McHenry Wind Ensemble - American Stories

Spiritual Symphony (2026) is a collection of settings of African American spirituals for wind band. Together, this compilation synthesizes into a large work that engages with symphonic form. The first movement is primarily based on Follow the Drinking Gourd. Filled with many inferences and descriptions, there is belief that the song may have been used as directions for slaves escaping along the Underground Railroad. The lore around this song also includes Peg Leg Joe as the “old man” referenced in the lyrics “comin’ just to carry you to freedom”. Joe was believed to have been a figure who would travel to plantations to deliver the “instructions”. This work uses the melody from the chorus of the song as a strophic theme that gradually intensifies and recedes like Peg Leg Joe coming to teach you how to escape and then disappearing in the dead of night. Wade in the Water, another spiritual believed to be used for a similar purpose, is also interwoven throughout this movement. -Program Note by Composer Benjamin Horne (1995-) is a conductor, educator, and composer. He currently serves as Visiting Assistant Director of Bands at the University of Florida where he assists in directing the Gator Marching Band, coordinates the athletic pep bands, directs the Concert Band, and teaches undergraduate conducting. Horne has served as a guest conductor and clinician for many diverse ensembles and mediums across the United States. Horne began his teaching career as a middle school band director in Georgia. He has worked with numerous athletic bands at both the high school and collegiate levels including the Sacramento Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps. -Bio adapted from Composer Of Sailors and Whales (Five Scenes from Melville) (1989) is a five-movement work based on scenes from Herman Melville's Moby Dick. It was commissioned by and is dedicated to the California Band Directors Association, Inc., and was premiered in February 1990 by the California All-State Band, conducted by the composer. The work is sub-dedicated to Robert Lanon White, Commander USN (Ret.), who went to sea as a simple sailor. The composer provided these notes for each movement: I. Ishmael - "I go to sea as a simple sailor." A philosophical young schoolmaster and sometime sailor who seeks the sea when he becomes restless, gloomy, and soured on the world. The protagonist. II. Queequeg - "It was quite plain that he must be some abominable savage, but Queequeg was a creature in the transitory state -- neither caterpillar nor butterfly." A veteran harpooner, a tattooed cannibal from Kokovoko, an uncharted South Seas island. III. Father Mapple - "This ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a bell in a ship that is foundering at sea in a fog -- in such tones he commenced reading the following hymn; but changing his manner towards the concluding stanzas, burst forth with a pealing exultation and joy." The ribs and terrors in the whale arched over me a dismal gloom While all God's sunlit waves rolled by, and lift me lower down to doom. In black distress I called my God when I could scarce believe Him mine, He bowed His ear to my complaint, no more the whale did me confine. My songs forever shall record that terrible, that joyful hour, I give the glory to my God, His all the mercy and the power. A former whaler, now the minister at the Whaleman's Chapel in New Bedford. IV. Ahab - "So powerfully did the whole grim aspect of Ahab affect me that for the first few moments I hardly noted the barbaric white leg upon which he partly stood." The proud, defiant, megalomaniacal captain of the Pequod. V. The White Whale - "Moby Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the angels that fell from heaven. The birds! - the birds! They mark the spot ... The whale, the whale! Up helm, up helm! Oh, all ye sweet powers of air, now hug me close ... He turns to meet us ... My God, stand by me now!” A giant albino sperm whale that has become a legend among whalers. -Program Note from Score with additions adapted from EBSCO William Francis McBeth (1933-2012) was a world-renowned composer and conductor. He was the Trustees’ Distinguished University Professor and resident composer at Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) in Arkadelphia (Clark County), where he served as chairman of the Department of Music Theory and Composition. The governor appointed him composer laureate of Arkansas in 1975. McBeth’s compositions include works for all media, but was influential in the development of the literature for wind symphony. Most of McBeth’s music and books were published by Southern Music Company of San Antonio, Texas. His publications include works for all media: piano, choral, chamber, orchestra, and band. -Bio adapted from The Encyclopedia of Arkansas