Wind Symphony

About the Program

Program notes by Mark Bilyeu

David Biedenbender
Enigma
Born 1984, Waukesha, WI
Composed 2024
Premiered January 28, 2024, St. Olaf Band, Dr. Henry Dorn, conductor, Plymouth, Minnesota
12 minutes

The Composer writes: 

Enigma comes from a Greek word that means “to speak in riddles,” and in this piece, the riddle — or theme — is revealed gradually. The theme comes from the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, which is one of my favorite pieces of music, and, once the theme is revealed, it is repeated cyclically with 21 variations, just like in Bach’s original. This piece is dedicated to my former teacher, José-Luis Maúrtua, a composer, theorist, conductor, and teacher with whom I studied at Central Michigan University. José-Luis was an extraordinary musician and teacher who was tirelessly dedicated to his students and to pushing them to do their best. I am forever grateful for the lessons I learned from him, and my music and my life are far better for having known him. Unfortunately, he was taken from this earth far too young — at the age of 57 — by pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2022. I miss him dearly, and this music is for him.
 

Percy Grainger
Arrival Platform Humlet
Born July 8, 1882, City of Brighton, Australia
Died February 20, 1961, White Plains, NY
Composed 1906 / 1918
4 minutes

Percy Grainger penned this “humlet” (that is, “a little hum”) while in London, at both the Liverpool Street and Victoria Stations in 1908. The short work was originally conceived as a single line, scored for any of the following, based on Grainger’s recommendations: solo viola, a group of violas, an oboe, cor anglais, bassoon, or a group of these instruments — or, further, by a solo voice or unison chorus. Actually, his exact words were “Originally conceived for middle-fiddle single, or massed middle-fiddles, or double-reed single, or massed double-reeds, or as a humlet for a single voice or chorus of voices,” which has a much more “humlet” quality to it. Grainger expanded the work for full band in 1916, when he included it in his suite “In a Nutshell.” Despite having a full ensemble at his fingertips, he maintained the near-unison quality of the work which he described as coming from the experience of "Awaiting the arrival of a belated train bringing one’s sweetheart from foreign parts: great fun! The sort of thing one hums to oneself as an accompaniment to one’s tramping feet as one happily, excitedly, paces up and down the arrival platform.”
 

Adolphus Hailstork
American Guernica
Born: April 17, 1941, Rochester, New York
Composed 1982
Premiered 1983
7 minutes//sp

Around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, April 26, 1937, Nazi warplanes bombed the Spanish city of Guernica in the Spanish Basque Country. Located nearly ten miles from the war’s front lines, and populated mostly by women and children (as the men were largely on those front lines), it was seen as a cruel and calculated act of violence against the innocent. Pablo Picasso, so moved by the senseless loss of innocent life, responded with one of the most famous anti-war paintings in history: Guernica. Not thirty years later, on September 15, 1963, racially-motivated domestic terrorists fire-bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls attending Sunday school (Carol Robertson, 14, Addie Mae Collins, 14, Cynthia Wesley, 14, and Denise McNair, 11). Adolphus Hailstork composed American Guernica in remembrance of that attack in Birmingham, using spatial notation, and extended techniques for the performers. “What would that moment (and music reflecting that moment) contain?” writes Hailstork, “Sunday School music, explosion sounds, chaos, anguish, screaming. Eventually, there would be a funeral.” In a eulogy for a joint funeral service, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said,  "These children-unoffending, innocent, and beautiful-were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. And yet they died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death ...Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream."
 

Scott Lindroth
Passage
Born 1958
Composed 2010
Premiered December 15, 2010,  United States Marine Band ("The President's Own") Captain Michelle Rakers, conductor
11 minutes

The Composer writes:

Passage was composed in 2010, but the music looks back at earlier times in my life. A prominent four-note theme, first heard as the harmonized melody in the woodwinds, comes from a piece I composed in 1990 called Duo for Violins. In the duo, the theme appears at a climactic moment and is filled with passionate intensity. In Passage, the theme is set with rich harmonies that shift with each repetition, and the rhythmic character is supple and nuanced. To me, it's like, encountering an old friend who has changed with age, hopefully for the better. Composing for symphonic band was another occasion for retrospection. My formative musical experiences began in 1970, when I played in public school bands and jazz ensembles directed by men who offered instruction, mentorship, and priceless opportunities to discover myself as a composer and musicians. And so it is with gratitude that I dedicate this piece to Robert C. Shirek, Calvin D. Moely, and Raymond C. Wifler, three American bandmasters who revealed to me what it could mean to live a life in music.
 

John Philip Sousa
Sabre and Spurs
Born November 6, 1854, Washington, D.C.
Died March 6, 1932, Reading, PA
Composed 1918
3 minutes

With a title like “Sabre and Spurs,” it’s easy to believe Sousa dedicated this 1918 march to the officers of the 311th Cavalry. He himself was a member of the U.S. Navy, organizing bands for duty aboard ships and stations. Much of his output at that time was focused on supporting the U.S. military and bolstering the morale of the troops during the first World War. Sousa was in his sixties at this point while often leading bands full of twenty-somethings; feeling the need to not only lead, but also connect with these young men, he once shaved off his (rather famous) beard. Later, he joked that it was because of this singular act of grooming that caused Germany to surrender and end the war, saying that “Kaiser Wilhelm realized that a nation made up of men willing to make such sacrifices could not be defeated.”

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About the Artists

Cody Ray

Cody Ray is currently pursuing a doctor of musical arts in wind conducting at The University of Texas at Austin where he studies with professor Jerry Junkin and serves as a graduate teaching assistant for University Bands. He received his bachelor of arts in music education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham under the mentorship of Dr. Sue Samuels, Dr. Gene Fambrough, Dr. Cara Morantz, and Dr. Sean Murray, and a master of music in wind conducting from Tte University of South Carolina (’24) studying under Dr. Cormac Cannon, Dr. Jay Jacobs, and Dr. Quintus Wrighten. Prior to his graduate studies, Cody served as the assistant director of bands at Cairo High School in Cairo, GA from 2020-2022. Before coming to Cairo, he also served as director of bands at Sipsey Valley High/Middle School from 2019-2020 and director of bands at Sulligent High School from 2018-2019. His professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association, and the National Band Association.

Douglas Henderson

Douglas Henderson serves as associate director of bands at The University of Texas at Austin, where his responsibilities include conducting the Wind Symphony, teaching advanced undergraduate and graduate conducting, and teaching band literature. Prior to joining the UT faculty, Dr. Henderson was an associate professor, associate director of bands, and director of athletic bands at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Henderson is active as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician throughout the United States, and he has guest conducted in Austria and Japan. He is a frequent guest conductor of the World Youth Wind Orchestra Project (WYWOP), in Schladming, Austria. Dr. Henderson received his bachelor of music degree in music studies from The University of Texas at Austin, his master of music degree in wind conducting from Michigan State University, and his doctor of musical arts degree in wind conducting from The University of Texas at Austin. From 2003-2006, he was the associate director of bands at J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas.

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Wind Symphony

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Upcoming Events

Mahler Symphony No. 2 
Resurrection
Symphony Orchestra & Combined Choirs
Leah Crocetto, soprano 
Sophio Dzidziguri, mezzo soprano

One of the most beloved symphonies in the canon, Mahler's "Resurrection" symphony boasts a large orchestra, mezzo and soprano soloists, and similarly to Beethoven's 9th Symphony, a large choir in the final movement. For this performance, the Butler School's Concert Chorale and University Chorus ensembles will join forces; they will be joined by Butler School alumni singers and community choral singers from around Austin.

Tuesday, March 31, 8:00 p.m.
Long Center for the Performing Arts

Tickets

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