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39-748: The Annapolis Brass Quintet (ABQ) was a brass quintet founded by trumpet player David Cran and trombone player Robert Posten in 1971 as America's only full-time performing brass ensemble. During the course of its 22-year career, it played concerts in all fifty states and throughout Europe, the Orient , the Middle East, Central America and Canada. The original members of the quintet were trumpeters Cran and Haldon "Butch" Johnson, trombonists Posten and John Driver, and horn player Rick Rightnour. Through 1993, 14 different musicians played as regular members, including future social scientist Arthur C. Brooks . At that time,

78-469: A brass quintet. It is seen to consist of two piston-valved cornets , rather than the modern choice of trumpets ; a rotary-valved alto horn , rather than the French horn ; a rotary-valved tenor horn , rather than the trombone ; and a rotary-valved tuba (played by Ewald himself). Of these instruments, it is the alto and tenor horns that are most strikingly different from their modern quintet counterparts. There

117-466: A select number of pieces written for brass quintet. The brass quintet is believed to have not been established as a formal chamber ensemble until 1947. This is known as there had to have been compositions for brass chamber, as well as the existence of amateur and professional groups. The instrumentation for brass ensembles would have also needed to “remain constant for a sustained period of time before 1947.” Prior to 1947, many composers began composing for

156-570: A strong commitment to expanding the repertoire for the medium and has a list of over seventy-five world premieres to its credit. Among the composers who have written works for the ensemble are Douglas Allanbrook , Michael Brown, Bruce Clausen, George Heussenstamm , Warren Kellerhouse, Jiri Laburda, Robert Hall Lewis , Allen Molineux, Lawrence Moss , Jiri Pauer , Karl Pilss , Walter Ross , Jerzy Sapieyevski , Elam Sprenkle, Robert Starer , George Walker and Robert Washburn. Of special interest are four compositions for quintet and orchestra composed for

195-420: A venue for their activities. After the death of his father in 1885, Belaïev set about encouraging the development of new music in a number of practical ways, such as: the founding of a publishing house (Edition M.P. Belaïeff); the promotion of orchestral concerts; and the aforementioned Friday Evenings. It was at these evenings that one of the regular performing ensembles was a string quartet in which Belaïev played

234-401: Is no documented evidence of exactly for whom Ewald composed his quintets, or the exact instruments on which he envisaged them being performed. Therefore, one can only speculate that, for instance, cornets might have been preferred to trumpets, because of the latter’s association with the more strident demands made of it in symphonic settings, rather than the intimacy of a chamber setting for which

273-414: Is one that might find favour with modern-day trombonists required to rise to the challenge of what can only be described as, at times, unidiomatic writing. And of course one cannot reject the theory that it was simple pragmatism of utilizing instruments and performers close at hand. For many years it was wrongly thought that Ewald was the composer of only one quintet, his Op. 5 in B flat minor, because this

312-463: Is recognisable today as essentially the modern brass quintet - consisting of two treble, valved instruments, one alto, one tenor and one bass. The French composer Jean-François Bellon wrote 12 four-movement brass quintets published in 1848-50, showing that Ewald was not the first composer to write for this combination. However, the popularity of Ewald's quintets has in no way diminished because of this. Both Bellon and Ewald wrote music that displayed

351-545: The St Petersburg Conservatory at the age of twelve. Founded in 1861 by Anton Rubinstein , this institution was the first of its kind in Russia and it was here that Ewald received lessons in cornet, piano, horn, cello, harmony and composition. Ewald’s cello teacher Karl Davydov encouraged him to immerse himself in practical music making of any sort whenever the opportunity arose. For that reason Ewald soon became (and

390-564: The quintet disbanded, and played again only for a single concert in December 2000 in Annapolis, Maryland to honor the late jazz guitar legend Charlie Byrd . The final roster in 1993 and at the reunion concert were Cran, Posten, trumpeter Robert Suggs, trombonist Wayne Wells, and horn player Sharon Tiebert, the only female member in the Quintet's history. The Quintet is notable for its 1979 founding of

429-520: The "contributions that the Annapolis Brass Quintet has made to brass chamber music. During its 22-year history, it has entertained people around the world and has positively influenced the development of its genre. Its members have achieved a truly high standard of artistic excellence and, together, represent what is best in American music." Brass quintet The earliest brass chamber music

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468-833: The ABQ and performed with the Baltimore Symphony , the Bavarian Radio Orchestra , the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Wichita Symphony and the Dublin Radio Orchestra. United States Senator Barbara Mikulski congratulated the Annapolis Brass Quintet for the national record on the floor of the United States Senate on April 27, 1993, on the occasion of their final concert on April 25, and in recognition of

507-589: The ABQ first performed with the Charlie Byrd Trio as Byrd and Brass. This unique and critically acclaimed blending of Latin, jazz and classical styles, with one of the world's premier jazz guitarists and his trio, led to a long collaboration including over 50 concerts throughout the United States, Christmas concerts in Annapolis, and two recordings, Byrd and Brass and Christmas with Byrd and Brass. The Quintet made

546-837: The Budapest Brass Quintet, Le Concert Arban from Paris, Ensemble Prisma from Vienna, and the Theo Martens Brass Quintet. In 1989 history was made as the Berlin Brass Quintet from East Berlin shared the stage with the Brandenburg Quintet from West Berlin before the Berlin Wall had officially fallen. Lindahl, Robert Gordon. “Brass Quintet Instrumentation: Tuba versus Bass Trombone.” ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 1988. Victor Ewald Victor Vladimirovich Ewald (27 November 1860 – 16 April 1935),

585-763: The Canadian Brass but for all Brass Quintets. In 1980 the International Brass Quintet Festival and Symposium was established and at the time, was the only one to exist. This festival, similar to many of the festivals we see for Orchestra or Band, featured music forums, masterclasses, competitions, in-residence programs and free concerts. This festival was held between 1980 through 1992 at the Village of Cross Keys in Baltimore, Maryland. During this time many world-renowned brass quintets made appearances including

624-515: The Germanic tradition in both teaching and practice. Amongst this circle was a group who became known as The Mighty Handful , consisting of Mily Balakirev (railroad clerk), Alexander Borodin (chemist), César Cui (soldier and engineer), Modest Mussorgsky (Imperial Guard Officer) and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (navy officer). The musical focal point for Ewald and the Mighty Five, as well as others,

663-679: The International Brass Quintet Festival in Baltimore, Maryland , which became recognized as a major forum for brass chamber music. A major highlight of the 1989 festival was the combined appearance of both the East Berlin and West Berlin Brass Quintets with the ABQ two months before the Berlin Wall toppled, a historic collaboration both musically and politically. The festival presented over 200 free public concerts and conducted workshops and seminars for students and professional brass players. In 1985,

702-721: The New York Brass Quintet in 1954, and it was this ensemble that commissioned and premiered the first major brass quintet pieces in the repertoire like the Malcolm Arnold , Gunther Schuller and Alvin Etler brass quintets. Although the New York Brass Quintet did play pieces such as the Malcolm Arnold etc., much of their repertoire consisted of transcriptions of music from the Renaissance and Baroque . The Annapolis Brass Quintet

741-533: The St. Petersburg Institute of Civil Engineers . From 1910 to 1924, Ewald served as editor of the architectural journal Zodchii . From 1922 to 1932, he chaired the Petrograd Society of Architects. An obituary signed by his fellow professors of the I.C.E. makes mention of a profound heritage in the development of materials production for construction resulting from Ewald’s work, and suggests that “…an entire industry for

780-591: The aforementioned taxing nature of the piece, an alternative E flat part is provided for the 1st trumpet in Op. 8. Suggested metronome markings have been added based on the accumulated evidence of several recordings (including those by Stockholm Chamber Brass , Canadian Brass, the Wallace Collection and the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble ) as well as the editor’s own preferences. They are in no way included as

819-481: The first series of twelve brass quintets in 1850 while Ewald composed his quintets between the years 1888 and 1912 all while improvements were being made to brass instruments. The improvement of brass instruments played a big role later on in the history of brass quintets as it allowed the player to do more with the instrument which in turn allowed for more artistry. The modern brass quintet has only been around for six decades as prior to World War II , there were only

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858-482: The former was perhaps more suited. Similarly, the likely preference of a tenor horn (similar to today’s euphonium and an instrument occasionally transposed as a soloist to the symphony orchestra, as in the first movement of Mahler's 7th Symphony ), may have been the result of a wish on Ewald’s part to maintain the virtuosic potential, as well as tonal characteristics throughout his ensemble by sticking entirely to valved, conical-bored instruments. Certainly this suggestion

897-399: The four quintets runs as follows: Quintet no. 4 in A flat major (Op. 8) - c. 1888 Quintet no. 1 in B flat minor (Op. 5) - c. 1890 Quintet no. 2 in E flat major (Op. 6) - c. 1905 Quintet no. 3 in D flat major (Op. 7) - c. 1912 The apparent confusion between the numbering and approximate date of composition of the quintets arises from another long-held misconception, also corrected by

936-636: The increased virtuosity and homogeneity possible as a result of developments in brass instrument design and manufacture in the second half of the 19th century. Inevitably, at such a time of change and invention, there would be some variation in the exact design of instruments in favour from country to country and so the actual constituent parts of Ewald’s quintet would have differed in some ways from those instruments played in Bellon’s quintet and certainly in current times, by such as Canadian Brass . Photographic evidence from about 1912 shows that Ewald himself played in

975-466: The modern day brass quintet instrumentation that was later established by the New York Brass Quintet. The contemporary brass quintet appeared in the early 1950s with the New York Brass Quintet, followed in the 1960s by the American Brass Quintet , Chicago Brass Quintet , and Eastman Brass Quintet. Robert Nagel can be credited with forming the first serious brass quintet in the United States,

1014-516: The piece for string quartet and it was in this form that it was published as his Op. 1. The Canadian Brass editions (edited by Tony Rickard) do not set out to provide an Urtext edition , but rather to give performers a consistent and practical set of material for concert use. The edition therefore follows the instrumentation conventions of the modern brass quintet, in that it is scored for two trumpets (in B flat), French horn (in F), trombone and tuba. Because of

1053-465: The pieces were given their first modern performance during the 1974-75 season in a series of concerts by the American Brass Quintet at Carnegie Hall . Recently , Canadian Brass published critical editions all of the Victor Ewald quintets edited by Tony Rickard, taking into account, and benefiting from, all recent scholarship surrounding these works. A very approximate chronology of the composition of

1092-452: The production of brick and cement manufacturing is beholden to him”. Brass players however, are indebted to him for something very different – a series of quintets which have become a staple of the repertoire and which represent almost the only, and certainly the most extended examples of original literature in the Romantic style. Ewald’s formal musical training began in 1872 when he enrolled at

1131-458: The standard quartet literature to Russian concertgoers. He also collected and published Russian folk songs much like other composers of his time. Ewald’s professional life, like that of many of his musical contemporaries, was in an entirely different field; that of a civil engineer. He excelled in this field, being appointed in 1900 as professor and manager of the Faculty of Construction Materials at

1170-411: The studies of Mr. Smith. For some time it was considered that Quintet no. 4 (Op. 8) was merely a transcription by the composer of a string quartet written in the late 1880s and not an original composition for brass. However, Op. 8 was indeed initially written for brass but was considered to be unplayable at the time due to the demands of both technique and stamina made on the performers. Ewald duly reworked

1209-422: The style and popularity of the quintet medium throughout the world, having performed more than five thousand concerts, selling more than 500,000 quintet music books, and creating a library of over 600 compositions and arrangements for brass quintet. They continue to be one of the most popular and recognizable contemporary brass quintets. The brass quintet has accrued a sizable amount of literature for an ensemble that

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1248-452: The viola and Ewald the cello. As well as providing opportunities for music making, these gatherings allowed Belaïev to audition potential publications and it is almost certain that it was for performance by, and amongst his friends and musical contemporaries, that Ewald’s four quintets were written. For many years Ewald’s four quintets (written 1888–1912) were considered to be the first original pieces composed specifically for an ensemble which

1287-577: Was a Russian engineer, architect, and composer of music, mainly for conical brass instruments. Victor Ewald was born in Saint Petersburg and died in Leningrad . Ewald was a professor of Civil Engineering in St. Petersburg, and was also the cellist with the Beliaeff Quartet for sixteen years. This quartet was the most influential ensemble in St. Petersburg in the late 19th century, introducing much of

1326-498: Was only firmly established halfway through the 20th century. Notable contributions to the literature include many commissions by modern ensembles such as the American Brass Quintet and transcriptions by other ensembles such as the Canadian Brass . More specifically, Dr. Arthur Frackenpohl wrote many arrangements and transcriptions for the Canadian Brass for over 20 years and played a pivotal role in producing repertoire not only for

1365-425: Was provided by what became known as the ‘Friday Evenings’ - weekly soirées for amateur performers and composers at the house of Mitrofan Petrovich Belaïev (timber merchant), which were initiated in 1888 and continued unbroken until his death in 1904. Belaïev’s importance in the development of the musical life of Ewald and all the other Friday Evening participants was considerable and went far beyond merely providing

1404-426: Was the first brass quintet in the United States to have its members perform with the group full-time. The group frequently performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia from its founding in 1971 until the group disbanded in 1993. However, it was with the founding of Canadian Brass in 1970 that the brass quintet became a popular entertainment attraction in the chamber music world. Canadian Brass established both

1443-471: Was the only one published (by Edition Belaïeff in 1912) during his lifetime. The discovery of the other three works was due to the research of André M. Smith (a musicologist and former bass trombonist at the Metropolitan Opera , New York), who was given the manuscripts by Ewald’s son-in-law, Yevgeny Gippius in 1964. A further nine years of investigation was necessary to authenticate the manuscripts, before

1482-443: Was to remain throughout his life) one of the most active and versatile members of a remarkable circle of dilettante musicians. This group, whilst all being amateur in the strict sense of the word, made, with the influence of a shared interest in indigenous folksong, a significant contribution to the development of a distinctive Russian national musical style which, for the majority of the 19th century had been almost entirely submerged by

1521-516: Was written in the mid to late 1800s and coincided with the invention of brass instruments that could play chromatically . The Distin family formed one of the first brass quintets in 1833, touring Europe and the United States to promote a new family of brass instruments called saxhorns . French composer Jean-François Bellon and Russian composer Victor Ewald , led the development of brass chamber music in Paris and Russia during this period. Bellon published

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