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Walpurgisnacht by Keith O. Edwards [Email]
Genre: Classical

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Attribution
SONG STATS:
Hits: 466
Comments: 5
Votes: 5
Plays: 89
Last Played: Sep 25, 2008 - 07:20:51 PM
Downloads: 41
Fans: 2
Uploaded: Sep 26, 2007 - 08:46:54 PM
Last Updated: Oct 04, 2007 - 11:47:06 PM
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Keywords:
European (6), witch (4), fairies (7), trolls (2), revelry (1), Halloween (32), holiday (70), bonfire (2)
Description:
This year, my annual Halloween piece refers back to a similar holiday observed in Europe. Walpurgisnacht is celebrated on the night of 30 April – just before the arrival of Spring on May Day. This festival certainly has roots in ancient pagan traditions, but as with all the other pagan holidays, the Christians usurped it and turned it into their own holiday – the celebration of Saint Walpurga, a niece of St. Boniface.

The traditional story of Walpurgisnacht is that witches meet on the Brocken, a specific area of the Harz mountains, for a night of revelry and cavorting with other spirits and specters.

Today, Walpurgisnacht is often a night of bonfires and vandalism – similar to Devil's Night in Detroit.

The sections of my music are titled as follows:

(time)
0:09 The Procession at Twilight Carrying the Holy Relics of St. Walpurga.
St. Walpurga, the former abbess of Heidenheim, is the patron saint for protection against witchcraft.

2:45 The Violent March of the Trolls

3:35 The Descent from the Brocken
The Brocken is the highest peak in the Hartz Mountains, and the witches are said to gather there on Walpurgisnacht.

4:00 Entrance of the Goat People

5:00 Minuet of the Fairies and Spirits of the Air

6:10The Heaven Display an Array of Stars, all Twinkling With Love

8:43 Danse Générale

10:45St. Walpurga Smiles Down Upon the Orgy from Heaven Above


The sheet music for this piece is available –both the score and parts for every know wind instrument– for a mere $20 at the The Military Musician store. Tell a school or community band director about it! It's not that difficult and it's fun to play!
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Walpurgisnacht &mdash 09/27/07 - 06:35:14 AM
Incredible work indeed , great orchestration
show alot of amazing scenaries here ,you gave
this Halloween just a new taste a new space
and scene .great drama thank you for sharing this
here with us ..!

[ Reply to This ]
harz &mdash 09/27/07 - 08:47:42 AM
we took a walk in the harz a couple of years ago in a deep forest. definitely witch country. I had visions of witch fear through the trees; like being hunted. funny is how a lot of people see that. you don't want to mess with that energy. it will take you down. it is amazing to me how lightly people treat the substantial. oh well.

interesting piece.

[ Reply to This ]
interesting piece of program music - &mdash 09/28/07 - 09:25:58 PM
I got the feeling of music being played under a silent movie. I think your reeds had kind of a theater organ sound, which brought that out for me. Excellent contrasts, and a well-timed sense of anticipation. The ending was great!

Have you ever had this played by a live band?

[ Reply to This ]
I Hate Sound Libraries &mdash 10/11/07 - 10:58:09 PM
Thanx, Kristine. I used the Garritan Personal Orchestra sounds, and I don't like them either. When I listen to this piece myself, I instead choose a recording made from a mix of my beloved old MIDI fonts, which give me more musical kick despite that they may not sound perfectly "authentic" (whatever that means). But people here don't like MIDI sounds, so here you are.

Sadly, not only has the piece never been played, it hasn't even sold. But two trite and mediocre pieces I wrote after it this summer have sold. The lesson? Always go for the lowest common denominator. No one ever went broke writing dumb, unoriginal music.

Most people are unaware of the wealth of sound effects (such as the thunder at the end of my piece) that they already have installed on their Mac. To find these sound files, Control click on the iMovie icon in your Applications folder. A menu will appear and in it, select Show Package Contents. It helps if you are in Column view, so scroll about 55% of the way down to the Sound Effects folder. In it, you will find one or two folders of nifty sound effects that can be imported into GarbageBand. (This is true of iMovie 6 and earlier, but I don't know about the new version 08. I hear they cut a lot out of it.)

[ Reply to This ]
Unique &mdash 09/29/07 - 09:56:16 PM
I enjoyed this one of a kind production. The ending is well worth it. What instrument are you using? There are some very interesting tonalities.

Thanks
Bill

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