ENIGMA for Wind Ensemble by DAVID BIEDENBENDER (USA, 1984)
- WASBE Marcom
- May 18
- 3 min read
[#304] May 19, 2025 2024 | Grade 6 | 10’ – 15’ | Theme and Variations
Premiered by Saint Olaf Band conducted by Dr. Henry Dorn
on Jan 28, 2024 in St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church, in Plymouth, Minnesota, USA.
Enigma, by American composer, conductor, performer, and educator David Biedenbender is our Composition of the Week.
Enigma was originally written for brass and organ for the dedication of the Red Cedar Organ in the Michigan State University Alumni Chapel. The wind ensemble version was commissioned and dedicated to Dr. Henry Dorn and the Saint Olaf Band, and was premiered on January 28, 2024, at the St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church, in Plymouth, Minnesota, USA.
The work was awarded the 2024 National Band Association William D. Revelli Memorial Prize and has received an honorable mention at the Walter Beeler Memorial Composition Prize 2024; it has been also a finalist at the American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Prize, in 2024 as well.
Enigma has a duration of 12 minutes, and it is scored for standard wind ensemble setting, with double bass, optional organ, and five percussion parts.
The music is available at Bent Space Music.
Enigma comes from a Greek word that means “to speak in riddles,” and in this piece, the riddle -- or theme -- is revealed gradually. The theme comes from the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, which is one of my favorite pieces of music, and, once the theme is revealed, it is repeated cyclically with 21 variations, just like in Bach’s original.
This piece is dedicated to my former teacher, José-Luis Maúrtua, a composer, theorist, conductor, and teacher with whom I studied at Central Michigan University. José-Luis was an extraordinary musician and teacher who was tirelessly dedicated to his students and to pushing them to do their best. I am forever grateful for the lessons I learned from him, and my music and my life are far better for having known him. Unfortunately, he was taken from this earth far too young -- at the age of 57 -- by pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2022. I miss him dearly, and this music is for him.” Program Notes by David Biedenbender
David Biedenbender's first musical collaborations were in rock and jazz bands as an electric bassist and in wind and jazz bands as a bass trombone and euphonium player. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in composition from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the Bachelor of Music degree in composition and theory from Central Michigan University. He has also studied at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala, Sweden with Anders Hillborg and Steven Stucky, the Aspen Music Festival and School with Sydney Hodkinson, and in Mysore, India. where he studied South Indian Carnatic music. His primary musical mentors include Stephen Rush, Evan Chambers, Kristin Kuster, Michael Daugherty, Bright Sheng, Erik Santos, Christopher Lees, David Gillingham, José Luis-Maurtúa, John Williamson, and Mark Cox.
Composer David Biedenbender’s music has been described as “simply beautiful”, “striking” and “brilliantly crafted” and is noted for its “rhythmic intensity” and “stirring harmonies”. “Modern, venturesome, and inexorable…The excitement, intensity, and freshness that characterizes Biedenbender’s music hung in the [air] long after the last note was played”. He has written music for the concert stage as well as for dance and multimedia collaborations, and his work is often influenced by his diverse musical experiences in rock and jazz bands as an electric bassist, in wind, jazz, and New Orleans-style brass bands as a euphonium, bass trombone, and tuba player, and by his study of Indian Carnatic Music.
His present creative interests include working with everyone from classically trained musicians to improvisers, acoustic chamber music to large ensembles, and interactive electronic interfaces to live brain data.
In addition to composing, David is a dedicated teacher. He is Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Boise State University, and he was previously on the composition and theory faculty at Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University, Madonna University, and the Interlochen Arts Camp. He has also taught an interdisciplinary course in creativity and collaboration in the Living Arts program at the University of Michigan. His composition students have achieved regional and national recognition for their creative work, including numerous awards and acceptance into renowned summer music festivals and undergraduate and graduate composition programs.
More on David Biedenbender
Other works for winds include:
• Melodious Thunk (2012)
• Unquiet Hours (2017)
• When is written on the leaves (2019)
• Concerto for Wind Ensemble (2019)
• Before the dawn (2023)
• River of Time (2023/24) for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble
