SYMPHONY No.3 for BAND by VITTORIO GIANNINI (USA, 1903 – 1966)

[#321] Sep 15, 2025 USA | 1958/1961 | Symphonic Band | Grade 5 | 23' | Symphony

Premiered by Duke University Band conducted by Paul Bryan

Purchase score at Berwin Mills (Alfred)

Symphony No.3 for Band by American violinist and composer Vittorio Giannini is our Composition of the Week.

Symphonie No.3 was written in 1958 and reedited in 1961. It follows the classical structure of four movements, 1. Allegro energico, 2. Adagio – 3. Allegretto and 4. Allegro con brio.

It is scored for standard wind band setting, including an optional double bassoon part doubling the double bass as well as 5 percussion players.

It has a duration of 23 minutes, and it is available at Belwin Mills.

“Of gigantic proportion, this work for concert band is a solid part of the standard repertoire. Giannini's numerous works for band are well known for their compositional quality, and this symphony, long out of print, will be welcomed by serious conductors and educators the world over.”

Notes by the editor

“The Symphony No. 3 was composed on a commission by the Duke University Band and its conductor, Paul Bryan, during the summer of 1958, in Rome Italy, where I was spending my vacation. It is my second work for band; the first, Praeludium and Allegro, was commissioned by Richard Franko Goldman. I can give no other reason for choosing to write a symphony to fulfill this commission than that I “felt like it,” and the thought of doing it interested me a great deal. I will not go into the technical details of the work. Basically, the listener is not concerned with them beyond what they can hear for themselves. I follow no ‘isms’ when I compose; I try to project and communicate a feeling, a thought that is in me at the time, using whatever technique is suggested by my mood to achieve this communication. The form of the movements is this: first movement – sonata allegro; second movement – A B A; third movement – A B A B; fourth movement – sonata allegro. There is no program – only what I heard and felt at the time. I hope it makes music.” Program Notes by Vittorio Giannini

Vittorio Giannini attended the Milan Conservatory from 1913 to 1917. He studied violin with Hans Letz and composition with Rubin Goldmark at The Juilliard School in New York. Giannini taught at Juilliard from 1939 to 1941, New York’s Manhattan School of Music from 1941 to 1956, and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1956 to 1965. Giannini was also the first director of the North Carolina School for the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC, beginning in 1965.

As a composer, Giannini won three consecutive Prix de Rome. His technique was late romantic style coupled with an Italianate vocal style. In the late 1940s, he moved toward a lighter neo-classical style and his later years were characterized by more intense romanticism marked by greater dissonance and tonal freedom. His students include David Amram, John Corigliano, Nicolas Flagello, Adolphus Hailstork, and Alfred Reed.

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Other works for winds include:

• Praeludium and Allegro (1959)

• Fantasia for Band (1963)

• Dedication Overture (1965)

• Variations and Fugue (1967)