Introduction, Elegy and Caprice - Brass Band

COMPOSER  : Morley Calvert

2025 Area Test Piece for Section 1

This work was written by Morley Calvert, the Canadian composer, especially for the first European Brass Band Championships held in 1978.

The piece consists of three contrasting movements. The Introduction opens with a slow, mysterious figure after the first fanfare-like unison notes. This leads to the main section, a quick ‘one-in-a-bar’ movement centred around a persistent figure.

The Elegy opens with an unaccompanied Euphonium solo, which is then passed through to horn, cornet, and basses in the manner of a passacaglia. This is broken and then the movement fragments.

After the tension of the Elegy, the Caprice provides much needed relief: a spritely dance, very rhythmical in character, the theme of which is thrown around the band with great abandon.