Christmas Concert Works for Band

Although Franz Lehár became most known for his contribution to the operetta repertoire, he also composed a lot of marches. One of these is 'Piave induló' (Piave Marsch, Marche form the 106th Regiment)...

Moscow, Cheryomushki is an operetta in three acts by Dmitri Shostakovich. It is sometimes referred to as simply "Cheryomushki" which is a district in Moscow full of cheap subsidized housing built in 1...

The 'Hungarian Dances' (Ungarische Tänze), evoking directly the warm blood of Hungarian gypsy music, consist of 21 dances, originally composed for piano four hands. Perhaps less familiar than the famo...

The Toy Symphony, (Kinder-Sinfonie) was also published as Sinfonia Berchtolsgadensis because it was written for instruments that were manufactured in the toy industry of Berchtensgaden that flourished...

'Ecce sacerdos magnus' (Behold a great priest), WAB 13, is an 1885 sacred motet by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. It is a musical setting of the antiphon of the same title. The work is a six-pa...

As a composer, Johann Strauss Sr. is probably less well known than his son Johann Strauss Jr., but his 'Radeztky March' is still one of the most popular pieces in classical music. Besides this march h...

In 1869 Johann Strauss composed the polka francaise 'Im Krapfenwald'l' ('In Krapfen's Woods'). It was originally titled 'Im Pawlowsk Walde' when first performed in Pavlovsk (Russia). Reportedly, sever...

Tannhäuser is one of Richard Wagner's richest and most elaborate musical achievements. A mood of autumnal melancholy imbues the third and final act: Wolfram feels the chill hand of impending death, bu...

The Cavatina 'Quel guarda il cavaliere' is sung in the first act of Donizetti's opera Don Pasquale by the young Norina .She comments on a novel she is reading, but also dwells on her skills as a charm...

Geronimo Gimeniz (1854 - 1923) was born in Sevilla and by the age of twelve he was a violinist in a theatre orchestra in Cadiz. The intermezzo from 'La Baile de Luis Alonso' is in the repertoire of ev...

The Spanish composer Pedro Iturralde (*1929) has to be considered both as pioneer and nestor of Spanish jazz music. Pequena Czarda (little dance) is a virtuoso little solo piece for saxophone and pian...

If we say that zarzuela is Spanish light opera with spoken dialogue we shall be near the mark. Geronimo Gimeniz is a Sevillan composer of many Zarzuela's. The short temperamental aria Zapatuedo is fro...

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1816) is one of the greatest of all comic operas.Based on an excellent play by Beaumarchais, The Barber of Seville delights audiences with its keenly sketched characters, melo...

Johannes Brahms composed the Alt-Rhapsodie in September of 1869 as a wedding gift to the daughter of his close friend and confidant, Clara Schumann. The Alt-Rhapsodie is set to several verses of a poe...

Danzon no. 2 by the Mexican composer Arturo Marquez was included on the program of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venuzuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel on their 2007 tour of Europe and the Unit...

Danzón no. 2 by the Mexican composer Arturo Márquez was included on the program of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venuzuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel on their 2007 tour of Europe and the Unit...

Chaminade's Concertino for Flute in D major, Op. 107 was composed in 1902 for flute and orchestra and was later arranged for flute and piano. Scholarship indicates that the Concertino was commissioned...

In 1933 Revueltas composed his brief symphonic poem "Janitzio" named after an island in Lake Patzcuaro, in the state of Michoacán, west of Mexico City, whose population had derived its income largely...

Absolutely the most famous 'Canzone Napoletana' is 'O Sole Mio' composed by the Italian singer and songwriter Eduardo di Capua (1865-1917) in 1898. The lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro. Though...

Although Arturo Marquez was already an accomplished composer in Mexico, his music started to reach the international stage with the introduction of his series of Danzones in the early 1990s. This vene...

Flight of the Bumblebee is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". The piece closes the 3rd act, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Pr...

Saint-Saëns also contributed voluminously to the French concertante literature. He wrote five piano concertos, three violin concertos, two cello concertos, and about twenty smaller concertante works f...

Nowadays, Carmen is probably the most famous opera in the whole opera-repertoire, although its premiere in 1875 was a great disappointment because of the misunderstanding of the very realistic plot. C...

Maurice Ravel finished In 1905 his piano cycle "Miroirs" of which some parts are orchestrated by the composer himself. Especially the fourth part, "Alborada del gracioso", created in 1919 in Paris for...

Ombra mai fù is the opening aria from the 1738 opera Serse by Georg Friederich Handel. The opera itself was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances in London after its premiere. In the 19...