The song 'Hey Jude' was released by the Beatles in 1968 as a single, developed within a short time to the super hit and later to one of the greatest classics of the 'mushroom heads'. With 7.5 million copies sold, the song is considered the best-selling single of the Beatles.

Paul McCartney originally wrote the song for John Lennon's son Julian. Since the opening lyrics and title were still 'Hey Jules' ('Jules' was the nickname of Julian Lennon). Perhaps to take the focus off the Lennon son, who was suffering from the separation of his parents at the time, he later changed the salutation in the song to 'Hey Jude'.

'Hey Jude' is a song of comfort. It begins very discreetly, with solo vocals accompanied only by piano and guitar, gradually increases and finally leads into a long hymnal coda in which all participants virtually celebrate a musical 'party', overcoming the melancholy of the beginning. The 36-piece orchestra involved in the Beatles recording sang and clapped along at the top of their lungs during the world-famous 'Na-na-na' chorus!

Martin Scharnagl depicts this entire range of emotions in his arrangement. His arrangement is as simple as it is artful: elegant, song-like secondary melodies enrich the musical action in many cases, and yet the structure remains compact and easy for any intermediate orchestra to master. Incidentally, Scharnagl's version of 'Hey Jude' is also ideally suited for small and very small formations (See the scoring note below).

The arrangement is already playable with the following minimum instrumentation:

Bb/C trumpet 1
Bb/C trumpet 2
Bb/C trumpet 3
Bb/C tenor horn (also playable with trombone or horn)
C/Bb euphonium (baritone) (also playable with trombone or horn)
C/Bb tuba 2
percussion

Solo for vocal (ad lib.) & Wind Orchestra
Range: d'-f''
Text/Lyrics: english