An Uncommon Hero
Linda Tutas Haugen
About this work:
An Uncommon Hero was commissioned by the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and premiered by “Symphony “ on April 20, 2006, at the MENC National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The piece is written in the style of a concert overture, featuring the different sections of the orchestra throughout the composition.
“When I was thinking about what I would write for the excellent Symphony musicians, I thought about how I had been given the gift of music from my parents. I remembered how my father in particular, drove me to every piano and violin lesson from the time I was six years old, and waited patiently. Without his commitment of time, money, and encouragement, I would not be doing what I am today, working in the art form I love.
I decided to dedicate this composition to my father, and to use his name, Earl Henry Tutas, with musical pitches assigned to each letter of the alphabet, as the basis for themes and motives for the piece. I then used transpositions, inversions, retrogrades, and octave displacements of these themes and motives to craft the structure.
The gift of music has also been given to these wonderful musicians by parents, teachers, and other special people in their lives. I asked them to think about these people as they perform this piece, because in the composing and performing of music, we pass this gift on to others.”
World premiere: Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (MN), April 20, 2006, MENC National Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah
Publisher: Ephraim Bay Publishing Company
Version: Symphonic Version
Year composed: 2006
Duration: 00:08:30
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Standard Orchestra
Instrumentation: 1 Piccolo, 2 Flute, 2 Oboe, 2 Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 4 Horn in F, 3 Trumpet, 3 Trombone, 1 Tuba, 1 Timpani, 3 Percussion (General), 1 Strings (General)
Instrumentation notes: 1.2.2.2.2-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(3): BD/SD/claves/chimes(tubularbells)/cyms/glsp/mar/vib/
suspcym/tamb/tam(A)/tgl/tom/wdbl-strings