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A H OFFNUNG F ANFARE :N O J OKE BY J AMES O LCOTT March 2014 • Page 41© 2014 International Trumpet Guild March 2014 / ITG Journal 41 alcolm Arnold composed A Hoffnung Fan- farein 1960for a memorial service in honor of Gerard Hoffnung, a much beloved British humorist who had died of a cerebral hemorrhage the year before. The piece is unique in several re spects, not the least of which are the forces for which it calls—36herald trumpets. To this writer’s knowledge, there are no other original works for trumpets alone by a major composer that match or ex - ceed this number. The circumstances sur- rounding the work are also unique. From creation to performance to print to its special place in trumpetdom, the fanfare has a fascinating history. Background Gerard Hoffnung (1925 – 1959) was a very popular British humorist and a man of “considerable achievements as— amongst other things—a cartoonist, tuba player, impresario, broadcaster, and public speaker much sought after by the Oxford and Cambridge Unions.”1He is best known for two activities, however. His music-based cartoons have been a sta- ple of inside-the-profession humor since their first appearance in 1955in Punch, the humorous British weekly magazine, and for his highly successful—and very funny—music festivals held at the Royal Festival Hall in London. These concerts fea- tured contributions from distinguished serious musicians. Compositions commissioned for the festivals included Mal- colm Arnold’s A Grand, Grand Overture,Op. 57, which was dedicated to US President Herbert Hoover and was scored for three vacuum cleaners and floor polisher, 2 and Franz Reizen- stein’s Concerto Populare,described as “The Piano Concerto to end all Piano Concertos.”3 Upon Hoffnung’s death, his friends and family decided to produce a memorial concert in his honor. It was not to be an or dinary memorial service, how - ever, for, in accordance with Hoffnung’s joie de vivre,this concert too was to be an even - ing of surprise and humor.4 Malcolm Arnold, one of Hoff nung’s like-minded and trusted musical collaborators, was commissioned to write a fanfare to open the event, enti- tled the Vintage Hoffnung Mu - sic Festival. The celebration was set for October 31, 1960, in London’s Royal Festival Hall, the location of the two previous Hoffnung festivals.5 The Work It is unknown whose idea it was to begin the evening with a grand fanfare, but Arnold’s sense of irony was clearly in play. With the evening conceived as a celebration of Hoffnung’s own gift of musical humor, nothing could, it seems, be more appropriate than a fanfare of grandiose proportion. With a performance time of 1 minute and 55seconds, A Hoffnung Fanfareis 58measures long and is a quintessential British fanfare: rousing and rhythmic, with typical harmonies. It is scored for six groups of three B-flat herald trumpets and three bass herald trumpets each, with each assemblage in a dif- ferent position in the auditorium, so as to surround the audi- ence. The groups enter at different times within the work, trading motifs and combining with others to create a truly overwhelming and exhilarating experience. But Arnold, also well aware that the fanfare was heralding the opening of a memorial concert, insured a moment of serious remembrance of Hoffnung through a unique musical gesture: after what is clearly the final chord, the piece continues with eleven beats of rest. “These three meas- ures were to be counted out full value in the performance,” said Arnold in a conversation with this writer in 1990, “creating, for six sec- onds, the decorum and tradition of a memori- al service, namely a moment of silence.” The First Performance The work was listed in the program simply as Fanfare;6and, true to the intended humor of the evening,7John Amis’s program notes intro- duced the work in the following manner: “The composer was out walking one day on Richmond Hill and he stopped for a while on the brow and started to read from a Bowdlerized Shakespeare. He was so taken with the line: “She hath played A H OFFNUNG F ANFARE :N O J OKE BY J AMES O LCOTT “The composer was so taken with the line: ‘She hath played the trumpet in my bed’ that he decided that when he had finished writing the tune ‘Colonel Bogey’ he would compose a work based on this poetic phrase from ‘Othello.’”42ITG Journal / January 2014 © 2014 International Trumpet Guild the trumpet in my bed” that he decided that when he had finished writing the tune “Colonel Bogey” he would compose a work based on this poetic phrase from ‘Othello.’ It is scored for solo trumpet (muted).” With the groups interspersed throughout the hall, A Hoff- nung Fanfareopened the concert, performed by students from the Royal Military School of Music under the baton of Lt.Col. David McBain. Trombone and euphonium players played the bass trumpet parts on bass herald trumpets pitched in G and B-flat. Expecting an introspective solo muted trumpet, which would have suited a memorial concert, and getting, instead, a fanfare that “made a thrilling effect simply through the sound of group on brazen group stationed throughout the hall,”8the audience was prepped and primed for the rest of the evening. After the concert, which included works by Francis Baines, Francis Chagrin, and Joseph Horowitz, among others, the parts to the fanfare were given to Annetta Hoffnung, Gerard’s widow, who stored them at her home. The Music and Subsequent Publication The parts were written in ink on thin manuscript paper and pasted on pieces of cardboard measuring 7.5 inches by 5.25 inches. The first six parts are written in one hand, while the rest are in Arnold’s own manuscript.9Parts one, two, and three of each group are in treble clef and transposed for B-flat trum- pets, while the fourth through sixth parts are written in bass clef in concert pitch. The piece remained unknown and set aside until 1986, when this writer was asked to chair the organization of the Festival of Trumpets Concert at the 1987International Trumpet Guild conference in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The 1986ITG Conference had been held at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where, at the Festival of Trumpets, several of Arnold’s fanfares for six trumpets were performed. Hop ing to bring these fanfares to the 1987conference, I contacted Mal- colm Arnold’s agent, Georgina Ivor. During our telephone conversation, Ms. Ivor mentioned A Hoffnung Fan- fare. Immediately intrigued—for here was a work of which no one other than those directly involved with the 1960performance had been aware—I asked if it would be possible to send the music to me to determine its pos- sible usage in Kalamazoo. To my amazement and gratitude, Ms. Ivor, in March of 1987, obtained the music from Mrs. Hoffnung and sent not copies, but the original parts them- selves. It did not take long to realize what had been uncovered: a major British fanfare by a major British composer, which called for the largest contingent of trumpets on record. As there was no score in the package from Ms. Ivor, the manuscripts were im mediately photocopied, a full score was created, and the package sent back to her. Aware that it would be un likely that, because of the forces necessary, the piece would get much play, I condensed the work to twelve trumpets, and, with that, premiered the fanfare at a concert given by the Miami University (Ohio) Trumpet En semble on April 9, 1988. In De - Original trumpet parts used at the premiere performance. Note in the second example that fingerings for bass trumpet in G have been added by the performer. Note also that the manuscript, in Malcolm Arnold’s hand, is smeared by condensation indicating music stand rather than lyre use,10and that the page has been pasted over Regimental March Past Quick Steps.11© 2014 International Trumpet Guild January 2014 / ITG Journal 43 Poster for the memorial concert for Gerard Hoffnung.cember of that same year, the original version, using 24 trum- pets and 12trom bones, was given its American premiere at Miami University, conducted by this author. The original work, transcribed for 36B-flat trumpets with optional notes down an octave in seven of the parts, was finally performed for the first time on an ITG Festival of Trumpets Concert in 1989in Santa Barbara, California. It was played by professional performers from around the world, again with this author as conductor. Postlude In January 1990, Malcolm Arnold was artist-in-residence for one week at Miami University. The original version of A Hoff- nung Fanfare,this time with 27 trumpets and 9trombones, was played at the opening concert. Praising the performance, Arnold mentioned that it constituted only the second time he had heard the piece outside of his head.12Later that year, I received permission from the composer to publish my earlier twelve-part arrangement, and, in 2000, to publish the original version.13For the latter, I chose to publish the version used at the 1988ITG Conference. This version has been played at ITG conferences seven times since 1989 (1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2003), and has become a staple at large gath- erings of trumpet players worldwide. A Hoffnung Fanfarehas not been performed with the origi- nal instrumentation since its presentation in Royal Festival Hall and was published by Triplo Press in this form in 2010, on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary.14 About the author: James Olcott is Professor Emeritus of Trumpet at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, an active trumpet performer, and a former president of the International Trumpet Guild. Long a proponent of trumpet ensemble as a composer, arranger, editor, conductor, and pedagogue, he is the founder of Triplo Press, which publishes music for trumpet ensemble and hosts a catalogue of over 130 works for a variety of ensembles, from 3 to 36trumpets. This article has been reproduced with permission and cour- tesy of Philip Biggs Brass Festivals Ltd. To order The Brass Heraldplease call 01223 234090or visit the Herald’swebsite (http://www.thebrassherald.com). Endnotes 1Wikipedia (http://tinyurl.com/itg1403g). Hoffnung’s 44ITG Journal / March 2014 © 2014 International Trumpet Guild Front page of the program for the memorial concert for Gerard Hoffnung.© 2014 International Trumpet Guild March 2014 / ITG Journal 45 monologues—in particular The Bricklayer’s Lament—have become classics of Brit ish humor, as have his comments and performances at his various music festivals. 2Gerard Hoffnung’s widow, Annetta, recalls Arnold and her husband traveling together to the Hoover Showroom in London to find suitable appliances for the overture. She said, “Malcolm took a tuning fork with him and found several sweepers in B-flat to his liking, and was especially taken with a floor polisher in G.” 3Peter Schickele, “Wait Till You Hear Mozart on the Gar- den Hose,” New York Times, 10 March 1968. 4Hoffnung, 15 March 2010. 5The Hoffnung Music Festival Concert, 12 November 1956; and the Hoffnung Interplanetary Music Festival, 21 and 22 November 1958. A third festival, The Hoffnung Astronautical Music Festival, performed on 28 November 1961, was also performed here. 6There is speculation as to why the title A Hoffnung Fan- farewas not used in the program. The most logical—and most likely—reason is supported by an email sent to this writer on 26 May 2010 by Arnold biographer Paul Harris. In it, Harris wrote, “Malcolm was able to write very fast when he wanted to. There are numerous stories; he helped a friend complete a film score overnight once and famously did the entire score for Bridge on the River Kwai in ten days. So, a fanfare could have been dispensed with in thirty minutes easily! He probably hadn’t written [the fanfare] when the programme was being put together.” This is also supported by the fact that the forces listed to play the fanfare include drums, of which there are none in the score. 7“John Amis and Malcolm Arnold worked closely together in producing the Vintage Hoffnung Music Festival, and John certainly knew of Malcolm’s intent to write a mam- moth fanfare for the concert. Everythingwas mammoth with Malcolm.” (Annetta Hoffnung, 27 May 2010). 8Andrew Porter, Financial Times, 1 November 1960. 9Determined upon examination by Malcolm Arnold biog- rapher Paul Harris. 10It is virtually impossible for condensation to drip on the music if the music is above the water key on a trumpet. 11“It is clear that all the original parts were written on thin manuscript paper, rather than stiff cardboard. These ‘flop- py’ parts would have tended to bend over when placed in the instrument lyres; therefore, they would have been stuck onto some disused march-card parts made of card- board. As there were over 200army bandsmen studying at Kneller Hall each year, there would have been plenty of spare march cards available. Also, ‘Regimental March Past Quick Steps’ is not the title of a piece of music in itself; all British Army military band marches had that description at the top of the march card, followed by the actual title of the piece below.” (Major (Retd) R G Swift, LRAM, ARCM, LTCL, psm, Archivist, The Royal Military School of Music, London. 1 June 2010). 12Arnold’s method of composition was to write music away from the piano, using his “inner ear” as his only reference. “The room was bare but for his desk and a piano, which was rarely used. He wrote directly into full score in ink, with a penknife to hand, in case, like a medieval monk, he had to scrape away an error, but he hardly ever did so, because the music was assembled within his mind before he even began to bar the manuscript paper.” Anthony Meredith and Paul Harris, Malcolm Arnold—Rogue Genius (London: Thames/Elkin, 2004), 125. 13Triplo website (http://www.triplo.com). 14Presuming that it would be a rare moment when eighteen bass herald trumpets would be available to present this work, substitutions of trombones or euphoniums are entirely acceptable and suitable.Next >