Alfred Publishing Blue Diamond Jubilee - Meyer - String Orchestra - Gr. 3

Composer: Richard Meyer
Format: Score and Parts
Instrumentation: String Orchestra
Grade: 3

This concert overture is full of teaching opportunities and challenges for all of your students and is the perfect opener or closer for any occasion. Written in ABA form (fast-slow-fast), it is filled with memorable melodies, sumptuous harmonies, and mature orchestrations that give every section a chance to shine.

The opening energetic "A" section features a playful ostinato figure constantly chugging along in support of an expansive, lyrical melody played above it. A gladiator-inspired theme makes a brief appearance as a nod to the commissioning high school's Trojan mascot. The "B" section, in slow 6/8, introduces a graceful minor-keyed theme that is derived from the opening notes of the initial main theme. After the second "A" section, a regal coda, marked "Maestoso," ends the piece with a beautifully sonorous treatment of the slow minor theme now played in a major key.