Nightmare
Variations
On the Holst Suites
(for Wind Ensemble, Grade 5)
*Currently
under consortium premiere*: pre-ordered scores and parts will be mailed
out on June 1, 2025
"Nightmare Variations” was composed in 2024 for a consortium of 20
ensembles led
by Michael Golemo, Director of Bands at Iowa State University. The
motivic material
of this composition was derived from Gustav Holst’s First Suite in Eb
for Military Band
and Second Suite in F for Military Band.
The general mood of “Nightmare Variations”
is eerie, psychedelic, spooky, exciting, dreamlike, and surreal.
The Holst Suites are an iconic and thoroughly inescapable component of
the band repertoire.
They were a constant presence throughout my musical education:
performed by ensembles during
my time in high school, my undergraduate, my master’s, and my doctoral
degrees. I learned
about the suites' historical significance in a wind repertoire course
and studied the First Suite
in depth (and conducted the second movement) as part of a conducting
course. Perhaps more
than any other composition, the Holst Suites are deeply woven within
the fabric of the band world.
Due to their omnipresence, the Suites are fantastic source material for
a theme and variations.
Band directors, performers, and many audience members will likely be
deeply familiar with not
only the primary themes, but also many of the more complex and nuanced
aspects such as
countermelodies, rhythmic motifs, accompaniment patterns, and textures.
I tried to write “Nightmare Variations” in such a way that people who
are unfamiliar with the Holst Suites
will be able to follow along and enjoy it, but there are also
subtleties and inside jokes
that might make us band folks suppress a giggle or two.
“Nightmare Variations” begins exactly the same as Holst’s First Suite,
but it doesn’t take long
to feel suddenly cold and foreboding. The composition drifts from
variation to variation, as
Holst’s themes travel through an assortment of nightmarish
environments, moods,
quotations, and references, eventually culminating in a thrilling
ending.
Premiere of "Nightmare Variations" by Iowa State Wind Ensemble
conducted by Michael Golemo:
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