Independence day is upon us as soon as once more and, in homage to our buddies throughout the pond, we’ve chosen 9 of the perfect works to rejoice with. Simply add fireworks and a little bit of flag-waving, and we’re away.
Greatest Independence Day songs and music
1. Aaron Copland – Fanfare for the Frequent Man
Copland wrote this work in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra by request from Eugene Goossens. It was impressed partly by a well-known speech made earlier within the yr the place vice chairman Henry A. Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the ‘Century of the Frequent Man’.
Probably the most evocative melodies ever written is when the well-known trumpet line cuts by the silence of drums and percussion. It was premiered 12 March 1943, as homage to the frequent man and Copland used it simply three years later because the theme for the final motion of his Symphony No. 3.
2. John Philip Sousa – The Stars and Stripes Perpetually
Nicknamed ‘The March King’, John Philip Sousa composed over 135 marches all through his life. The Stars and Stripes Perpetually is extensively thought of to be his magnum opus. It’s now the official Nationwide March of the US of America.
You’ll be able to count on the standard American band textures and music together with agile woodwinds, bombastic brass and the occasional good previous vogue bass drum wallop.
3. America the Stunning – music by Samuel A. Ward, phrases by Katharine Lee Bates
‘America is Stunning’ is the poem that will evolve into certainly one of America’s best-loved patriotic songs written throughout a visit to Pikes Peak in 1893. Celebrating the ‘patriotic dream’, the music resonated with Individuals from all walks of life and have become enormously widespread.
Whereas Bates was initially shocked by the poem’s success, she later mirrored that it might maintain with the nation ‘because of the truth that Individuals are at coronary heart idealists, with a basic religion in human brotherhood.’
4. The Star-Spangled Banner – music by John Stafford Smith, phrases by Francis Scott Key
Independence Day wouldn’t be Independence Day with out at the least mentioning The Star-Spangled Banner. The phrases come from ‘Defence of Fort M’Henry’, a poem written by Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry within the Battle of 1812. Stravinsky orchestrated this in 1944.
His model wasn’t completely typical; the Boston police issued Stravinsky a warning, claiming there was a legislation in opposition to tampering with the nationwide anthem. Grudgingly, Stravinsky conceded.
5. Herbert Howells – Take Him Earth, for Cherishing
Howells is likely one of the most quintessentially English composers. This will appear misplaced on this line of American works.
Regardless of this, Howells wrote it within the yr following the dying of President Kennedy; plans have been made for a twin American-Canadian Memorial service to be held in Washington. However this kaleidoscopic choral work is filled with depth, anguish and turbulence.
6. Charles Ives – Variations on America
Composed in 1891 when Ives was seventeen, that is an association of a conventional tune, referred to as ‘My Nation, Tis of Thee’, and on the time the de facto anthem of the US. Ives ready it for a Fourth of July celebration in 1892 on the Methodist church the place he was organist in New York.
Ives meant the work as a honest train in variations for organ. While Ives was able to musical jokes, they’re often significantly broader than right here. Ives was not deaf to its comedian potential nevertheless: he later famous that his father ‘did not let me do it a lot, because it made the boys snicker’ in church.
7. Fisk Jubilee Singers – The Gospel Prepare
The Gospel Prepare is a conventional African-American religious first printed in 1872 as one of many songs of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. An ordinary Gospel music, it’s discovered within the hymnals of many protestant denominations and has been rearrangement for a lot of totally different kinds and forces.
The supply for the melody and lyrics is unknown however developed out of a convention, which resulted in quite a few comparable songs a few ‘Gospel Prepare’. The hyperlink beneath is an association with a small brass band, piano, bass, drums and vocals.
8. Leonard Bernstein – West Facet Story Symphonic Dances
It is extremely troublesome to go looking by American composers with out stumbling throughout Leonard Bernstein. His adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into ‘West Facet Story’ has been an enormous success because the unique 1957 Broadway manufacturing.
With lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, this was a kind of the dream group of American musical theatre. In 1961, Bernstein ready a set of orchestral music from the present; titled Symphonic Dances from West Facet Story. It options a number of the most well-known songs from the musical together with ‘Mambo’ ‘Rumble’ and ‘Someplace’.
9. Joan Tower – Fanfare for the Unusual Lady No. 3
Over the previous 50 years, Joan Tower has made a long-lasting impression on music within the USA as not solely a composer but in addition a performer, educator and conductor. Her composition Fanfare for the Unusual Lady is one thing of a response to Copland’s Fanfare for the Frequent Man (as talked about earlier).
Tower’s No. 3 (of 6) is scored for brass. This accents and boasts a terrific rhythmic vitality coupled with crisp articulation and tensity. The Colorado Symphony Orchestra finally recorded the entire work. She devoted the piece to the conductor of the recordings, Marin Alsop.
Will Wright
One thing we have missed? Inform us which works you’d add to this checklist within the feedback part beneath, or tweet us @MusicMagazine.
