Waltzing Matilda

Folksong arranged by Andrew Balent

Andrew Balent

General Info

Year: 1997
Duration: c. 2:45
Difficulty: II (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Folksong
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $38.00   |   Score Only (print) - $6.00

Instrumentation

• Full Score
• Flute
• Oboe
• Bassoon
• B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
• E-flat Alto Clarinet
• B-flat Bass Clarinet
• E-flat Alto Saxophone
• B-flat Tenor Saxophone
• E-flat Baritone Saxophone
• B-flat Trumpet or Cornet I-II
• Horn in F I-II
• Trombone I-II
• Euphonium
• Tuba
• Percussion I-II, including:

*Bass Drum

*Crash Cymbal

*Glockenspiel

*Snare drum

*Triangle

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Waltzing Matilda is Australia's best-known bush ballad, and has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem".

The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one's belongings in a "matilda" (swag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of billy tea at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat. When the jumbuck's owner, a squatter (landowner), and three mounted policemen pursue the swagman for theft, he declares "You'll never catch me alive!" and commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby billabong (watering hole), after which his ghost haunts the site.

The original lyrics were written in 1895 by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, and were first published as sheet music in 1903. Extensive folklore surrounds the song and the process of its creation, to the extent that it has its own museum, the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, in the Queensland outback, where Paterson wrote the lyrics.

The words were written to a tune played on a zither or autoharp by 31‑year‑old Christina Macpherson. The march was based on the music James Barr composed in 1818 for Robert Tannahill's 1806 poem Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigielee. In the early 1890s it was arranged as "The Craigielee" march music for brass band by Australian composer Thomas Bulch. Macpherson had heard the tune played by a military band while attending the Warrnambool steeplechase horse racing in Victoria in April 1894, and played it back by ear at Dagworth. Paterson decided that the music would be a good piece to set lyrics to, and produced the original version during the rest of his stay at the station and in Winton.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Media

• Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

• Virginia: III

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Atascadero (Calif.) Community Band (Fletcher Ferrara, conductor) – 28 October 2018
• Deniliquin (Australia) Municipal Band – 30 November 2015

Works for Winds by This Arranger

• 1812 Overture (as arranger) (1880/2000)
• Air and Finale (as arranger) (1717/1989)
• Amazing Grace (as arranger) (2002)
• American Pride (2002)
• The Angels of Christmas (as arranger)
• Bacchanale (as arranger) (1877/2002)
• Bill Bailey's Brass (as arranger) (2003)
• Can Santa Can Can? (as arranger) (2005)
• Cardinal Overture (1994)
• Century Celebration (1974)
• Chant for Percussion (1984)
• Chorale and Festival March (1978)
• Cliff Ridge Overture (1996)
• Czardas (as arranger) (1904)
• Dance of the Tumblers (as arranger) (1882/2000)
• Dragons and Jet Planes (as arranger) (1970)
• Finale from Symphony No. 4 (as arranger) (1878/2005)
• The First Christmas Album (as arranger) (1975)
• Fughetta (as arranger) (2012)
• The Gladiator March (as arranger) (1886/2007)
• Golliwogg's Cakewalk (as arranger)
• Hands Across the Sea (as arranger) (1899/2012)
• Hava Nagila (as arranger) (1986)
• Hunting Song (2005)
• Infernal Dance and Finale (as arranger) (1910/2008)
• The Instrument Song (1977)
• Invercargill March (as arranger) (1908/1913)
• Jingle Bell Brass (as arranger) (2001)
• John Denver (as arranger) (1998)
• Joshua (as arranger)
• The Klaxon (as arranger) (1930/1995)
• Let It Be Medley (as arranger) (1970)
• Little Brazil Suite (as arranger) (2006)
• Lullaby for Clarinets (2002)
• Manhattan Beach March (as arranger) (2015)
• Maple Leaf Rag (as arranger) (1899/1916/1992)
• Marching Through America (as arranger) (1993)
• Meadowlands (as arranger) (1998)
• Military Escort (as arranger) (1923/1990)
• Military Polonaise (as arranger) (1838/2013)
• Orpheus Overture (as arranger)
• Overture Bravura (1997)
• The Picadore (as arranger) (1889/2013)
• Prelude and March (1994)
• Russian Sailor's Dance (as arranger) (1927/1997)
• Sabre Dance (as arranger) (1942/1996)
• Selections from "The Nutcracker Suite" (as arranger) (1884/2003)
• Semper Fidelis (as arranger) (1888/2009)
• Simple Gifts (as arranger) (1848/1986)
• Slavonic Dance No 8, Op 46 (as arranger) (1878/2010)
• Sound Off (as arranger) (1885/2018)
• Spartans of Tomorrow (1971)
• Stand Tall America (as arranger)
• Take Me out to the Ball Game (as arranger) (1908/2008)
• Tchaikovsky for Trumpet (as arranger) (1972)
• Tenth Regiment March (as arranger) (1895/2004)
• That's All, Folks (1976)
• Them Basses March (as arranger) (1924/1987)
• Tidings of Comfort and Joy (as arranger)
• Tomahawk Dance (1994)
• Torch of Valor (as arranger) (2004)
• Trepak and Russian Dance from "The Nutcracker" (as arranger) (1891/)
• The Twelve Days of Christmas (as arranger) (1987)
• Waltzing Matilda (as arranger) (1997)
• Zacatecas (as arranger) (1991)

Resources

• Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Waltzing Matilda." Accessed 27 October 2018
• Waltzing Matilda. Wikipedia. Accessed 27 October 2018