Variations for brass

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Rochester, 1962.It is possible that the twentieth century will one day be known as the beginning of a "golden age for brass.” Witness the testimonial of Gardner Read, author of the monumental Thesaurus of Orchestral Devices: “In the eighteenth-century orchestra, that of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, the strings were the predominating body of instrumentalists, woodwinds were of secondary importance, and brasses considerably less than that. In the nineteenth-century orchestra the winds were improved to such an extent that they assumed an equal role with the strings in symphonic orchestration, as is evidenced by the scores of Berlioz, Franck, Brahms, and Wagner. And in the twentieth-century orchestra it is clearly the brasses that have come to the fore, as the most superficial glance at the scores of Stravinsky, Hindemith, or Bartók will show. Even the many new percussion instruments do not exhibit such amazing technical resources and diversity of effect as do the orchestral brasses.” One can go even further than Mr. Read and point to the remarkable evolution in the art of the brass ensemble. Since 1930 a significantly large number of works for this medium have been published. Brass instruments were, in all essentials, the same one hundred years ago as they are today; therefore, this increased interest cannot be credited to radical improvements in design. Evidently, we are gradually discovering and appreciating in them something more than their capacity to play music which could just as well be played by the more established string, woodwind, and keyboard instruments. It has to be the innate character of brass instruments that has caught our imagination. There are those, however, who disagree with Mr. Read’s appraisal of the role of contemporary orchestral brass and who continue to think of the brass as a somewhat inferior family of instruments. They feel especially that these instruments are without the necessary musical capacity to perform alone and point to the newly emerging brass ensemble with the explanation that it is only the result of social trends and commercialism; they need to be informed of the many outstanding composers in this medium who have obviously contributed more time and effort than is usually required in mere commercialism. Their negative attitude reminds us that the modern concept of brass is still in the process of birth. And although future historians may someday single out a date or work from our time as representing the actual birth, tradition is nevertheless a poor midwife and brass instruments continue to be burdened with concepts inherited from earlier stages of development. Fortunately, we have far-sighted observers as well, who are able to sense the inevitable and express a laudable impatience with the present state of development. Gunther Schuller, in the preface to his Symphony for Brass and Percussion, speaks in the following vein: “…the members of the brass family are not limited to the stereotypes of expression usually associated with them. Thus, there is more to the horn than its ‘heroic' or 'nobler’ or 'romantic' character, or to the trumpet than its usefulness in fanfares and calls. Indeed these instruments are capable of the entire gamut of expression. Their full resources and the amazing technical advances in terms of performance made in the last thirty-odd years--especially in America--have been largely left unexplored by most contemporary composers.” And Mary Rasmussen, editor of Brass Quarterly, has the following to say in discussing a group of American brass quartets: “There is virtually no attempt to write in a distinctive valve idiom. Most of the quartets could be played by woodwinds or even strings with equal effect. There is almost no use of special effects peculiar to brass instruments.” Unfortunately, this indictment applies equally well to a large portion of the brass ensemble repertoire. What are the characteristics that are inherent in true brass style and, at the same time, distinguish it from the styles and compositional procedures of other instruments? It is the purpose of this study to investigate some of the answers which may be available to us today. In the absence of contrasting choirs of woodwinds or strings, brass instruments playing alone must exploit to the fullest their inherent possibilities. Precisely for this reason the author has chosen the brass ensemble as the most fruitful source of information for his study . The selection of specific works was based not only on the prestige of the composer but on the general acceptance of the music as representing fine writing for brass. Only published works were considered, and of these, only the more extended ones. A few older works have also been studied to determine any possible increase or decrease in the use of certain characteristics