Goodbye to Romance

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National Chamber Winds

The National Chamber Winds ensemble, led by Dr. Robert Ambrose

The National Chamber Winds present, “Goodbye to Romance,” the opening concert of their 2019/2020 season. The Romantic period was characterized by a search for musical sublimity and the exploration of unique instrument combinations. Increasingly, new, talented composers took up the charge to write for small wind band and the result was an extraordinary number of outstanding compositions written for various combinations of wind instruments. The three works on this concert were composed near the end of the Romantic period, thus the program’s title.

The program opens with Sir Hubert Parry’s Nonet in B Flat Major. A failed insurance worker, Parry established himself in music primarily as an historian, only later committing himself to composition. His nonet embraces the well-worn traditions of the Romantic period but yearns for new horizons through its instrumentation. Louis Theodore Gouvy was born in France and fumbled through a career in law before turning to composition, quickly becoming popular among musical circles in both France and neighboring Germany. His Octet, Op. 71 is a charming work of much depth that displays the brilliant colors of the small wind band. The program concludes with Carl Reinecke’s Octet for Winds in B-flat, Op. 216. Reinecke was born in Germany and was a prolific educator, composer, and piano performer.

Please join us as we explore three outstanding chamber wind works that bid a "Goodbye to Romance."