This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussions opens the holiday season with Advent, Christmas, and secular holiday music. We will begin with the Advent hymn “O Savior, Tear Open the Heavens.” We can trace the music to a German Catholic hymnbook from 1668, although the composer has not been identified. The lyrics were written by a Jesuit priest Freidrich Spee, who lived from 1591 to 1635. He died from plague that he contracted while ministering to soldiers. He wrote a book of secular songs, including Christmas and Easter hymns. But he is perhaps most famous for his opposition to witch hunting and writing a book opposing witch hunting, in which he observed: “Torture has the power to create witches where none exist.”

Rampart Street in New Orleans is the northern border of the French Quarter. It’s called Rampart Street because a rampart—or a dirt wall—was built there to defend the early French colonial city. In the early and mid-20th century, Rampart Street was the center of an important African-American commercial and entertainment district. Louis Armstrong grew up on South Rampart Street. The name of the street appears in the title of at least three compositions, but this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion opens with one written in 1937 by Ray Bauduc and Bob Haggart: “The South Rampart Street Parade.” The show opens with a version recorded by Pete Fountain in 1963.

The Turkish crescent, also known as a jingling Johnny, is a percussion instrument typically about 6.5 to 8 feet tall. It consists of an upright wooden pole topped with a conical brass ornament and having brass, crescent-shaped crosspieces. Numerous bells are attached to the crosspieces and elsewhere on the instrument. Often two horsetail plumes of different colors are suspended from the ends of the crosspieces. The instrument is held vertically and is played by either shaking it up and down or twisting it. Today’s edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion opens with a recording of the “Nobles of the Mystic Shrine” in which a Turkish crescent is heard.

In recognition of Veterans Day, this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features original wind-band recordings from World War II including the original Glenn Miller recording of the “St. Louis Blues March.” As a matter of fact, you’ll not only hear the music but also the recorded voices of Glenn Miller and Irving Berlin from V-discs, V standing for “victory.” To lift the morale of troops, the military issued V-discs, made by many performers of the day. Many musicians volunteered for the military, including Glenn Miller. So we are going to open today’s edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion with the original V-disc recording of “St. Louis Blues March.” The recording opens with a greeting from Glenn Miller himself.

This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features original classical wind band music by the Bavarian composer Johan Simon Mayr. But this edition begins with an arrangement of the default national anthem of the United Kingdom. Most often, this tune is named “God Save the King.” In the United States, it is known as “America” or “My Country Tis of Thee.” The tune also used for the national anthems of New Zealand, Canada, and many other countries in the British Commonwealth, as well as Liechtenstein. The tune served as the national anthem for the Kingdom of Prussia from 1795 until 1918 and the imperial anthem of the Russian Empire from 1816 to 1833. The tune also serves as the royal anthem of Norway. The version that opens this edition was composed for the Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953.

This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features some adventures in Latin music accompanied by the Xavier Cugat big band with trips to Spain and Cuba. But this edition opens with a sortie composed by Louis James Lefebure-Wely, a French organist and composer who lived from 1817 to 1870. When used to name a musical composition for organ, sortie refers to a piece played at the end of a church service, often as a postlude. In the case of the recording opening this edition, the organ work has been arranged for harmoniemusik.

Ferenc Farkas, the Hungarian composer, lived from 1905 to 2000. He composed 700 works for orchestra, opera, ballet, musicals, operetta, choir, and films. He also wrote chamber music, sacred music, and wind-band music. Today’s edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion will feature an octet for two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, and two horns, the instrumentation of the harmoniemusik, the wind band popular from approximately 1775 to 1825. But the music sounds as though it comes from the late 1600s to early 1700s.

John Philip Sousa said he wished he had written the march “Military Escort” by Henry Fillmore. And the sheet music for “Military Escort” even outsold the sheet music for the “Stars and Stripes Forever” for at least 4 years. Today’s edition off Brass, Reeds, and Percussion opens with “Military Escort” composed by the American circus-band composer Henry Fillmore. But you will also hear Darius Milhaud’s most famous composition arranged for wind ensemble, original classical wind-band music by Francois Joseph Gossec, and a wind-band arrangement of a big hit from 1922.

Aram Khachaturian, the Armenian composer, wrote the score for the 1949 Soviet war film The Battle of Stalingrad, which depicts the World War II battle of the same name. The film score vividly depicts aspects of the battle, which has been described as one of the single biggest and bloodiest battles in military history. The low estimates for the deaths on both sides exceed 1.1 million soldiers. This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features a wind-band arrangement of the movie score performed by the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra.

This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features wind-band music by the Romantic Era composer Louis Théodore Gouvy, a French-German composer who lived from 1819 to 1898. He was born in Sarre region of German, right on the border with France and Luxembourg and began piano lessons at age 8. He moved to Paris to study law and attempted to attend the Paris Conservatory, but he was unsuccessful. Later in life, he moved to Germany, where he felt more appreciated. Although he wrote nine symphonies and numerous other works for orchestra, he was most appreciated for his chamber music. Johannes Brahmes was even a fan.