Breakthrough

A powerful and thematic work, Breakthrough was inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall. The music composition utilizes brief fragments of the East and West German National Anthems for much of the work's nucleus. Also included as a motive for the work is the opening nine notes of the "Joyful, Joyful" theme from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which has particular significance in Germany's celebration of the reunification.

Genre: Band | # of Players: Standard
Level: 4 | Duration: 8:00

Instrumentation
Piccolo
Flute 1/2
Oboe 1/2
Bassoon 1/2
Bb Clarinet 1
Bb Clarinet 2
Bb Clarinet 3
Bass Clarinet
Alto Saxophone 1/2
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone

Bb Trumpet 1
Bb Trumpet 2
Bb Trumpet 3
Horn 1/2
Horn 3/4
Trombone 1, 2, 3
Baritone
Tuba

Timpani (4 drums)
Percussion 1 (snare drum, bass drum)
Percussion 2 (2 suspended cymbals, tam-tam, crash cymbals, slap stick, temple blocks, triangle, finger cymbals)
Percussion 3 (4 tom-toms, vibraslap, xylophone, chimes, bells)

Program Notes
The quote, "The Iron Curtain was no more, and the reunification of the divided Germany ensued," has provided the inspiration for the sculpture Breakthrough as well as the music composition bearing the same name. Commissioned by the Albemarle County High School Honors Band in Charlottesville, Virginia, Breakthrough was completed in December, 1994, and was premiered in January of 1995.

The sculpture, Breakthrough, by Edwina Sandys (a grandchild of the late Winston Churchill) was created using eight sections of the Berlin Wall. On one side, the Wall is covered with graffiti illustrating the West Germans’ attitude towards the Soviet grip on East Germany. The other side, which faced East Germany, is bare of any graffiti. The sculpture has two abstracted figures of humans cut out of eight sections emphasizing that the wall is no longer a barrier to the people it once separated.

The music composition, Breakthrough, utilizes brief fragments of the East and West German National Anthems for much of the work's nucleus. Also included as a motive for the work is the opening nine notes of the "Joyful, Joyful" theme from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which has particular significance in Germany's celebration of the reunification. The twelve strokes of the clock tower heard midway through the work signify the stroke of midnight on November 9, 1989, the night the Wall would come down and the peoples of Germany reunified.

- Roger Cichy