A variation on a traditional fanfare; the piece begins with longing, but has a sense of steady perseverance that builds throughout. The musical affect compares to a journey up a mountain, where the final victory of having reached the ascent is tangible.
Concert Band | Grade 3 | 4:30
Performance materials available through:
Commissioned by Charlotte Catholic High School
Jacob Bohan, conductor
About the piece
The Triumph of Hope was commissioned by the Charlotte Catholic High School Band to celebrate both Dr. Stanley Michalski and their new performing arts center. As Coordinator of Instrumental Music for the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools district, Dr. Michalski built up the MACS band program and had long championed a new facility for its students. After more than twenty years of advocacy, the MACS Fine Arts Center was approved and built, and now stands ready to welcome students and community members of all artistic disciplines. Dr. Michalski’s time at Charlotte Catholic comes after a long and distinguished tenure as Director of Bands at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, and the MACS Fine Arts Center is an exclamation point on his tremendous career in music education.
Musically speaking, the piece is darker than a traditional fanfare, but it is very much triumphant in the end! I wanted to convey a sense of the long yearning for the new building and the struggles that had to be overcome to get there. The opening ostinato (which becomes the first four notes of the main theme) is a musical cypher using a hybrid of letter names (A, B, C, etc.) and fixed-do solfege (do = C, re = D, mi = E, etc.). When transposed into the trumpets or other B-flat instruments, it reads “Mi-C-H-A”, in honor of Dr. Michalski.
In a broader sense, the piece honors all who cling to hope through trying and tiring situations. Mental imagery could include a marathon runner finishing first and getting a crown of laurels, a scientist making a long-awaited breakthrough after years of experiment and study, or an explorer undertaking a perilous climb up a mountain to finally gain the summit. Our individual struggles may be visible to others or exclusively internal; regardless, hope is what sustains all of us through life’s difficulties. A sense of confidence builds throughout the piece as obstacles are overcome, resulting in the final victory.
The Triumph of Hope was premiered on October 13th, 2022 by the Charlotte Catholic Symphonic Band, Jacob Bohan conducting. Charlotte Catholic High School also took the piece on tour to Ireland the following spring, which included a performance in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin on March 16th, 2023.
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“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive
the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” James 1:12 (public domain translation)
Paul Cravens 