published at www.batonmusic.nl

Gustav Holst’s ‘Suite de Ballet’ (Op. 10) is an orchestral work he composed in 1899. It is one of his lesser-known works, but it shows an interesting use of orchestration and rhythmic variations. The suite is inspired by dance music, although it was not specifically intended to accompany a ballet. The ‘Suite de Ballet’ is rich in orchestral textures and offers a variety of rhythms and styles, from playful and light to more serious and dramatic. It’s part of Holst’s search for a style of his own, in which he combined elements of traditional English music with more modern influences.

The ‘Suite de Ballet’ consists of four movements: 1. ‘Danse Rustique’, 2. ‘Valse’, 3. ‘Scene de Nuit’, 4. ‘Carneval’. Although it is not one of Holst’s best-known works, such as ‘The Planets’, it shows the composer’s versatility and his skill in creating compelling orchestral music.

Publisher: → Baton Music

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‘Madama Butterfly’ is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story ‘Madame Butterfly’ (1898) by John Luther Long. The original version of the opera, in two acts, had its premiere on 17 February 1904 at ‘La Scala in Milan. After several revisions success ensued, starting with the first performance on 28 May 1904 in Brescia.
Dutch arranger Christiaan Janssen used some of the most beautiful music from ‘Madama Butterfly’ to compile a suite for Symphonic Band.

Publisher: → Baton Music

explanation text: © www.batonmusic.nl

‘El Barbero de Sevilla’ is a one-act zarzuela, divided into three scenes, with a libretto by Guillermo Perrín y Vico and Miguel de Palacios and music by Jéronimo Giménez. It premiered at the ‘Teatro de la Zarzuela’ in Madrid on February 5, 1901.
The most famous aria from this zarzuela is by far ‘Me llaman la primorosa’. Even today it still belongs to the traditional light concert repertoire. Dutch arranger Christiaan Janssen transcribed this aria now for Soprano and Symphonic Band.

Publisher: → Baton Music

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Giacomo Puccini composed his opera ‘Manon Lescaut’ in 1893 and it became together with ‘Tosca’ his first outstanding success. ‘Manon Lescaut’ is a devastating depiction of a woman wrestling with her desire for love on her own terms, and the rigid double standards imposed on her by society. The opera was a breakthrough hit for Puccini, and is packed with memorable music and heartbreaking drama. This suite contains some of the most beautiful music from ‘Manon Lescaut’ to compile a small suite for Symphonic Band.

Publisher: → Baton Music

explanation text: © www.batonmusic.nl

‘Schlagobers’ (‘Whipped Cream’), Op. 70, is a ballet in two acts with a libretto and score by Richard Strauss. Composed in 1921–22, it was given its première at the Vienna State Opera on 9 May 1924. Despite the fact that both the ballet and the later compiled suite were not an unqualified success, the ballet contained, according to the critics, at least a superb waltz. Nowadays we regularly find this ‘Schlagoberswalzer’ on all the major concert stages and it lives up to the title. Dutch arranger Christiaan Janssen transcribed this beautiful waltz now for Symphonic Band.

Publisher: → Baton Music

© explanation text: www.batonmusic.nl

‘Die schweigsame Frau’ (The Silent Woman), is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to a libretto by Stefan Zweig. Strauss gave the overture the subtitle ‘potpourri’. The term denotes a medley of popular nineteenth-century melodies, ones that brass and coffee-house bands would have typically performed in Strauss’s day. Nevertheless, Strauss’s overture has little in common really with these; his motifs are brief fragments of melodies, and are often juxtaposed in a masterfully elaborated polyphonic fabric.

Publisher: → Baton Music

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‘Der Bürger als Edelmann’ is the German title of a play by Molière and an orchestral suite by Richard Strauss. The original French play is called ‘Le bourgeois gentilhomme’ and is about a wealthy merchant who would like to become a nobleman. The play was first performed in 1670 with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Strauss composed his orchestral suite in 1919 based on the music he had written between 1911 and 1917 for an adaptation of the piece by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The suite consists of nine movements in which Strauss used some of Lully’s themes, but gave them his own romantic twist. 

Publisher: → Baton Music

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‘Also sprach Zarathustra!’, (‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’) is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical novel ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra!’. The composer conducted its first performance on 27 November 1896 in Frankfurt.

The piece is divided into nine sections played with only three definite pauses. Strauss named the sections after selected chapters of Nietzsche’s novel highlighting  major moments of the character Zarathustra’s philosophical journey in the novel. The general storylines and ideas in these chapters were the inspiration used to build the tone poem’s structure.

The initial fanfare (‘Sunrise’) became well known after its use in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’  and was also often used as a portent of a significant event to come or regularly used for space-related scenes.

Publisher: → Baton Music

explanation text: © Baton Music