Instrument: brass tentet (score and parts)
Grade: conservatoire
Catalogue No: AL006
Philip Heseltine, who composed under the name of Peter Warlock, was a notable critic and authority on Elizabethan music. In the early 1920's he helped translate
"Orchésographie", a 16th century treatise on dancing by Thoinot Arbeau. The book is written in question-and-answer form between the tutor and his pupil, Capriol, and delightfully describes both the practise and etiquette of the art of dancing. Additionally, it contains a number of dance tunes which Heseltine the scholar transcribed into modern notation. This project evidently fired the composer's imagination, for Warlock quickly composed his own 'spiced-up' arrangements of six of the dances for piano duet and subsequently for both string and full orchestra.
This brass transcription has been edited so as to emphasise the different characters of the various dances. In performance these nuances should be brought out strongly. However, crescendi and diminuendi, often marked
'poco', have been added merely to show the direction of phrases and must not be over exaggerated.
