[#269] September 16, 2024
1964 | Orchestral Winds | Grade 5 | 5’- 10’ | Overture
Im Memoriam
Robert A. Boudreau,
founder and conductor of the American Wind Symphony of Pittsburgh
(April 25, 1927 – July 4, 2024)
Children’s Overture, by French composer and conductor Eugène Bozza is our Composition of the Week, in commemoration of the recent passing of Robert Austin Boudreau, July 4, 2024.
This international potpourri of children's melodies was commissioned in 1964 by Robert A. Boudreau, founder and conductor of the American Wind Symphony of Pittsburgh. Since 1975 the band has presented concerts sailing the waterways of North America and Europe from the deck of its own floating arts center, Counterpoint II. During that time Boudreau and the C.F. Peters Cop. have commission hundreds of works from many of the world's major composers.
Among them we can mention Samuel Adler, David Amram, Alexander Aratunian, Blas Atehortua, Georges Auric, Henk Badings, Robert Russell Bennett, Warren Benson, Elmer Bernstein, William Bolcom, Henry Brant, Leo Brower, Joaquin Rodrigo, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Lalo Schiffrin among many others…
Children’s Overture has a duration of about 5 minutes. It is scored for orchestral winds as follows:
3.Picc.3.4.BassCl.3.Cbsn/4431.Harp.Piano.Timp.Percussion (5)
This music, as all the works commissioned by Robert Austin Boudreau are available on rental at Editions Peters.
Obituary: Robert Austin Boudreau – American Wind Symphony Orchestra Music Director “Robert Austin Boudreau, founder and music director of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, died at the age of 97 on July 4, 2024. On June 23, 1957, Robert Austin Boudreau conducted his first concert along the banks of the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, PA. The stage for this performance was the Point Counterpoint I, a refashioned coal barge that had been resurrected from the mud, where it had been ditched near Neville Island. For the next 60 years the Point Counterpoint I, and then the more contemporary and self-propelled Point Counterpoint II, designed by Louis Kahn, would ply the rivers of the United States and the world, bringing communities together around music, art, and poetry, gathering neighbors and friends along America’s – and later the world’s – waterfronts to share an evening of unforgettable music and showmanship. During his long and illustrious career, Boudreau championed new music, commissioning over 400 works for a newly coined ensemble called a “Wind Symphony Orchestra” and, through a productive relationship with C.F. Peters publishing house, ensured these became standard repertoire. With the doubling of the woodwind, brass and percussion sections of a symphony orchestra, Robert created a new sound, and the American Wind Symphony Orchestra (AWSO) was born […] Born on April 25, 1927, and raised on a chicken farm in Bellingham, Massachusetts (something he never let an audience forget), he always retained his passion for the farming life. Raising goats and sheep on a farm in Mars, Pennsylvania, he could be seen in cut-off shorts and a white t-shirt, rototilling his garden and hauling manure up the hill to its designated plots well into his 90s. He leaves behind his beloved companion and soulmate of over 60 years, Kathleen. In later years a night wouldn’t go by without a game of Pinochle, Perquacky, or Quiddler – the three games religiously rotated on a nightly basis. Boudreau also leaves his 6 children, Wendy (Michael Morrissey), Robin (Thomas Palmer), Caryn, Jonathan, Josh (Gloria Caceres) and Tanya (Can Tutuncu) as well as 17 grandchildren. He would repeat so many times later in life just how lucky he had been, how good fortune had been so critical to his success and how the most important element in life is loving one another. He referred to every person he met as “My Friend”. He touched so many lives and left us with a lifetime of memories.”
Eugène Bozza studied at the Paris Conservatory and won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1934. He was conductor of the Paris Opera-Comique from 1939-1948. He then moved to Valenciennes, where he was director of the Conservatory until his retirement.
His name is well known to wind soloists and chamber music players because of the pieces he wrote for conservatory performance examinations. Bozza is particularly noted for his wind writing, having composed pieces for nearly all the winds and strings during his academic career (including the saxophone, for which his 1936 Aria is an important early composition). His chamber music for winds shows great familiarity with the capabilities of the instruments, often demanding a great deal of technical skill, without losing the expressive, melodic style typical of 20th century French chamber music; his music is part of the standard repertoire for several instruments. Examples include his Scherzo for woodwind quintet, a short and lighthearted piece that requires a fair bit of technical skill.
He also had an excellent reputation as a conductor, administrator, and composer of larger works. In addition to his other honors, Bozza was made a “Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur” in 1956.
Other scores for winds by Bozza include:
Fanfare Héroïque (1943) for Brass.
Ouverture pour une céremonie (1963) for Saxophones, Brass and Percussion.
Messe Solennelle de Sainte-Cécile (1968) for Brass, Timpani, Harp, Organ and Choir.
Sonatine for Brass Quintet.
Trois mouvements, Brass Quintet.
Prelude et Chaconne, Brass Ensemble.
Suite Française, Brass Ensemble.
Trilogie, Brass Ensemble.
Lucioles, Clarinet Ensemble.
Quatre mouvements, Wind and Brass Septet.
Scherzo for Wind Quintet Op.48
Pentaphonie, Wind Quintet.
Variations sur un theme libre, Wind Quintet.
Octanphonie (1972) for Wind Octet.
Ouverture rhythmique (rev. Etchegoncelay) (1963/2018)
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