Sleigh Ride
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) was born in Cambridge, MA. The son of Swedish immigrant parents, including a church organist mother, he began piano and organ studies early in life. He went to college at Harvard University, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. He also led the Harvard University Band during his graduate studies. In addition to his early musical interests, he also was a prolific language learner: his PhD studies at Harvard were in German and Scandinavian languages, and he eventually became fluent in 9 languages. This unique talent led to his service as a translator and interpreter for the US military during World War II and the Korean War. While thus engaged, he also found time to compose, mostly in the light orchestral vein. Several of his legendary classical-pops pieces remain popular, and we are fortunate that he arranged many of them for wind band. Among them are Sleigh Ride, The Irish Washerwoman, Bugler’s Holiday, and Belle of the Ball.
Sleigh Ride first popped into Anderson’s head during a heat wave while he was living in Woodbury, Connecticut in the summer of 1946. From the germ of an idea that began with the middle section, it became a fully-fledged orchestral piece, completed on February 10, 1948, by which time Anderson and his wife and daughter were living in Brooklyn. It was premiered by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops on May 4 of that year, and was published in both orchestral and wind band arrangements by year’s end. Lyrics were added by Mitchell Parish in 1950. Sleigh Ride has since become a ubiquitous holiday season classic, and it has been reinterpreted by artists from Johnny Mathis to Ella Fitzgerald to Gwen Stefani, not to mention every high school trumpeter who aspires to sound like a horse.
(program note from Andy Pease)
Pat-a-Pan
French Carol (arr. Tom Wallace)
Originally composed by Bernard de La Monnoye and first published in 1720, the French carol "Pat-a-pan" (or "patapan") is written from the point of view of shepherds witnessing the birth of Jesus and celebrating through the playing of simple instruments. The lyrics are onomatopoetic in nature, "tu-re-lu-re-lu" representing the sound of a flute and "pat-a-pat-a-pan" a drum.
This setting by American arranger Tom Wallace harkens even further back, using harmonic language more at home in the Renaissance than the 18th century. Wallace's arrangement begins with the sound of far away drums, builds to a bombastic percussive parade, and then slowly fades into the distance, with the familiar "pat-a-pan" melody woven throughout.
Sure on This Shining Night
Samuel Barber (1910-1981) arr. Richard Saucedo (b. 1957)
American composer Samuel Barber originally set "Sure on this Shining Night" for solo soprano voice. The text is a taken from a poem by American poet James Agee (1909-1955) called "Descriptions of Elysium", and speaks about the grief over the incompleteness of life in the face of the wonders of the changing season and fullness of the world. The original text is below:
Sure on this shining night /Of star made shadows round, /Kindness must watch for me /This side the ground. /The late year lies down the north. /All is healed, all is health. /High summer holds the earth. /Hearts all whole. /Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder wand'ring far alone /Of shadows on the stars.
Barber later adapted his setting for solo vocalist into an orchestral arrangement as well as an SATB choir setting. This setting for band is based on Barber's own orchestral setting, and is arranged by American educator and composer Richard Saucedo.
Russian Christmas Music
Alfred Reed (1921-2005)
The story of "Russian Christmas Music" begins in the Fall of 1944 against the backdrop of the second World War. It was a time of high American morale. The D-Day invasion had been successful, and the German army had been pushed out of France. An ambitious offensive called Operation Market Garden was in the final planning stages, and Allied leaders hoped to use Market Garden to push the Germans back across the Rhine and into Germany, hopefully ending the war by Christmas 1944. Against the prospects of a new world at peace, American political and military leaders were sensitive to building a relationship with the Soviet Union, who had been a strong military ally and was building into a world superpower. And so, in the spirit of this collaboration and with an eye towards Russo-American relations, a concert was planned of Russian music, the centerpiece of which would be a world premiere of a work by a Russian Composer, Sergei Prokofiev, his March Op. 99. The concert would be broadcast on NBC in December of 1944. However, organizers soon learned that Prokofiev, who had fled the Soviet Union and was in America, had already premiered the Op. 99 March, and they were left scrambling to find a suitable replacement. Enter 23-year-old Alfred Reed.
Like many young musicians, Reed enlisted in the early days of American involvement in the war, and became a staff arranger with the U.S. Army Air Corps (which would later become the U.S. Air Force). Reed was tasked with composing a piece to replace Prokofiev's. After a perusal of the USAAC music library, Reed discovered several carols native to the Russian Orthodox Church, and set them into a piece called "Russian Christmas Music." Reed received his assignment a mere 16 days before the concert, and delivered his piece in time for its premiere performance. Following the war, Reed expanded and edited his piece into the version you'll hear today.
"Russian Christmas Music" is a continuous setting of four Russian Carols: "Carol of the Little Children," "Antiphonal Chant," "Village Song," and "Cathedral Chorus." The music is at times intimate and delicate, and at others grand, epic, and bombastic. "Russian Christmas Music" is one of the most frequently performed pieces in the band repertoire.
Celebration of our 25th Anniversary
The Bells of Christmas
Bob Krogstad (b. 1950), adapted by Ted Ricketts
This medley of holiday tunes includes "Ding Dong Merrily On High," "Ukranian Bell Carol," "Silver Bells," "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," and "Jingle Bells." Composer Bob Krogstad's writing credits include performances at the 1996 Olympics, Radio City Music Hall, Disney's EPCOT, and the London Symphony. Originally created for orchestra, this version has been adapted for band by Ted Ricketts.
'Twas the Night Before Christmas
Newell H. Long (1905-1999)
The famous 19th century poem by Clement Clarke Moore (originally titled "A Visit from St. Nicholas") tells the story of Santa Claus's visit on Christmas Eve. This poem forms the backbone of many of our modern American conceptions of Santa Claus and Christmas Eve. Newell Long's musical setting compliments the poem with familiar carols such as "Up on the Housetop" and "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" as well as onomatopoetic elements that portray St. Nick's various actions.
A Holst Christmas
Gustav Holst (1874-1934) arr. Douglas Wagner
Gustav Holst is one of the most prolific British composers ever, and is also one of the earliest pioneers of music for the wind band medium. This setting of Holst's more well-known holiday melodies includes "In the Bleak Midwinter," "Lullay my Liking," and "Christmas Day." American arranger Douglas Wagner has worked to weave these traditional tunes together in a way that preserves the charm and style of Holst's original melodies.
A Christmas Festival
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
Leroy Anderson's "A Christmas Festival" is the holiday medley by which all others are judged. Originally composed for the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler in 1950, this medley includes "Joy to the World," "Deck the Halls," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, "Good King Wenceslas," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells," and "O Come All Ye Faithful." The medley is constructed as a concert overture that really leans into the symphonic potential of each of these carols. This version for band was arranged by Anderson himself.