A Night In New Orleans
Sonatine for Solo Flute
by Eric Ewazen
Chamber Music - Sheet Music

Chamber Music Flute(s)

SKU: PR.114416630

Sonatine for Solo Flute. Composed by Eric Ewazen. Sws. Contemporary. Solo part. With Standard notation. Composed 2015. 12 pages. Duration 12 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #114-41663. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.114416630).

ISBN 9781598069525. UPC: 680160624195. 9x12 inches.

Ewazen’s A Night in New Orleans is a tour-de-force: a 12-minute work for solo flute which is at once a three-movement sonatine, a colorful travelogue, a venture into New Orleans jazz and zydeco styles, and a showcase for the flutist’s versatility and endurance. The three movements (which may also be performed individually) are titled: I. 10:00pm, Bourbon Street; II. 12:00am, Jackson Square; III. 2:00am, Cafe du Monde. For advanced performers.
A Night in New Orleans is gratefully dedicated to Cindy Anne Broz, a fantastic flutist and dear friend who commissioned and premiered the work at the 2015 NFA convention in Washington, DC.Late one evening during the 2013 NFA convention in New Orleans, a group of my friends went strolling through the amazing, colorful streets of the French Quarter. With the sounds of jazz, Dixieland,Zydeco, and rock mingling on the streets; with the aromas and smells of Cajun spices; and with the party atmosphere of New Orleans nightlife, all in a setting of grand old buildings with wrought-iron balconies, beautiful courtyards, and elegant parks, one can't help but fall in love with this city!Cindy was among our group of touristy revelers, and she came up with the terrific idea to commission a piece bringing to mind the sights, sounds, and sensations of that wonderful night! This was the inspiration for my sonatine for solo flute, A NIGHT IN NEW ORLEANS.The night began on Bourbon Street about 10:00pm, as we listened to a myriad of musical styles emanating from jazz clubs, bars, and the streets themselves, as musicians seemed to each commanda different block. The evening street was filled with people in a party mood, soaking up the lively, fun-filled atmosphere. The first movement of the sonatine is based on a 12-bar blues idea with playful gestures and jumping phrases, lively, and energetic.At midnight, following a detour down the elegant Rue Royal filled with colorful antique stores, we came to the magical Jackson Square, surrounded by graceful and elegant 19th-century buildings, beautiful St. Louis Cathedral, and a park of huge old trees, gracefully, and mysteriously creating wonderful shadows. The setting is mysterious, wistful, beautiful, and perfect. The second movement of the sonatine evokes a time of long ago with wistful melodies, and gently soft gestures, and harmonies thatare sweet and sad, calling to mind this late summer night with a misty fog that appears and disappears, and a gentle wind causing the leaves to shimmer.The evening ended at 2:00am at (where else in New Orleans?) Café du Monde, the jam-packed outdoor eatery where hundreds of late night revelers, following their humongous earlier-in-the-eveninghurricane glasses of beer and booze, indulge in strong chicory-flavored coffee and beignets, a French doughnut coated with a snowstorm of powdered sugar. My musical setting is lively and celebratory, encapsulating the spirit of this one-of-a-kind town! So the evening and the sonatine end where they began with a joyous revelry, making that New Orleans anthem laissez les bon temps rouler (let the good times roll), oh so appropriate!