Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro premiered in May 1786 in Vienna at the Burgtheater and is one of three operas that Mozart created with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte (the other two are Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutti). In many respects, The Marriage of Figaro marked the high point of Mozart’s success during his lifetime. On a visit to Prague the following year to conduct the opera, Mozart reported that “Here nothing is talked of but Figaro, nothing played but Figaro, nothing whistled or sung but Figaro, no opera so crowded as Figaro, nothing but Figaro.”

Mozart customarily composed the overtures to his operas last, so that was likely the case with Figaro. Mozart’s overtures were usually in sonata form, but he abandoned that form here, and for good reason. Figaro is witty, brilliant and wise, and it needs an overture that will quickly set its audience in such a frame of mind. The music opens with bustling notes, like whispers of gossip which gain momentum. Ultimately, these fragments gel into an energetic theme which romps happily throughout the Overture.  Moods shift like quicksilver; a comedic helter-skelter atmosphere prevails; and there is no rest. At one point, Mozart had considered a contrasting slow tune for oboe but deleted the idea.  Allowing the Overture to run with its madcap nature, uninterrupted by any structural corseting, provided the perfect introduction and preparation for the hilarious opera. It has delighted audiences as a separate concert piece for hundreds of years.

“Contre Qui, Rose” is a direct transcription of the vocal piece by Morten Lauridsen. Lauridsen based his choral cycle Les Chansons des Roses (The Songs of the Roses) on poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke. This poem poses a series of unanswered questions to a rose about its thorns and concludes with a statement accusing the rose of most hurting those who love it. Lauridsen interprets, “This wonderful little poem poses a series of questions, and the corresponding musical phrases all end with unresolved harmonies, as the questions remain unanswered. We have all been in situations where we have given affection and not had it returned, where attempts at communication have been unsuccessful, met by resistance or defenses of some kind.” Reynolds’ transcription captures this beauty in the wind band setting.

Against whom, rose,

Have you assumed these thorns?
Is it your too fragile joy that forced you
to become this armed thing?

But from whom does it protect you,
this exaggerated defense?
How many enemies have I lifted from you
who do not fear it at all?
On the contrary, from summer to autumn
you wound the affection that is given you.

Karolju is a suite of original Christmas carols originally composed for choir and orchestra by American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned in 1989 by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with support from the philanthropist Randolph Rothschild and the Barlow Endowment. It was completed in November 1990 and first performed on November 7, 1991 by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by David Zinman.

After hearing the choral arrangement, Joe Frank, Jr. thought it would be a great piece for a wind band, but who could take on the daunting task of arranging such a complex and lengthy piece? Joe asked the PCB if they would commission the piece to be arranged by Buddy Mattei, the PCB’s own tenor saxophone player.  Buddy has been called upon many times to arrange and compose various pieces for the band.  Buddy is a graduate of the University of North Texas School of Music and has continued to teach and write and perform as a highly respected professional musician. He enjoyed a very successful twenty-one year career as a public school band director in Princeton (TX) and Allen (TX). Buddy and wife Marilyn (clarinet and music instructor then principal in Princeton ISD) had such a great impact on the music programs and the school district that in 2023 Mattei Middle School opened in the Princeton ISD. (Fun fact, PCB musicians Samantha Humphreys (flute) and Jason Tucker (French horn) are the band directors at Mattei Middle School.)

Fisher Tull (1934-1994) was an American composer, arranger, educator, administrator, and trumpeter. After earning three degrees from the University of North Texas, he went on to teach at Sam Houston State University where he served as chairman of the music department.

As a composer he received numerous commissions including those from the National Endowment for the Arts, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Ballet, Houston Music Guild, International Trumpet Guild, the U.S. Army Band, and the U. S. Air Force Band. Throughout his career he composed over 80 works for orchestra, band, chorus, and various chamber ensembles.

Composed in 1971, “Sketches on a Tudor Psalm” is based on Thomas Tallis’ sixteenth-century setting of the Second Psalm. Originally published in a collection of vernacular psalm settings, Tallis’ work consisted of eight psalm settings and one ordinal for the psalter. Though Tallis’ setting is a paraphrase of the second Psalm, it maintains the psalmist’s message, which is to embrace God and be blessed, or defy Him and be damned. Despite the existence of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ well-known Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, a work based on the same source material, Fisher Tull was drawn to the famous Tallis melody. Using the preexisting uneven metrical structure, Tull deconstructed the original tenor melody (first stated in its original form by the alto saxophone) into six distinct segments before utilizing them in this set of variations, which concludes with a glorious return of the original psalm melody.

Claudio Grafulla (1812-1880) was born on a small island off the coast of Spain, emigrating to the United States in 1840 to become a musician in New York City. Horn was his primary instrument, but he also excelled at arranging and composing.

“Washington Grays” was composed for the 8^th Regiment, New York National Guard and is considered one of the finest American contributions to military band literature. The 8^th New York was created in May 1784 when a company of militia artillery was organized in New York City by Capt. Jacob Sebring. After marching in George Washington’s inaugural parade on April 30, 1789, and known for their gray uniforms, the company adopted the name “Washington Grays.”

There are elements of Italian and German marches in this march. The running sixteenth notes and responding bass voices create a wonderful counterpoint. Frederick Fennell wrote of this march, “masterfully simple, effectively contrasting, its incessant flow of musical ideas is overwhelmingly convincing. It is a march of great passion. A real indoor rouser from 1861.”