APOTHEOSIS OF THIS EARTH

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MVMT I- APOTHEOSIS, II- TRAGEDY OF DESTRUCTION, III- POSTSKRIPT. THIS IS ONE OF THE FIRST SERIOUS COMPOSITIONS FOR CONCERT BAND, WRITTEN BY CZECH COMPOSER KAREL HUSA, IN 1971. PERFORMED BY THE 1979 UNIVERSITY OF N. COLORADO WIND ENSEMBLE.

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Symphonic Band Performances

Contemporary band compositions, classical music arrangements, marches, jazz, symphonies, overtures. A collection from bands that I have played in throughout hi

Hello and welcome! "Symphonic Band Performances" is a compilation of recordings from several high school and college bands that I played in including the TMEA (Texas) All State Band, the TMEA Region X All Region Band, the Interlochen Arts Academy National Music Camp, the Cal Poly Tech Band, San Luis Obispo, the USAF Golden West Band, and recordings from my h.s. band, Beaumont H.S. and a few band recordings that were passed down to me. Also included are various All State groups and college and university bands. I participated and played in the large majority of these recordings. There are no professional recordings here and every recording is Public Domain. Most are available for free download. Each song has been converted from the original analog or digital source and edited with Audacity or Dak software. In the majority of these recordings, I play the tenor sax or alto sax, b flat or e flat clarinet, or directing. I was drum major for 2 years in high school, I have a BA from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where I studied music ed, composition and theory. I had about 500 more recordings I was planning to digitize and upload, but this past Nov. 20th, my home was completely destroyed by fire, and all the contents, including all my music and instruments. So, this is it. Please feel free to post a comment here or on my member page. If you like, please become a fan by clicking "I'm a fan" below.

Song Info

Genre

Classical • Contemporary

Charts

Peak #99

Peak in subgenre #11

Rights

public domain

Uploaded

September 17, 2009

Track Files

MP3

MP3 33.4 MB • 192 kbps • 24:20

Story behind the song

Karel Husa (born August 7, 1921 in Prague) is a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize and 1993 Grawemeyer Award in Music. In 1954 he came to the United States and became American citizen in 1959.
Karel Husa's Apotheosis of This Earth, is one of two Husa works for concert band (the other is Music for Prague 1968) that have done more to establish that ensemble as one ready and waiting for serious original essays (conventional wisdom long having been that one writes serious music for orchestra, not band) than perhaps all other concert band works of the twentieth century put together. Both have proven to be very audience-friendly and have been performed countless times over the years. It was commissioned by the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, and is dedicated to Dr. William D Revelli, conductor of bands at the University of Michigan for many years. The premiere took place on April 1, 1971, in Ann Arbor, MI, the University of Michigan Symphonic Band playing under the direction of the composer.

Apotheosis of This Earth owes its popularity to the fact that it is not in any way, shape or form "pure," or "absolute," music -- audiences are generally more quick to appreciate music that is loaded with extramusical ideas and images, and in this regard Apotheosis of This Earth is not impoverished. Husa, in fact, wrote a long preface to the printed score of Apotheosis of This Earth, explaining that his composition of the work "was motivated by the present desperate stage of mankind and its immense problems with everyday killings, war, hunger, extermination of the fauna, huge forest fires, and critical contamination of the whole environment." 

The piece has three movements: 1. "Apotheosis," 2. "Tragedy of Destruction," and 3. "Postscript." The first movement, which at 12 minutes and 30 seconds (as marked by Husa) is the longest by far, is essentially one large crescendo, texturally and dynamically organized, representing the Earth as it grows from a point of light far off in the universe into a massive, living entity in front of us. The second movement is faster and more active; it is built from pointed gestures and scampering rhythms (sixteenth notes sextuplets, septuplets, etc.), that move from group to group until climaxing in one massive conglomeration. In "Postscript," Husa offers the audience a chance to reflect on the destruction of the earth as imagined in the second movement. Quiet sustained tones provide a foundation upon which the members of the band are asked to begin chanting, at first in almost indecipherable form, but then growing more cogent, the words "this beautiful Earth."

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