University of Missouri Wind Ensemble

Program Notes

American Overture for Band (1953) ………………...…….. Joseph Willcox Jenkins (1928-2014)

Joseph Willcox Jenkins was born in Philadelphia and started composing at the same time he began taking piano lessons as a young boy. He studied formally with composer Vincent Persichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music while simultaneously pursuing a pre-law degree at the nearby St. Joseph’s College. Further musical studies followed at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where Jenkins earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees and counted among his mentors more luminaries of American classical music, including Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers.

Jenkins embarked on his professional career by joining the military and serving on the arranging staff of the U.S. Army Field Band at Fort Meade, Maryland. With the goal of showcasing the superb horn section of that band, Jenkins composed his American Overture for Band in 1953. Although he wrote the work for the Army Field Band, the overture quickly gained attention from the band community at large and has since become one of the most often performed works in the concert band repertoire.

American Overture for Band calls for skilled playing by several sections, especially the French horns. It is written in a neo-modal style being flavored strongly with both Lydian and Mixolydian mode. Its musical architecture is a very free adaptation of the sonata form. The music material borders on the folk tune idiom, although there are no direct quotes from any folk tunes. It was the composer’s first band piece and remains his most successful work.

Echoes (2022) ………………............................................................…….. Luis Hermano Bezerra

            Echoes is inspired by the phenomenon of reverberation and reflects the persistence of an initial sound after its first attack. The opening signal of this natural event becomes quieter as the waves are absorbed by the surfaces around the sound source. The music mirrors this process. A shattering mass of sound is followed by both long and repeated notes transported from one family of instruments to the other. Just as in nature, the reflection navigates through the band's medium. The music abounds in wave-like patterns of rise and fall—crescendo and decrescendo as well as tension and relaxation. Furthermore, the shape of the piece translates this event as it assumes a softer character towards its conclusion. The cycle of sound comes to an end.