Dance of the Comedians (Smetana)

The Dance of the Comedians, through its unrelenting exuberance and sheer energy, exudes fun and vigor in abundance. In this arrangement, nimble fingers and agile tongues are a prime requisite!

Genre: Band | # of Players: Standard
Level: 4.5 | Duration: 6:45

Instrumentation
Piccolo
1st Flute
2nd Flute
1st Oboe
2nd Oboe
Eb Clarinet
1st Bb Clarinet
2nd Bb Clarinet
3rd Bb Clarinet
Eb Alto Clarinet*
Bb Bass Clarinet
1st Bassoon
2nd Bassoon
1st Eb Alto Saxophone
2nd Eb Alto Saxophone
Bb Tenor Saxophone
Eb Baritone Saxophone*

1st Cornet
2nd Cornet
3rd Cornet
1st Bb Trumpet
2nd Bb Trumpet
1st F Horn
2nd F Horn
3rd F Horn
4th F Horn
1st Trombone
2nd Trombone
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
(TC Baritone)
Tuba

String Bass*

Timpani
Percussion 1 (triangle, tambourine)
Percussion 2 [2 players] (cymbal, bass drum)

Parts marked with an asterisk (*) are NOT ESSENTIAL, although their presence will obviously enable a fuller realization of the composer's intentions to be achieved.

Program Notes
As a boy of 5, the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana was able to take part in a performance of a Haydn Quartet; a year later he made his public debut as a pianist. Whilst still at school this highly talented boy wrote in his diary, "I wish to become a Mozart in composition and a Liszt in technique."

In later life his music became nationalistic and included eight patriotic operas of which "The Bartered Bride," first performed in Prague in 1866, is the best known. In the words of the Czech scholar and musicologist Professor Zdenck Nejedly, Smetana's music for "The Bartered Bride" was able to "delight the world with such warm, frank and genial humour."

The Dance of the Comedians, through its unrelenting exuberance and sheer energy, exudes fun and vigor in abundance. In this arrangement, nimble fingers and agile tongues are a prime requisite!