Two Songs Without Words

Gustav Holst

This work bears the designation Opus 22.

General Info

Year: 1906 / 1996
Duration: c. 7:20
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Songs
Publisher: Frank Erickson Publications
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $65.00; (digital) - $65.00 | Score Only (print) - $9.00

Movements

1. Country Song – 3:40
2. Country March – 3:50

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contra-Alto Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion, including:

Bass Drum
Crash Cymbals
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Two Songs Without Words was composed in 1906 and was dedicated to Ralph Vaughan Williams and is similar in style to his two suites for band. The Country Song opens with the principal theme as an unaccompanied clarinet solo, followed by its repetition in the full woodwind section. The main theme returns in a "maestoso" setting before fading into a quite closing. Marching Song is characterized by a distinctive running sixteenth-note figure. The principal melody, first played by the low woodwinds, is punctuated by these same running sixteenth-note fragments. Both themes are again repeated with much variation before the tempo picks up into a short coda-style ending.

- Program Note from publisher

Media

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State Ratings

Alabama: Class A

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Wheaton (Ill.) Municipal Band (Bruce Moss, conductor) – 19 June 2025
Michigan State University (East Lansing) Concert Band (Arris Golden, conductor) - 16 October 2024
Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.) Wind Ensemble (Brian O. Walden, conductor) - 29 October 2021

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Chaconne from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2016)
Fantasia on the "Dargason" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2013)
Intermezzo (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2017)
Jupiter (arr. Barker) (Flex instrumentation) (1916/2020)
Jupiter (arr. Deterling) (Flex instrumentation) (1916/2020)
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (Adaptable Band) (arr. Fisher) (1916/2020)
March (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2010)
March from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2015)
March from Second "Suite in F Major" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1911/2018)
March from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2015)
Mars (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1916/2009)
A Moorside March (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Wright; ed. M. Brand) (1928/2021)
Songs from the "Second Suite" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2012)
Suite from "The Planets" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1916/2018)

All Wind Music

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Brook Green Suite (tr. Thorne) (1933/2013)
Capriccio (tr. Boyd) (1932/1967/1974)
Capriccio (arr. Paul Noble) (1932/1967/2019)
Chaconne from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2016)
Chorale from "Jupiter" (arr. Curnow) (1916/1991)
Chorale from "Jupiter" (arr. Murtha) (1916/2001)
Christmas Day (arr. Beringen) (1910/2010)
Christmas Day (arr. Daehn) (1910/2011)
Christmas Day (arr. Rhoads) (1910/)
Christmas Day (arr. Winkelman) (1910/2017)
Country Song (arr. Klein) (1906)
Dance of the Spirits of Fire (tr. Harpham) (1918/1922/1971)
Dirge for Two Veterans (1914)
Fantasia on the "Dargason" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2013)
Fantasia on the "Dargason" (arr. Story) (1911/2000)
First Suite in E-flat (1909/1921)
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First Suite in E-flat for Military Band (ed. Fennell) (1909/2006)
First Suite in E-flat Themes (arr. Sweeney) (1909/2006)
A Fugal Concerto (arr. Brand) (1923/1993?)
A Fugal Overture (arr. Noble) (1923/2014)
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Gustav Holst Band Classics (arr. Edwards) (2020)
Hammersmith: Prelude and Scherzo (1930)
A Holst Hymn (arr. Smith) (1921/2022)
A Holst Suite (tr. Thompson) (2018)
Hymn to Vena (ed. Mitchell)
Hymns from the Rig Veda (tr. Windram, ed. Mitchell) (1906/1917/2017)
I Love My Love (tr Singleton) (1916/1993(?))
I Vow to Thee, My Country (setting Vaughan Williams; ed. Grechesky) (1921/1988)
I Vow to Thee, My Country (arr. Knorr) (1921/2017)
I Vow to Thee, My Country (arr. Murtha) (1921)
Illumination (arr. Milford) (2013)
In the Bleak Midwinter (arr. Bullock) (1906/1996)
In the Bleak Midwinter (arr. Giroux) (1906/2018)
In the Bleak Midwinter (1906/1992)
In the Bleak Midwinter (arr. Robert W. Smith and Susan L. Smith) (1906/2016)
Intermezzo (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2017)
Japanese Suite (adapt. Boyd) (1915/1982/1999)
Jig (arr. Pappas) (1913/2000)
Jupiter (arr. Barker) (Flex instrumentation) (1916/2020)
Jupiter (arr. Branchfield) (1916/2014)
Jupiter (arr. Brown) (1916)
Jupiter (tr. Curnow) (1916/1990)
Jupiter (arr. Deterling) (Flex instrumentation) (1916/2020)
Jupiter (arr. Hurt) (1916)
Jupiter (arr. Owens) (1916/2006)
Jupiter (arr. Pay and Smith) (1916/1924)
Jupiter (arr. Smith and Story) (1916/2007)
Jupiter Hymn (arr. de Meij) (1916/1921/1990)
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (Adaptable Band) (arr. Fisher) (1916/2020)
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (tr. McAlister; ed. Reed) (1916/2003)
March (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2010)
March from "First Suite for Military Band" (arr. Story) (2011)
March from "First Suite in Eb" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1909/2015)
March from Second "Suite in F Major" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Fisher) (1911/2018)
Marching Song (1906/1930)
Marching Song (arr. Moss) (1906/2006)
Marching Song (ed. Reynish) (1906/1983)
March on Three Folk Tunes (ed. Binney) (c. 1913/2005)
Mars (arr. Bocook) (1916/1998)
Mars (arr. Owens) (1916/2009)
Mars from "The Planets" (tr. Pay and Smith) (1916/1924)
Mars, from "The Planets" (tr. Singleton) (1916/2001)
Mars (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1916/2009)
Midwinter (arr. Phillips) (2012)
Moorside March (arr. Jacob) (1928/1960)
A Moorside March (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Wright; ed. M. Brand) (1928/2021)
A Moorside Suite (arr. Wright)
Morris Dance Tunes (arr. Wagner) (1910/2010)
Neptune from "The Planets" (arr. Phillips) (1916/)
Old Brenton Carol (arr. Smith) (1910/2001)
On This Day Earth Shall Ring (arr. Smith) (1924/2001)
The Perfect Fool (arr. Short) (1922/2005)
The Planets (tr. Inagaki) (1916)
The Planets (tr. Janssen) (1916/2017)
The Planets (tr. Patterson) (1916/1998)
The Planets (tr. Schrijvers) (1916/2005)
The Planets (tr. Smith) (1916/1921)
The Planets (tr. Vives) (1916/2007?)
Scherzo (tr. Patterson) (1933/2021)
Second Suite in F (1911/1922)
Second Suite in F (ed. Fennell; score assembly Schissel) (1911/2006)
Second Suite in F (arr. Johnston) (1911/2011)
Second Suite in F (ed. Matthews) (1911/1984)
Second Suite in F (ed. Neumann) (1911)
Second Suite in F (ed. Ito) (1911/1922/2012)
Second Suite in F (adapt. Longfield) (1911/2007)
Second Suite in f minor / F Major (ed. Hauswirth and Schmidt) (1911/2014)
Snow on Snow (arr. Anderson) (1906/2024)
A Somerset Rhapsody (tr. Grundman) (1906/1927/1980)
The Song of the Blacksmith (arr. Loest) (1911/2011)
Songs from the "Second Suite" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Stanton) (1911/2012)
Songs of the West (arr. Curnow) (1907/1986)
St. Paul's Suite (arr. Sparke) (1912-1913/2017)
Suite from "The Planets" (arr. Custer) (1916/1991)
Suite from "The Planets" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1916/2018)
Suite No. 1 in E-flat and Suite No. 2 in F (arr. Miura) (1909, 11/2012)
Themes from "First Suite in E-flat" (arr. Sweeney) (1909/2006)
Three Folk Tunes (arr. Wagner) (c. 1913/2007)
Two Songs Without Words (arr. Erickson) (1906/1996)
Uranus (tr. Curnow) (1916/1991)

Resources

Perusal score

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