• William Schuman
  • George Washington Bridge for Concert Band (1950)

  • Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)
  • 2+pic.23+Ebcl+acl+bcl.2asx+tsx+barsx+bsx.2/42.3cnt.31+euph/timp.perc/db
  • 6 min

Programme Note

Premiere:
July 30 1950
Michigan All-State Band
Dale Harris, conductor
Interlochen, MI

Composer Note:
“There are few days in the year when I do not see the George Washington Bridge. I pass it on my way to work as I drive along the Henry Hudson Parkway on the New York shore. Ever since my student days when I watched the progress of its construction, this bridge has had for me an almost human personality, and this personality is astonishingly varied, assuming different moods depending on the time of day or night, the weather, the traffic and, of course, my own mood as I pass by.

“I have walked across it late at night when it was shrouded in fog, and during the brilliant sunshine hours of midday. I have driven over it countless times and passed under it on boats. Coming to New York City by air, sometimes I have been lucky enough to fly right over it. It is difficult to imagine a more gracious welcome or dramatic entry to the great metropolis.”

— William Schuman

Media

American Hymn (arr. for concert band)
Circus Overture (arr. for concert band)

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