Title

In memoriam - Three arrangements by Marvin C. Howe

Original Title

Composer

Various

Year

Editor

Arranger

Howe, Marvin C.

Year Arranged

Original Instrumentation

Type of Arrangement

2

Availability

1

Publisher

Hornists Nest

Year Published

1996

Catalogue Number

HN 77

Sheet Music Format

A4, Score (5) & parts (4x3=12)

Horns

4

Additional Equipment

Others

Other Instruments

Difficulty

1

Duration

9

Structure / Movements

3 pieces: I Russian Army folk song - Someone's horse is standing there: Lento cantabile e doloroso II Schubert, Franz - Ihr Bild (Her portrait): Lento III Schubert, Franz - Der Websweiser (The sign post): Moderato

Clefs

Treble, bass

Meters

3/4, C, 2/4

Key signatures

2b, 1b

Range

Horn 1: g - b2 Horn 2: A - f2 Horn 3: g - g2 Horn 4: D - eb2

Creator's Comments

Marvin heard a recording of this beautiful Russian folk song, performed by the Russian Army Chorus. There was no printed text. But he was fascinated by its haunting melody. He painstakingly transcribed it by ear and then arranged it for four horns. He finished in the summer before his death, and it was performed by the faculty and staff horns at the Interlochen Arts Camp. Then, as it happens, the horns of the IAC performed it at Marvin’s church the Sunday before he died. He was too ill to be there, so the players held their dress rehearsal for him at our home. A videotape was made of the performance; it is very symbolic to see at one point a lone horn on a chair while hearing “Someone’s horse is standing here.” Whenever he heard a piece of music, Marvin would immediately thing in terms of how it would adapt to the horn. The two Schubert songs were among his favourites. - Arline Howe The horn and horn players lost a good friend with the passing of Marvin Howe. We have a rich legacy of study materials and ensemble arrangements as a result of his life-lng love of music and the horn. These three pieces are among the last transcriptions that he did, and we feel they make a fine addition to the horn quartet repertoire, as well as a fitting tribute to the man who selected and arranged them. In his score of Someone’s horse, Mr. Howe made the suggestion that from letter F to G might be transposed down an octave. This obviously will need to be a matter of agreement between the players. The poignant Schubert songs, in addition to being beautiful music, certainly give us a clear indication in the fourth horn parts that Marvin was a firm believer in the low range of the instrument. - LES

Performance Notes

These are indeed beautiful settings of three slow pieces, the first two almost chorale-like, with only the third containing some more varying rhythmic parts. F to G, as referred to in the comments above, are the few bars that reach the high register (in the first horn), which, if omitted, might put these arrangements in the reach of even a beginner’s quartet. The lyrical qualities of the original pieces, and through the knowledgeable transcription also of the present edition, is undeniable, an hence ideal to illustrate the melodic side of the horn.

Credits

External Link

Sound

Score