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Richard Wayne Dirksen Centenary

Richard Wayne Dirksen Centenary

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Three Unicorn fanfares

These fanfares with a Sarabande processional opened productions of Gian-Carlo Menotti’s Unicorn, Gorgon and Manticore at the Cathedral in 1965 and 1976.

Genre: Instrumental & Fanfares
D No: 527
Performing Forces: solo trumpet
Date Published: CE 92
Date of Composition: 1965
Notes: These "curtain raisers" preceded the show, each separated by a couple minutes of silence and followed by a processional Sarabande. Paul Callaway had conducted the first performance of Menotti's madrigal fable in 1956 at the Library of Congress Coolidge Auditorium and Wayne was drafted to copy out the instrumental parts. Everything about the piece profoundly attracted him - the medieval setting, the crisp scoring for chamber orchestra, the sophisticated and appealing choral writing, the theatrical combination of dance and music in the Cathedral setting, and especially the topic: an artist's public and private life.

Categorized as: 500 Instrumental & Fanfares
Tagged as: brass, fanfare, organ, solo instrument

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