Feierlicher Einzug - scoring for 14 brass+timp finished

[imperialbari]

Richard Strauss had access to very large brass sections in the opera houses he worked with as theses houses had stage bands. So using 15 trumpets for this work didn't exclude it from being performed in its original form. Several versions with different instrumentations were issued together with the original one, though.

The notes of the trumpet parts could be covered by fewer than 15 trumpet players. In my reading of the score the reason for the large number of players is a wish to obtain the effect of many unison players. Many arrangements have been made using organ to fill in for the usage of fewer trumpets. What I do not like about that is the use of stops in other octaves than the original one.

But then my idea of using vocals isn't without problems either. The soprano and tenor lines go much higher than most community choirs like. The danger may be that singers take their lines down an octave, which is exactly as bad as adding 16', 4', or 2' organ stops. The solution is in the distribution of the singers on the various lines. No singer should be allocated notes she/he cannot sing. If a passage is too high, don't go an octave down. Go to the next part below even if that might have altos singing the tenor line in some passage. The most exposed high lines do not need many singers to be heard. This approach takes singers that are able to understand score instructions. This music isn't of the sing along/karaoke type anyway.

The demands on the 4 trumpets in my score obviously are huge. There of course is a lot of redistribution of the original parts, but very little cheating: in one place, where the 1st & 2nd double the top line, the 2nd has to skip 1-1/4 beat of the last long note to be ready for a very important entry of its own. All trumpet melodic lines are covered by trumpets. 2 trombones cover a trumpet fanfare. Singers, mostly the tenors, cover trumpet harmony notes.

The first major graphical proofing has been done. Not the page turns though. I am no lover of choirs singing ahh's, so I would love getting access to the text for the optional single line choir used by Strauss in his version for orchestra. Any help in tracing that score would be most welcome!

My next, alternative, step will be about writing a German text myself based on the title, on the score instructions, and on the part names the singers follow. There will be no message intended. The only purpose will be about making the choir sounding more varied and alive.

And then I may have sinned badly against my own intentions for using singers. Bars 30 trough 49 only need the singers in the last 5 bars, but the first 16 bars are a beautiful 4-part chorale tempting me too much. Even gave 4 bars to a 4-part male choir. These 16 bars will be marked ad libitum for the vocalists.

The present stage of the score may be found here:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Yo ... %20Einzug/

The sampled mp3 sound presentation of the present score is here with clarinets and bass clarinets on the vocal lines:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/czd6aambzhzc1 ... 10413a.mp3

Klaus

[imperialbari]

A problem with the vocal score is the immense load of information to be placed in these staves. Aside of the information in the equivalent instrumental staves there are divisi and then the text.

I would like those here with choir experience take a look at the first proofed page of the vocal score, which may be found via the address in the above posting.

Comments are welcome via the mail button to the right of here.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

After writing a draft for the German text I consulted with my dentist, who happens to be out of the German minority in Denmark. A fun aside is that he lived just north of the border, while I lived just south of it, while we were young boys, of course without knowing each other back then. My problem is not being short of words in German, but about being unsure of what is proper German, when it comes very close to Danish. My dentist claims suffering from a similar situation, so he sent the draft to his brother, who is a teacher in Germany.

One word had to be respelled, but that skewed the rhyme structure that had bound a loose text together near the end. So a major rewrite happened, which has not been proofed in Germany, but I hope it stands. And I have been confident enough to enter it in the vocal score.

There are NO notes of mine in the score. There has been some shuffling between the vocal alto and tenor lines, where the tenor went highest. Voicings also have been modified by combining bits from various of Strauss' lines. All done to make lines more singable.

The vocalist first join in at the last fanfare before the repeated hymn section. Then they join the hymn section. They then rest until briefly before the large tutti. Here the SMzA voices sing the 3-part trumpet line. The tenors split in up to 3 subsections to cover the lower trumpet harmony entries. The basses join the low brasses.

The lines take good reading to sing, but the entries are reasonably hearable from the context. So there are only few cue notes.

The text implies the vocalists doing a physical procession, which may be just from the pews depending on the local environment. There will be versions for flutes and clarinets of the vocal parts so that the pitch may be supported during the entry.

Again I would like feedback whether the vocal score is at all readable. The latest near finished version again is to be found via the link in the top posting.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

Strauss obviously wrote this piece for good players. At one point the important harmony note is given to the 4th horn alone, while 1st & 3rd double on the fifth. That doesn't allow for staggered breathing.

That problem was solved, when two more entries in the score begged to be sung by the tenors. Took a few attempts to find voicings that could be read in a five-staves vocal score. And then a lot of alignment had to be redone due to new system breaks. So the full score isn’t ready yet. But the altered vocal score has been uploaded by now.

I would have liked to make my arrangement available for 5331 orchestral brass sections and choir, but 4 trumpets and 4 trombones are needed. However I plan to make a low horn version of the euphonium part, so that 5441 sections can do it.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

Sorry for the feuilleton, but some of you out there are interested in the project. Now it is so far that it will make it to completion.

Just uploaded the full score including text for the vocalists plus a revised version of the vocal score that handles a page turn a tiny bit better. The highest priority for the full score has been readability, which for me is about as many notes as possible staying within the staves. Trumpets are in Bb, horns in Eb, trombones vary between tenor and bass clefs, euph and tuba in bass clef. The vocalists' text is set with small letter in the full score, as I assume the vocal coaching will happen from the vocal score anyway. If wanted there also may be a version with the text in larger types, but the graphic impression will be less clean. The address in the top posting still applies.

A sampled sound representation of the full score is here (large wav file 6 minutes long):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ow5ei2fcmmqts ... 60413a.wav

For those already thinking about the demands on the vocalists I cut the rests and cue notes out of the vocal score and made a wav file with sampled clarinet sounds. 4 minutes long:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rg9zlrvtnt0ys ... 20clip.wav

Klaus

[imperialbari]

Proofing is a near endless process, but I think the music itself now is pretty close. The text still is out 3rd party proofing.

No preface yet, but the full score, the vocal score, the parts, and parts for instruments supporting or substituting the vocal parts are all uploaded by now. Some in various transpositions (the only parts only coming in one version are bass trombone and timpani plus the Bb clarinet part covering the vocal alto part).

There may be a brass band version out there already, but I may make one also.

Klaus