Early Brass Ensemble Listening Session

In class today we listened to a playlist of brass ensemble music by European composers ranging from the late Renaissance and Baroque eras to the 19th century. As I mentioned in class, rather than a simply passive listening experience (since we are studying scores), I encouraged you to take notes on any piece, composer or ensemble that peaked your curiosity and consider blogging or even writing your historical perspectives paper on that topic. Here is the complete playlist with as many hyperlinks as I could find of interest:

1. The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, La Bignani by Giovannio Cavaccio
   
2. The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Canzona a 5 by Claudio Merula
3. American Brass Quintet, Battle Suite, II. Courant, by Samuel Scheidt 
4. U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, March Fur Die Arche by C. P. E. Bach
5. Brass sections of the Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago Symphony Orchestras,Canzona Per Sonare No. 27 by Giovanni Gabrieli from the Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli recording
6. The Ewald Brass Quintet, Brass Quintet No. 4, II. Minuetto by Jean Francois Bellon who composed as set of twelve brass quintets in the 1850s.
   
7. Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass & Mark Ridenour, Sonata Piano e Forte by Giovanni Gabrieli  
8. Copenhagen Brass, Flensborger March by Jensen from their "Historic Danish Brass Music" recording
9. The Brass Ensemble of the Tonkuenstler Orchestra Lower Austria, Arie Per Il Balletto A Cavallo by Johann Heunrich Schmelzer
   
10. The Brass Ensemble of the Tonkuenstler Orchestra Lower Austria, Grund-richtiger Unterricht by Daniel Speer 
11. Deutsche Naturhorn Slisten & Franz Ruml, Air for 2 Horns and Organ in F Major, HWV 410 by Handel 
12. Le Rally-Cor de Montmélian, Les Honneurs du Pied 
13. Hermann Baumer & Brass Partout, Brass Quartet, Op. 38 In Modo Religioso by Alexander Glazunov (pub. 1893)
    

Brass Ensemble Music History

To give you some ideas of topics for your historical perspective paper, I've listed below some of the possible directions you might consider. Remember to keep within the realm of ensembles, not individual instrument history. 

 

I. Principal Composers and Places of Brass Ensemble History:

Links to Critical Places and Traditions:

The Venetian School (Wikipedia)

Venetian Polychoral Style (Wikipedia) 
Early Brass Music (Brass Quintet Forum, Annapolis Brass)
Band Music from the Civil War Era - Library of Congress
A Brief History of Brass Quintets (Chamberlain Brass)
Trombone Choirs (NPR)
Moravian Music Foundation
The Waits Website
Waits (Medieval Life and Times)
Stadtpfeifers - Groves Online

II. Course-related Reading Online:
 

The Venetian school and the Extensions of the Polychoral Style - Iakos Demetriou
They're With the Band, Speaking That Global Language: Brass
by Josh Kun, New York Times, 4/9/2006
A Short History of the Trombone by David Guion from the Online Trombone Journal
History and Heritage of the Trombone Choir by John Marcellus, Eastman School of Music
The American Brass Band Movement - Library of Congress 
Something About Trombones (Moravian) from the Bethlehem Digital History Project
Venitian Polychoral Style (Wikipedia entry)
Stadtpfeifers - Groves Online
Wait - Groves Online
Saxhorns (Wikipedia)
Brass Chamber Music in Lyceum and Chautauqua - Raymond David Burkhart 
A Celebration of 100 Years of the Trombone Class at Saratov State Conservatory - from Historic Brass Society Journal by Yury Gusev
The Disten Family from the Prince Regent's Band

III. Significant Composers Throughout Brass Ensemble History:

   A. Renaissance and Baroque Eras

Andrea Gabrieli (1533-1585) Ricercari
Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1557-1612) Sacrae Symphoniae; Canzoni
Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina (1525-1594)
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) L'Orfeo (five trombones)
Gioseffo Guami (c. 1540-1611) Canzoni
Anthony Holborne (1584-1602) Consort Music, Pavans...
Matthew Locke (1622-1677) Consort Music
William Brade (1560-1630) Dance Suites
Tielman Susato (c. 1500- c.1562)
Samuel Scheidt (1587-1653)
Johann Schein (1586-1630)
Johann Pezel (1639-1694)
George Friederich Handel (1685-1759) Water Music, Royal Fireworks

  B. Classic and Romantic Eras

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Drei Equali
Alexander Alyabiev [Aliabev] (1787-1851) Quintet in E-flat for Brass
Ludwig Maurer (1789-1878)
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) Messe Solenelle (1824), Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem) [orch. + 4 antiphonal brass choirs]
Viktor Ewald (1860-1935) Brass Quintets Nos. 1-4
Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961) Music for Brass Choir, op. 45

 

Permont Brass Quintet

This semester, the University of Iowa will be hosting a very special event; the Festival of Contemporary Music from Israel, which will be held from April 17th to 23rd, is a collaboration between the University of Iowa and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. As part of the festival, the Iowa Brass Quintet will be performing Haim Permont's Brass Quintet. It is a very interesting and challenging work, but well worth it. Here is a video of members of the Israel Philharmonic in an amazing live performance of the work. I have uploaded the score to our ICON Files page, and will be presenting in class later this semester.

Welcome Spring 2023 Students!

 

Welcome Spring 2023 Students! I look forward to working with you all this semester exploring Brass Ensemble Literature from many different eras, styles and genres. I will be using the ICON site for grades, announcements, submitting assignments, and course documents and resources. This blog, which has been used for this class since 2006, serves as a course blog and a central hub to access all of your student blogs, which you will maintain for most of the semester. You can choose a theme, but feel free to mix it up as well. You can quickly access the course syllabus at the top of the sidebar to this blog, as well as through the ICON site. You can also click on the lists of student blogs, organized by year, to peruse through posts from all of the students who preceded you, as well as links to your own blogs in the sidebar to the right. Keep an eye out here as I often post about recent or upcoming course-related topics.