ORIGINAL VERSION DETAILS

COMMISSIONED BY: a consortium of wind ensembles as part of a joint consortium with composers Caleb Hammer and Josh Trentadue
WORLD PREMIERE: December 20, 2018 | Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Wind Symphony (Alex Kaminsky, director) | 2018 Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference | McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois

CONSORTIUM MEMBERS

Angola High School (Angola, IN) | Andrew Keiser
Cele Middle School (Austin, TX) | Cathy Humphrey
Elkhart Central High School Bands (Elkhart, IN) | David Elliott
Fenton High School (Fenton, MI) | Andrew David Perkins
Grand Ledge High School (Grand Ledge, MI) | John Szczerowski
Hartland Middle & High School Bands (Hartland, MI) | Joe Guarr
Hendersonville High School Bands (Hendersonville, TN) | Jeffrey Phillips
Loveland High School (Loveland, CO) | Kyle Freesen
Manteno Middle School & High School (Manteno, IL) | Daniel Tripp
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, FL) | Alex Kaminsky
Onsby C. Rose
O'Shae Best
Palo Alto Middle School Wind Ensemble, (Killeen, TX) | Eric Skinner
Pennfield School Bands (Battle Creek, MI) | Blake Driver
Peotone High School Bands (Peotone, IL) | Adam Rusek
Texas Woman's University Bands (Denton, TX) | Carter Biggers
United Township High School (East Moline, IL) | Michael Wawrzynski
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI) | Michael S. Butler
Westwood High School Bands (Austin, TX) | Thomas Turpin
Williamsburg High School (Williamsburg, OH) | Dustin Goes
Woodbridge Township School Bands (Woodbridge, NJ) | Jason Kohn

O rose of May is a musical response to "Hamlet", the world famous and deeply influential play by William Shakespeare. The work focuses on the character arc of Ophelia, Hamlet’s would-be love interest, and her internal struggle amongst the external conflict of the play. In the play’s early stages, Ophelia is torn by her love for Hamlet - her brother, Laertes, and her father, Polonius, urge her not to pursue him further, and Hamlet himself begins acting strangely towards her. She is pushed further and further by Hamlet’s confusing and seemingly insane actions until he kills Polonius. Overcome with grief, Ophelia is driven mad, and in her last appearances in the play she is hysterical, singing songs and sharing flowers with other characters. Before it is announced that she has died (likely by suicide), Laertes sees her in this state and calls to her, saying:

“O rose of May,

Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia!

O heavens, is ’t possible a young maid’s wits

Should be as mortal as an old man’s life?”

Ophelia is depicted as singing a solitary, peaceful song in the opening of the work. After this introduction, an agitated melody takes over, representative of the conflict between the characters of the play. Ophelia’s song reappears - but every time it is more and more twisted. A brief respite suggests relief from the conflict, but the song is unable to begin again. It bends to the will of the conflict, the voices of the surrounding characters overpower her, and as Ophelia descends into madness, her song becomes a hysterical celebration. The final bars are a wild chromatic descent into the last note of the work- a reflection on Ophelia’s final moments, falling from her tree branch into the brook in which she drowns.

-program notes by Harrison J. Collins
—Please credit Harrison J. Collins when reproducing these program notes in excerpts or in full. Additionally, in the title, the word “rose” is intentionally lowercased because the title is a direct quote from the text of Hamlet. When writing, printing, or otherwise reproducing the title of this piece (including at any point the title is mentioned in these program notes), the composer requests that the word “rose” remain lowercased as presented on this page and within the score.