Nothing is more beautiful than when the audience gets to hear exciting stories. For example those from the war between the Achaeans and the Trojans. The legendary and most famous symbol is certainly the Trojan Horse, built by the Achaeans to enter and destroy the city of Troya by deception. The story, or legend, about this horse has fascinated thousands of generations and therefore deserves to be told musically.
Or the story about Excalibur, the sword of the mythical King Arthur. The legendary magician Merlin had driven the sword Caliburn (Excalibur) through a stone or anvil. It was said that only the true future ruler could pull it out again. After numerous well-known knights and noblemen had failed in this task, Artus, the son of the English great King Uther Pendragon, managed to free the sword effortlessly, which made him the rightful king. The story takes many tragic turns and is full of tension until the end.
Then there is the travelogue of Marco Polo, born in Venice in 1254, son of a Venetian merchant family. In 1271, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Matteo, he set off for faraway China to the court of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. The long journey took three and a half years and the Polos crossed Turkey, Central Asia, the Pamir and the Gobi Desert. The young Marco’s intelligence and curiosity about customs and new languages aroused the emperor’s interest, so that he wanted to keep him at court and appoint him ambassador. This office led Marco to South China, which had just been conquered, and to other parts of South Asia. Here, too, the story takes many twists and turns and is worth interpreting musically.
Together with solo works, popular music, arrangements of classical works, Christmas music and music for church and festive occasions, the collection “Scomegna: New editions 2019 for concert band” contains many other exciting stories.
