Puccini’s Passions

Description

Four “passionate” proposals by Puccini, elaborated in an instrumentation suitable for the band.

arr. by Picarband

In the history of music, Giacomo Puccini is undoubtedly a “man of passions”: his love for life, sensuality and the search for pleasure are some characteristics that are also found in certain musical passages of his works.

I have identified four “passionate” proposals by Puccini, to pleasantly develop instrumentation suitable for the band ensemble.

The following were taken into consideration: hunting – friends, good food and good wine – engines, cars and speed – beautiful houses and beautiful women.

Between the ages of 16 and 20, our Puccini had composed a series of pieces for piano and organ. I have chosen the most suitable themes for easy performance, to be entrusted to a band of wind instruments and percussion. They are the “passions” that characterized the portrait of a genius in love with life and its pleasures.

Puccini loved to define himself as a “powerful hunter of wild birds, opera librettos and beautiful women” without forgetting his unscrupulousness in driving vintage cars, staying in various houses, spending time with friends and savoring food with good wine.

I have transferred Puccini’s elements of pleasure into the particular effects of this instrumentation: I entrust the conductors with the study of an effective interpretation, characterizing the four pieces with expressive, dynamic and contemplative moments, even a little humorous which lead to a healthy cheerfulness.

In the 1st song “The Hunt” the spirit of the hunter is not lacking, with “rifle shots” and particular harmonizations and modulations. In the 2nd piece we enjoy the various courses of food, using the timbres of different solo instruments; the final part dedicated to wine is an engaging and friendly melodic motif, performed with lightheartedness by the entire band. The 3rd song is dedicated to Puccini’s passion for motors: the vintage car is not missing with some honking and rhythmic gaits are progressively developed with passages of sixteenths to indicate the speed and the final arrival. The 4th piece presents a pleasant melodic line that illustrates the various luxury houses owned by the Maestro, followed by a sentimental reprise with various solo and section passages, to enhance the female beauty so appreciated by Puccini.

In PUCCINI’S PASSIONS all the instrumental sections of the band are involved, with appropriate interventions both from a melodic, harmonic and rhythmic point of view; furthermore, the variety of pieces presents different paces, with the development of intense and expressive dynamics, well supported by the effective writing of the percussion, to make the passions of our great Puccini brilliant and pleasant.