Score
Chickamauga : an orchestral narrative / Freddie Hill.
Library shelf no. Q 784.2/HIL 3 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
Chickamaugais based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce, whose tales of the American Civil War, in which he fought, are classics of their kind. In this story a young Southern boy strays from his home and engages in play-fights with imaginary foes using a crude wooden sword. He gets lost in the wilderness and exhausted and bewildered, falls asleep. When he wakes he finds himself surrounded by a horde of strange (to his eyes) creatures - the hideously maimed stragglers from a real battle. He leads them towards a strange glow on the horizon which turns out to be his home which is ablaze. The score features familiar tunes of the period (e.g. Foster's Camptown Races).
Work Details
Year: 2006
Instrumentation: 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling cor anglais), 2 clarinets in B flat (2nd doubling tenor saxophone or bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in B flat, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion (3 players), harp, strings.
Duration: 10 min.
Difficulty: Advanced — Good student/professional.
Commission note: Commissioned by Lewis Cornwell for performance by Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra.
Note from the composer - "without conscious emulation on my part, the listener may detect echoes of certain twentieth century American composers for example Copland, Ives and Roy Harris."
From a story by Ambrose Bierce.
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