Description
Vintage variations for trumpet and organ based on my song “Wine and water” (on a satirical poem by G K Chesterton).
(This is an electronic preview).
The variations are named:
Noah’s theme
All at sea
Waltz of the Bishops
In Vino Calypso
Finale – Noah’s Dance
Description by JESSE W. HEETLAND, Norman, Oklahoma
Solomons’ Vintage Variations is a theme and four
variations based on the composer’s setting of the poem
“Wine and Water” by G.K. Chesterton.
Each variation has a title inspired by passages of this poem.
The work features tonal harmonies
throughout and follows common theme and variation techniques, including change of meter, texture, and harmonization.
The theme is clearly present throughout the work.
The 24-measure-long theme in A Aeolian and 6/8 meter
is presented by the trumpet alone, and is reminiscient of a sea shanty.
The first variation, “All at Sea,” is in
C minor and 4/4 meter, and features the organ
playing sixteenth-note scalar figures over
a descending bass line while the trumpet performs
occasional brief punctuations derived
from the theme.
The second variation, “Waltz of the Bishops”,is in E minor and 3/4 meter, and is performed by organ alone.
Here the theme appears in the pedal accompanied by
extended tertian block chords in the manuals.
“In Vino Calypso,” the third variation, is in D minor and features the rhythm 3 3 2 and its subdivisions in 4/4 meter,
with a harmonization similar to the second variation.
The final variation, “Noah’s Dance,” returns to the 6/8 meter of the original theme and is in G minor. Here both instruments present florid scalar passages amid
motives taken from previous variations.
Although the tempo of this variation is marked quaver =100, performing at a tempo of dotted crotchet =100 will be more likely to result in the intended dance-like feel.
Challenges for the trumpeter include frequent octave leaps,
flutter-tonguing, and an optional “drunken glissando” in the initial presentation of the theme..