Toccata for Band
Link to performance no longer available
The Toccata for Band was completed in February of 2003 and is dedicated to the Tremper High School Symphonic Winds of Kenosha, Wisconsin and their dedicated director, Mr. Louis J. Covelli.
Originally composed as an organ toccata (serving as the central movement of my Old Church Music for organ), this version for band has its formal basis in a keyboard toccata by the 17th century German composer Matthias Weckman, whose dates are approximately 1616-1674. It has been supplemented by the addition of a Song in C Minor (expanded) by the 21st century Wisconsin composer Aaron Krerowicz, a student at Tremper High School and a member of the Tremper Symphonic Winds.
A toccata is a sectional piece, like the fantasia or canzona, which originated in renaissance Italy. Its popularity spread throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, largely due to the opportunities it afforded virtuoso lutenists and keyboard players to "show off" for their patrons and listeners. Such pieces are usually full of rapid passagework, rich harmonies, and stylistic contrast, including alternation between slower improvisatory sections and quicker dance-like passages. To achieve such a contrast, I have used Aaron's Song as the third section of the piece. Aaron's music is heard in measures 23-38, while the remainder of the piece follows the outlines of the Weckmann original, freely adapted, with many of the harmonies altered.
I am deeply grateful to the Tremper High School musicians for the work they have done on behalf of my music, and, especially, to Aaron Krerowicz for his creation of the Song in C Minor (expanded) and his generosity in allowing his music to be included in this Toccata for Band.
- Timothy Broege
February 27, 2003
