GAZEBO DANCES for Wind Ensemble by JOHN CORIGLIANO (USA, 1938)
- WASBE Marcom
- Oct 19
- 3 min read
[#326] Oct 20, 2025 USA | 1972 | Wind Band | Grade 5 | 16’ | Suite
Premiered by University of Evansville Wind Ensemble conducted by Robert Bailey
on 05 June 1973 in Evansville, USA
Purchase at Wise Music
Gazebo Dances by American composer John Corigliano is our Composition of the Week.
Gazebo Dances was written in 1972 and premiered one year after by the University of Evansville Wind Ensemble (IN, USA), conducted by Robert Bailey, on June 5, 1973.
The work has since received countless performances and has become a stapples of the wind band literature.
Gazebo Dances is structured as a suite in four movements, I. Overture (Allegro con brio), II. Waltz (Allegretto), III. Adagio, IV. Tarantella (Allegro).
It is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 Bb clarinets, Eb clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 alto saxophones, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, baritone, 2 tubas, timpani, percussion (4 players); and has a duration of 16 minutes.
The music is available on rental at Wise Music.
In 2025 doctoral conducting associate at the University of North Texas, Dachuan Cao, has created a new version for wind band as his capstone dissertation project, which includes a set of newly edited and formatted wind parts, an updated score, along with the addition of a piano part not found in the original. This version was first performed on April 17, 2025, by the University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Symphony, conducted by Dachuan Cao.
« Gazebo Dances was originally written as a set of four-hand piano pieces dedicated to certain of my pianist friends. I later arranged the suite for orchestra and for concert band, and it is from the latter version that the title is drawn. The title, Gazebo Dances, was suggested by the pavilions often seen on village greens in towns throughout the countryside, where public band concerts are given on summer evenings. The delights of that sort of entertainment are portrayed in this set of dances, which begins with a Rossini-like Overture, followed by a rather peg-legged Waltz, a long-lined Adagio and a bouncy Tarantella » Each movement was given a dedication, as follows: 1. For Rose Corigilano (composer's mother) and Etta Feinbert (composer's mother's best friend) 2. For John Ardoin (music critic for the Dallas Morning News and author) 3. For Heida Hermanns (composer's father's accompanist) 4. For Jack Romann (head of Baldwin pianos and close friend) and Christian Steiner (photographer). Program Notes by John Corigliano
John Corigliano is one of America’s most celebrated composers, known for his emotionally rich and stylistically diverse works. He is one of only two composers—alongside Aaron Copland—to have won both the Pulitzer Prize (for Symphony No. 2) and an Academy Award (for The Red Violin). His Symphony No. 1, a response to the AIDS crisis, earned the Grawemeyer Award and has received over 300 performances worldwide.
Corigliano’s output spans orchestral works, chamber music, and opera, including his Grammy-winning Mr. Tambourine Man and two operas: The Ghosts of Versailles (Metropolitan Opera) and The Lord of Cries (Santa Fe Opera). His extensive catalogue also includes concerti for violin (The Red Violin), flute (Pied Piper Fantasy), saxophone, and more.
A native New Yorker, Corigliano studied at Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music, and was mentored by Otto Luening and Paul Creston. His music has been championed by the world’s leading orchestras, soloists, and ensembles.
Other works for winds by John Corigliano
• Two works for Antiphonal Brass (1993)
• Symphony N°3 « Circus Maximus » (2004)
More on John Corigliano
