Concert band (Piccolo, 1st Flute, 2nd Flute, 1st Oboe, 2nd Oboe*, 1st Bb Clarine...(+)
Concert band (Piccolo,
1st Flute, 2nd Flute, 1st
Oboe, 2nd Oboe*, 1st Bb
Clarinet, 2nd Bb
Clarinet, 3rd Bb
Clarinet, Eb Alto
Clarinet*, Bb Bass
Clarinet, 1st Bassoon,
2nd Bassoon*, 1st Eb Alto
Saxophone, 2nd Eb Alto
Saxophone, Bb Tenor
Saxophone, Eb Baritone
Saxophone*) - grade 5
SKU: CN.R10004
Composed by John Ireland.
Band Music. Score and
parts. Duration 10:30.
Published by G & M Brand
Music Publishers
(CN.R10004).
A
slow introduction gives
way to the chirpy theme
which is developed,
inverted, and accents
displaced across the bar
line to give a 3/2 feel
against the written
meter. Restlessness leads
to a tranquillo presented
by the flute and
clarinet, weaving a
flowing counterpoint
around the melody until
the original slow
introduction returns. A
triumphant recapitulation
of the main theme brings
this wonderful piece to
an end.
Originally
composed for Brass Band
in 1934 Comedy Overture
is, despite its name, a
serious piece of writing.
The term Overture does
not imply that there is
anything else to follow;
it is used in the 19th
century sense of Concert
Overture (like
Mendelssohn's Fingal's
Cave - in other words, a
miniature Tone Poem). The
1930's was a period of
Ireland's mature writing
- yielding the Piano
Concerto (1930), the
Legend for piano and
orchestra (1933), and the
choral work These Things
Shall Be (1936-1937). We
are fortunate therefore
to have both Comedy
Overture and A Downland
Suite (1932) written for
band medium at this time.
As with Maritime Overture
(written in 1944 for
military band) Ireland
approaches his material
symphonically. The
opening three notes state
immediately the two
seminal intervals of a
semitone and a third.
These are brooding and
dark in Bb minor. It is
these intervals which
make up much of the
thematic content of
Comedy, sometimes
appearing in inverted
form, and sometimes in
major forms as well. The
concept that some musical
intervals are consonant ,
some dissonant, and some
perfect is perhaps useful
in understanding the
nature of the tension and
resolution of this work.
The third is inherently
unstable, and by bar 4,
the interval is expanded
to a fourth - with an
ascending sem-quaver
triplet - and then
expanded to a fifth. The
instability of the third
pushes it towards a
perfect resolution in the
fourth or the fifth. The
slow introduction is
built entirely around
these intervals in Bb
minor and leads through
an oboe cadenza, to an
Allegro moderato
brillante in Bb major.
Once again, the semi-tone
(inverted) and a third
(major) comprise the
main, chirpy,
theme-inspired by a
London bus-conductor's
cry of Piccadilly. (Much
of the material in Comedy
was re-conceived by
Ireland for orchestra and
published two years later
under the title A London
Overture.) The expansion
of the interval of a
third through a fourth,
fifth, sixth, and seventh
now takes place quickly
before our very ears at
the outset of this
quicker section.
Immediately the theme is
developed, inverted, and
accents displaced across
the bar line to give a
3/2 feel against the
written meter. But this
restlessness leads to a
tranquillo built around
an arpeggio figure and
presented by flute and
clarinet. Ireland weaves
his flowing counterpoint
around this melody until
the original slow
introduction returns
leading to a stretto
effect as the rising bass
motifs become more
urgent, requesting a
resolution of the tension
of that original semitone
and minor third. Yet
resolution is withheld at
this point as the music
becomes almost becalmed
in a further, unrelated
tranquillo section marked
pianissimo. It is almost
as if another side of
Ireland's nature is
briefly allowed to shine
through the stern
counterpoint and
disciplined structure.
This leads to virtually a
full recapitulation of
the chirpy brilliante,
with small additional
touches of counterpoint,
followed by the first
tranquillo section-this
time in the tonic of Bb
major. But the
instability of the third
re-asserts itself, this
time demanding a
resolution. And a
triumphant resolution it
receives, for it finally
becomes fully fledged and
reiterates the octave in
a closing vivace. The
opening tension has at
last resolved itself into
the most perfect interval
of all.