Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's | 3 sections
|
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Composition Year | 2002 |
Genre Categories | Pieces; For trumpet, wind band; Scores featuring the trumpet; |
Contents[hide] |
Work Title | Awake, You Sleepers! |
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Alternative. Title | Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble |
Composer | Bitensky, Laurence Scott |
I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No. | ILB 2 |
Movements/SectionsMov'ts/Sec's | 3 sections
|
Year/Date of CompositionY/D of Comp. | 2002 |
First Performance. | John Hagstrom, trpt; RNCM Wind Ensemble |
First Publication. | 2002 |
Dedication | Vince DiMartino |
Average DurationAvg. Duration | 15 minutes |
Composer Time PeriodComp. Period | Modern |
Piece Style | Modern |
Instrumentation | Solo C trumpet + 2 + picc. (2 doub alto), 2 +Eng. Hn., 3 + B. Cl. (1 doub. Eb). 2 / 2 alt. sax., 1 ten. sax., 1 bar. sax. / 4, 3, 2+ bass trb., 2 Euph., 1 / double bass / 4 perc. / pno. (doub cel.) |
Finalist of Distinctive Merit -- Big Ten Band Commission, Big Ten Band Directors Association / Finalist for Saint Mary's University Kaplan Commissioning Project (2003, 2009)
The ancient instrument known as the shofar, or ram's horn, has a special place in the Jewish tradition. Legend recounts that its sound was heard at the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, the tumbling walls of Jericho, as a call for battle, and that its sound will be heard to herald a messianic era. The instrument has survived through post-Biblical and contemporary times and features prominently in the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The blowing of the shofar in the Rosh Hashanah service is a call for repentance, symbolically awakening the sleeper from a moral and spiritual slumber.
Each of the three movements of Awake, You Sleepers! is based on one of the three calls associated with the blowing of the shofar. Tekiah is a long note rising in pitch; shevarim is three shorter notes; and teruah is a long repeated staccato blast. Each movement is also preceded by well-known verses from the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. Much of the music for Awake, You Sleepers! is based on Rosh Hashanah motives and melodies that occur in the German/East-European musical tradition.
"One of the finest additions to the trumpet and wind ensemble repertoire to date." -- Vince DiMartino, President Emeritus, International Trumpet Guild