Holofernes Overture, Op. 27 No. 1

Instrumentation: full orchestra (see below)

Composed: 1958, pub. 1964

Performance Time: 6:30 min.

Score available from: Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music at Free Library of Philadelphia.

Program Note:
HOLOFERNES OVERTURE, Op. 27 No. 1 won Gene Gutche first honorable mention in the 1959 Luria Award competition and received its premiere performance by the National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Howard Mitchell, on October 26, 1960. It has since been performed by the Minneapolis, American, Oakland, and Evanston Symphonies. Its first New York performance was given by the National Orchestral Association Orchestra under conductor John Barnett in 1964.

The overture was written as part of an opera on the Apocryphal heroine, Judith, and the enemy general whom she beguiled and beheaded. It depicts, in dark orchestral colors and violent rhythms, the march of brutal Holofernes' army to Bethulia. Although composed in the twelve-tone technique, the overture has a highly tonal feeling.

Began: May 27, 1958
Completed: July 8, 1958

Instrumentation:

Piccolo
2 Flutes (Bass Flute*)
3 Oboes (English Horn)
3 Bb Clarinets (Bb Bass Clarinet)
2 Bassoons
Contrabassoon
Eb Alto Saxophone*
4 Horns in F
4 Bb Trumpets +
2 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Tuba

3 Percussion

tubular bells, triangle, anvil, wood block, castanets, suspended cymbal, striking cymbals, tabor, tambourine, tenor drum, gran cassa, tam tam (low pitch), timpani

Strings

* special cued part available
+ can be played by two trumpets