My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose (Band Gr. 3.5)

Based on a Scottish folk melody, Michael Brand's idyllic yet dramatic My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose is a great fit for any concert!

Genre: Band | # of Players: Standard
Level: 3.5 | Duration: 3:30

Instrumentation
Flute 1
Flute 2
Oboe (opt.)
Bassoon
Clarinet 1
Clarinet 2
Clarinet 3
Bass Clarinet (opt.)
Alto Saxophone 1
Alto Saxophone 2 (opt.)
Tenor Saxophone (opt.)
Baritone Saxophone (opt.)

Trumpet 1
Trumpet 2
Trumpet 3
F Horn 1
F Horn 2
Trombone 1
Trombone 2 (opt.)
Euphonium
TC Baritone
Tuba

Timpani (3 drums)
Percussion 1 (Glockenspiel, opt. Vibraphone)
Percussion 2 [2 players] (Snare Drum, Suspended Cymbal)

Program Notes

According to the British Library, the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) contributed many songs to James Johnson’s The Scots Musical Museum, a set of six volumes compiling folk music both old and new. Burns devoted much time and energy towards the end of his life to preserving folk songs, rather as Cecil Sharpe and others did over 100 years later in England. These folk songs have provided rich resources for composers of band music. The melody of A Red, Red Rose is based on traditional Scottish sources but Burns also provided a poem for the song. His evocative original verses are preserved in the Scottish Poetry Library:

O my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair are thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my Dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve!
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!