Peterloo Overture: This overture by Malcolm Arnold, an English composer who

lived between 1921 and 2006, paints a picture of a terrible day for the people of
St. Peter’s Fields, Manchester.

The composer had this to say about the setting of this work:

“ PETERLOO is the derisive name given to an incident on 16 August

1819, in St. Peter’s Fields, Manchester, when an orderly crowd of some 8,000
people met to hear a speech on political reform. On the orders of the magistrates
they were interrupted by the Yeomanry, attempting to seize banners they carried,
and to arrest their speaker, Henry Hunt. Calvary were sent in, and eleven people
were killed and four hundred injured in the ensuing panic.
This overture attempts to portray these happenings musically, but after a
lament for the killed and injured, it ends in triumph, in the firm belief that all those
who have suffered and died in the cause of unity amongst mankind will not have
done so in vain.”

MALCOLM ARNOLD

Second Suite in F: This suite, composed in 1911 by Gustav Holst(1874-1934),

is constructed of English folk songs and dances. The work presents itself in four
movements:

I – March: Morris dance, Swansea Town, Claudy Banks.

II - Song Without Words: “I’ll Love My Love”

III – Song of the Blacksmith

IV – Fantasia on the Dargason

To be said about the first movement; it uses three tunes, set in the pattern A-B-
C-A-B. After the opening Morris dance, a broad and lyrical folk song, Swansea
Town, features the euphonium and is followed by Claudy Banks, which has a
lilting, swinging feeling derived from its different “meter” or beat. This work is one
of the standards of the band repertoire, we are lucky to have it.

Colonial Song: Percy Grainger who lived from 1882 to 1961 was many things in
his life: inventor, veteran, world-renowned solo pianist, oboist, ethnomusicologist,
and most importantly (to him) a composer. Grainger, following his time in
Australia, would frequently seek and record folk music in Northern European
areas from Denmark to England. Pertaining to Colonial Song Grainger had this to
say:
 “ No traditional tunes of any kind are made use of in this piece, in which I
have wished to express feelings aroused by thoughts of the scenery and people
of my native land (Australia), and also to voice a certain kind of emotion that
seems to me not untypical of native-born Colonials in general.

Perhaps, it is not unnatural that people living more or less lonelily in vast
virgin countries and struggling against natural and climatic hardships… should
run largely to that patiently yearning inactive sentimental wistfulness that we find
so touchingly expressed in much American Art; for instance in Mark Twain’s
“Huckleberry Finn,” and in Stephen C. Foster’s adorable songs “My Old Kentucky
Home,” “Old Folks at Home,” etc.”

Lincolnshire Posey: This work is a collection of English folksongs gathered by

Percy Grainger in Lincolnshire.

1. “Lisbon” (Sailor’s Song): This movement is comprised of two songs

“Lord Melbourne” and “The Duke of Marlborough”. The Duke of
Marlborough enters as a counter melody in the French Horn section.

2. “Horkstow Grange”: This slow, painful song was originally sung by Mr.
George Gouldthorpe. Mr. Grainger said about Mr. Gouldthorpe

“…[he] was a different personality. Though his face and figure were
gaunt and sharp cornered and his singing voice somewhat grating, he yet
contrived to breath a spirit of almost caressing tenderness into all he sang,
said and did… A life of drudgery, ending, in old age, in want and
hardship…”

3. “Rufford Park Poachers”: The quality of this music to be so beautifully

scored and the requirement of such masterful skill is a reflection of Mr.
Joseph Taylor, the original singer. Mr. Grainger said this regarding Mr.
Taylor:
“ … His effortless high notes, sturdy rhythms, and clean,
unmistaken intervals were a sheer delight to hear. From a collector’s
standpoint he was a marvel of helpfulness and understanding and nothing
could be more refreshing than his hale countrified looks and the happy lilt
of his cheery voice.”
4. “The Brisk Young Sailor”(who returned to wed his True Love):
Originally sung by Mrs. Thompson of Liverpool.

5. “Lord Melbourne” (War Song): This movement is very dense and uses
the most vast range of colors a wind band creates. Mr. George Wray was
the original singer of this tune – Grainger had this to say:
“ …[he] had a worldier, tougher and more prosperously-coloured
personality… he lived alone, surrounded by evil smelling cats… His
art shared the restless energy of his life. Some of the versions of
this tunes were fairly commonplace (but not Lord Melbourne!)… he
 added heaps of nonsense syllabls, queer hollow vowel-sounds (due
to his lack of teeth) and, a jovial , jogging stick-to-it iverness in
performance.”

6. “The Lost Lady Found”: …”[The Lost Lady Found] is a real dance song-
come down to us from the days when voices, rather than instruments, held
villages dances together.” Miss Lucy E. Broadwood originally sang and
danced this tune.

Arnold, Malcolm. Peterloo Overture. Milwaukee, WI: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1979.

Grainger, Percy. Colonial Song. Sentimentals Nr.1. San Antonio, TX: Southern Music

Company, 1918.

Grainger, Percy. Lincolnshire Posey. Boca Raton, FL: Ludwig Masters Publications,
2010.

Holst, Gustav. Second Suite in F For Military Band. Op. 28 No. 2. Milwaukee, WI:
Boosey

& Hawkes, 191