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” or “Wade in the Water”, contained hidden codes and messages for slaves to run away on their own or to connect with the Underground Railroad.
Theodor Kullak (1818-1882) was a German composer, pianist and teacher active during the 19th century. In addition to his many students, Kullak established two schools of music during his career (The Stern Conservatory which is part of the Berlin University of the Arts, and The Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt, Germany) and was also elected to honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in Florence. The bulk of his compositional output was that of music for the piano of which “Witches Dance” is set as a duet in this series for wind instruments.
“Xiao he tang shui (Flowing River)” is a beautiful and touching folk song from the Yunnan Province in China. The text conveys a young woman looking up at the moon, longing and calling to her true love. The moon symbolizes her love walking across the sky, asking if he can her her calls from the side of the river.
Concert Trios Composer Biographies and Piece Background
Background on the composers and the compositions included in the Concert Trio book have been listed in alphabetical order by piece title.
“Abalone Sunset” began as a chamber work in the summer of 2020, before I later expanded it to a full band setting available from Carl Fischer. I have taken the piece full circle and brought into a trio for this series. This piece captures my impressions of evening hours at the beach. Several instances of tension (dissonance) in the harmony represent the beautiful glow made by merging colors and changing light as the sun sets over a stunning ocean scene.
A British composer and conductor, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) composed choral music and chamber music. Of mixed-race descent, he was also a political activist. Combined with his musical notoriety, Samuel earned an invitation to the White House in 1904 by then President Theodore Roosevelt. Coleridge-Taylor left a lasting impression on American music including having public schools named after him in Louisville, KY and Baltimore, MD. “Arietta” was originally written for organ.
“Artza Alinu” is a Hebrew folk song that speaks of the aspirations for a homeland. The title of the song is loosely translated as “We Ascended to the Land”. The lyrics are credited to Shmuel Navon in 1928, though the actual tune is thought to have originated in the late 19th century. The songs was used by Israeli pioneers as the words speak to the work of rebuilding and resettling, and eventually became one music choice used in Israeli circle dances.
“Deep River” is one of the most recognized and treasured African-American Spirituals. The Story of the Jubilee Singers: With Their Songs first mentioned it in print in 1876. It received another boost in its popularity and recognition when it first reached notoriety when Samuel Coleridge Taylor completed an arrangement of it in 1905. Finally, Henry Burleigh (the man who introduced Dvorak to spirituals) included “Deep River” in a collection of songs in 1916, providing a bit of a springboard for it to be used in films and be quoted by other composers.
“The Erie Canal” was credited to Thomas Allen, thought to have been in publication between 1905 and 1912. At the time Allen was song-writer in Tin-Pan Alley, and the song was first published under the title “Low Bridge Everybody Down”. Allen captures the relationship between a worker and his good mule named Sal, and laments on how reliable the mule-power has been for towing boats and barges under low bridges along the canal.
“Fuggi, Fuggi, Fuggi da Questo Cielo” is an Italian folk song attributed to tenor Giuseppe Cenci (also known as Giuseppino del Biado). The earliest known appearance of the tune was in a collection of madrigals compiled by Cenci in the early 1600’s. The melody gained wide popularity, adaptation, and use in Europe over the next two centuries as versions of it were adopted in Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and Scotland. The two most famous adoptions of the tune were for the Israeli national anthem and its use by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana for “Má vlast”.
Ignacio Cervantes Kawanag (1847-1905) was a Cuban pianist and composer. He admired Chopin and modeled some of his works after the great Romantic pianist. Over his life he studied with both Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Charles-Valentin Alkan. As Cuban culture gained notoriety in the 19th century, dances like “Gran Senora” became popular in both dance and concert halls. The piece retains a lovely, and almost whimsical dance style not too far removed from the influence of Mazurkas by Chopin.
“Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” (also known as “Joshua” or even “Jericho”) is a well-known African-American spiritual. While the lyrics recount the Biblical story of the Israelite army against the Caanites in Joshua Chapter 6, it also can be interpreted as a powerful illustration of God’s power to overcome seemingly impossible situations when individuals rely on faith. As with many other spirituals which were code-songs, the song may have alluded to eventual escape and overcoming enslavement for African-Americans held on plantations.
Emilie Mayer (1812-1882) was a prolific Romantic composer from Germany, achieving wide recognition and appreciation during a time of limited opportunities for female composers. Mayer composed eight symphonies and numerous chamber works, piano sonatas, and orchestral overtures, her work shaped and influenced through the mentorship of composer and conductor Carl Loewe. This theme from the “Minuetto” from her Symphony No. 1. Part of Mayer’s compositional style can be heard as various seventh chords are outlined, including diminished seventh chords which Mayer would use to create a variety of resolutions.
“Mo Li Hua” (Jasmine Flower) is a folk song that dates back to the Qing Dynasty (also known as the Manchu Dynasty, which was the last imperial dynasty of China (1644 – 1912). The song is from the Jiangnan region of China, which is south of the lower Yangtze river and includes the cities of Suzhou, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. The folk song was shared to a world audience in 2008 as part of the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. “Mo Li Hua” has a timeless theme of beauty, admiration, and the desire to share something precious with others.
Although authorship is not completely clear, the hymntune “Nettleton” is widely recognized and is often sung as “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing”. It was first published as a new hymntune under the title “Good Shepherd” without any composer in John Wyeth’s “Repository of Sacred Music” (published in 1813). The hymntune has been attributed to Wyeth (1770-1858), but there is no evidence of his musical background the authorship is in doubt. It has also been attributed to Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844) a well known early 18th century evangelist.
“Paddy Works the Railway” is a popular Irish folk song with a publication history as far back as the 1850’s. Singing among the many laborers in lumber camps, canals, and railroads was a common practice to accompany their work. Some of the songs utilized were brought by Irish workers from their home, some were adaptations of those songs, and some were new songs born of Irish singing traditions. “Paddy Works the Railway” could be classified as such as the it portrays Irish workers building a railroad.
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) was a virtuoso pianist and composer from Poland. Among the Romantic era, he stands out for the multitude of piano works demonstrating his craftsmanship and imagination as a composer. Harmonically, his 28 Preludes are considered imaginative and groundbreaking for their foresight into what would come in the 20th century. Only a page long, “Prelude No. 4” evokes despair as the descending chromaticism in both the melody and harmony continually pull the listener downward. It is thought that the piece was played at the composer’s funeral. With the inclusion of a piece by Ignacio Cervantes Kawanag, it is appropriate to include one work by his idol.
The Children’s Carnival is a set of six short characteristic pieces depicting the essence of childhood through various motifs, unique compositional styles, and employing a variety of techniques on the piano. “Promenade” by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867-1944) is the first movement and is in a march style. Beach’s “Gaelic Symphony” was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. She is a respected and acclaimed American composer, and achieved that without traditional European training. As a pianist, she was acclaimed for concerts she gave of her own music both in the United States and in Germany.
Chevalier de Saint-George, also known as Joseph Bologne (1745-1799), was a violinist, conductor, composer, and soldier in the French Revolution. Beyond that, Bologne was a champion fencer, a Parisian socialite, and excelled in swimming and riding. He was the first classical composer of African descent to achieve wide recognition and appreciation in Europe. The String Quartet in c minor (Opus 1, no. 4) is the fourth in a set of six written during the early 1770s. Although the writing was thought to be influenced by Haydn, the “Rondeau” was the second and final movement (a departure from the standard 4 movements for many string quartets) that is full of energy and forward motion.
“Solace” by Scott Joplin (1868-1917)was labeled as a “Mexican serenade”. The inluence of Latin-American music can be heard through the habanera rhythms (characteristic rhythmic patterns found in Latin music, a distinctive “long-short-long” pattern) in the majority of the original work. Although passages within are highly chromatic, the piece is a slow-march of sorts full of opportunities for the players to experiment with rubato. As a composer, the piece in some ways is a departure from the rags upon which Joplin’s reputation is associated.
“Unabashed Joy” is an original trio created for this compatible wind ensemble series. Despite challenges that come in different forms and times, I continually find great joy in the act of creating, conducting, making, and sharing music with others. There is great joy in what we can do with this aural art form, and this trio is an outward expression of that feeling. Even down to the opening tempo marking (“Gioioso” – happy, joy), performers are encouraged to give an energetic and lively performance.
“Victoria Gallop” by Francis Johnson was originally a keyboard work. The Allegro-Moderate marking provides some latitude for tempo choice, but the players must be consistent with their approach to articulation to convey the animated style of this dance first introduced in Parisian culture in the early 1800’s. Johnson (1792-1844) was the first African-American composer to have his works published in the United States. The native of Philadelphia was a virtuoso on the keyed Kent Bugle and violin, and wrote more than 200 compositions in a variety of styles.
