Original Music for Brass Band Contests
Prior to 1913 music for brass band had consisted largely of arrangements of classical or popular music. Although there had been a long tradition of composers (usually bandmasters) writing original marches and light music, there certainly had been no original music used in the major contests. This changed when Percy Fletcher's
Labour and Love was written and used in the National Brass Band Championships at the Crystal Palace in 1913. This broke the ice and many composers over the following years were inspired, commissioned or otherwise persuaded to write for brass bands. The adoption of original works in the contest arena was somewhat slow to begin with but gained momentum through the 1920s and 1930s. A number of key composers led the way and the list of the major works used in these early years of original test pieces shows whom we have to thank for rich variety of original works we enjoy today.
Please send any messages, comments or material to
gavin@ibew.co.uk
- Granville Bantock
- Oriental Rhapsody (1930)
- Prometheus Unbound (1933)
- Hubert Bath
- Freedom (1922)
- Honour and Glory (1931)
- Arthur Bliss
- Kenilworth (1936)
- Edward Elgar
- Severn Suite (1930)
- Percy Fletcher
- Labour and Love (1913)
- An Epic Symphony (1926)
- Henry Geehl
- Oliver Cromwell (1923)
- On the Cornish Coast (1924)
- Robin Hood (1936)
- Gustav Holst
- A Moorside Suite (1928)
- Herbert Howells
- Pageantry (1934)
- John Ireland
- A Downland Suite (1932)
- Comedy Overture (1934)
- Cyril Jenkins
- Coriolanus (1914)
- Life Divine (1921)
- Victory (1929)
- Zamora (1929)
- Thomas Keighley
- Macbeth (1925)
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (1926)
- The Merry Wives of Windsor (1927)
- Lorenzo (1928)
- The Crusaders (1932)
- A Northern Rhapsody (1935)
- Haydn Morris
- Springtime (1931)
- J Weston Nicholl
- The Viking (1923)
- Denis Wright
- Joan of Arc (1925)
- Hanover (1926)
- The White Rider (1927)
- Tintagel (1930)
- Princess Nada (1933)
- Thalassa (The Sea) (1933)