Janissary Band

Stanley Leonard

General Info

Year: 2011
Duration: c. 8:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: C. Alan Publications
Cost: Score and Parts - $69.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Player 1 (Crescent I, Glockenspiel, Triangle, Tambourine)
Player 2 (Crescent II, Xylophone, Triangle, Tambourine)
Player 3 (Crescent III, Vibraphone, Triangle, Tambourine)
Player 4 (Crescent IV, Chimes, Triangle, Tambourine)
Player 5 (Nakarre I [2 high tom-toms], 4 Temple Blocks, Triangle)
Player 6 (Nakarre II, 4 Temple Blocks, Triangle)
Player 7 (Nakarre III, 4 Temple Blocks, Triangle)
Player 8 (Duval I [2 low tom-toms], 3 Brake Drums, Triangle)
Player 9 (Duval II, 3 Brake Drums, Triangle)
Player 10 (Duval III, 3 Brake Drums, Triangle)
Player 11 (Zil I [crash cymbals], Triangle)
Player 12 (Zil II, Triangle)
Player 13 (Large Tam-Tam, Large Bass Drum)
Player 14 (Kos [4 kettledrums])

Program Notes

Janissary Band is imagined music for percussion patterned after the music and rhythms played by a Turkish Mehter Band. The Mehter Band was established in 1299 during the reign of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey; it was part of the standing corps of soldiers, originally archers, called Janissaries. In its earliest days the Mehter Band was designed to unnerve the enemy with the sound of its drums, cymbals and horns. It also provided ceremonial grandeur for military leaders. The bands have been disbanded and reformed throughout history; the most recent reformation occurred in 1952. The traditions of the music proclaim the unity, power and majesty of the state. A Mehter Band performs at the Military Museum in Istanbul keeping this musical tradition alive today.

The sounds of percussion instruments in the Janissary band have had a unique influence on Western music, particularly music of Viennese composers. Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn were fascinated by Turkish percussion and utilized their exotic military sounds in theatrical and symphonic works. Although the fascination was a passing fancy, it affected the makeup of the Western orchestra by establishing percussion instruments of Turkish origin (bass drum, triangle, cymbals, bells) as permanent members of the ensemble. It is hard to imagine an orchestra today without them. Mehter Bands also have wind instruments. In Janissary Band the keyboard percussion assume the melodic responsibility of the wind instruments.

Janissary Band begins with the solemn beat of the Kos or kettledrums and the jingling bells of Crescents. The Crescent, a pole with a variety of small bells attached, is one of the unique percussion instruments of the Mehter Band. The player shakes the Crescent in rhythm to the music. Nakkare and Duval (high sounding and low sounding drums) players assemble along with the cymbals and bass drum and the performance begins. All of the rhythms and melodies of this first section are taken from authentic Mehter Band music. The second section is a fast variation introduced by the kettledrums or timpani, now released from the two-note pattern of the opening bars. Brake drums and temple blocks, producing sounds of the modern world and the orient, play hints of the melody. The tambourines, also Turkish percussion, join the group. The music stops and there is a short recitative by the timpani imitating the chanting that often occurs in traditional Mehter Band performance. The music of the opening section is then stated in slow 7/8 time and rushes to the end. You may hear the firing of some rifles at the close.

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

Alleluia - Timpani; Organ
Antiphonies for Two Percussion Quartets - Percussion Octet
Beachwalk - Percussion Quintet
Canticle - Timpani
Choirs - Multiple Percussion
Circus - Percussion Quintet
Closing Piece - Percussion Quintet
Concertino (Leonard) - Timpani
Concertino (Leonard) - Percussion Septet; Timpani Solo
Contemporary Album for the Snare Drum - Snare Drum
Contemporary Album for the Snare Drum - Percussion Duo
Continuum - Percussion Duo
Cycle for Percussion - Percussion Quartet
Dance Suite (Leonard) - Percussion Quartet
Doubles (Leonard) - Timpani
Drum Tune - Percussion Quartet
Duales - Percussion Duo
Duet No. 1 for Two Timpanists - Percussion Duo
Duet No. 2 for Two Timpanists - Percussion Duo
Duetto Concertino - Percussion Solo; French Horn
Duo for Two Timpanists - Percussion Duo
Echoes of Eight - Timpani
Echoes of Nine - Timpani
Echoes of Seven - Timpani
Epigram - Timpani
Evolutions - Percussion Nonet
Ex Machina - Percussion Octet
Fanfare and Allegro for Timpani and Trumpet - Timpani; Trumpet
Fanfare, Meditation, and Dance - Percussion Octet
Fantasia on Luther's Hymn - Timpani; Organ
Forms - Timpani
Four Images - Percussion Sextet
Genesis - Percussion Quintet
Good Christian Men Rejoice - Percussion (10); Handbell Choir
House music for Percussion - Percussion Quartet
Hurricane - Percussion (14)
Impressions - Percussion Trio
Incidental Music - Percussion Quintet
Janissary Band - Percussion (14)
Madras - Timpani
March and Scherzo for Unaccompanied Kettledrums - Timpani
March for Percussion (Leonard) - Percussion Sextet
Marche - Percussion Sextet
Mirrors - Percussion Sextet
On That Day - Multiple Percussion; Organ
Prelude for Four Marimbas - Percussion Duo
Processional (Leonard) - Percussion Quintet
Promenade - Percussion Quartet
Quarimba - Percussion Sextet
Recitative and Scherzo - Percussion Septet
Recitative and Scherzo - Timpani; Percussion Ensemble
Rise Up O Flame - Percussion Sextet
Sacred Stones - Percussion Septet
Scherzo (Leonard) - Percussion Octet
Serenade (Leonard) - Percussion Quintet
Six Bagatelles - Percussion Octet
Skies - Percussion (10)
Solo Dialogue - Multiple Percussion
Solus - Timpani
Sonnet - Multiple Percussion; Tape
Symphony for Percussion (Leonard) - Percussion Nonet
Telin-ting - Percussion Quartet
Tenere - Percussion Quartet
The Advancing Gong - Percussion Quintet; Tape
The Bells (Leonard) - Percussion Septet
The Earth, Wind, and Fire - Percussion Octet
Three Sketches - Percussion Quartet; Trumpet
Three Spaces - Percussion Trio
Traveling Music (Leonard) - Percussion (10)
Trioso - Percussion Trio
Triptych (Leonard) - Multiple Percussion; Chamber Ensemble
Two Contemporary Scenes - Percussion Trio
Two Meditations - Multiple Percussion
Ubique - Multiple Percussion
Waltz - Percussion Sextet
Winged Chariot - Percussion Quintet
Winter Fantasy - Percussion (10); Handbell Choir
Word Games II - Percussion Quintet
Xylem - Percussion Nonet