Development of Solo Marimba Repertoire (15 pieces)

MUSC 730

Darren Proctor

Prior to 1940-

Arrangements of Guatemalan marimba solos.

1940-

Musser leaves Deagan in 1948 to found Musser Marimba. As of 1941 Musser had composed and
published 53 works for marimba. Many of these were lost with only a few remaining.

Musser Etudes and Preludes

(1) Etude in Ab, Op.6, No.2

(2) Etude, Op.6, No.8 (Whole Tone)

(3) Etude, Op.6, No.9 (B Major)

(4) Etude in C Major, Op.6, No.10

(5) Prelude, Op.11, No.3 (G Major)

(6) Etude, Op.11, No.4 (C Major)

(7) Prelude, Op.11, No.7 (D Major)

1950-

Alfred Fissinger

Composes what is considered the first major piece of solo marimba literature, Suite for
Marimba.

(8) Suite for Marimba -Alfred Fissinger

Four movements that each depict a specific incident experienced by the composer while serving
in World War II.

1960-1970

Mitchel Peters composes solos designed to introduce players to playing with four mallets.

(9) Yellow After the Rain

(10) Sea Refractions

 Keiko Abe

Begins working with Yamaha to improve quality and range of marimba.

(11) Frogs- Composed in 1958, but premiered in 1964

1970-1995

LHS commissioning projects.

Raymond Helble- (honorable mention)

Grand Fantasy (1977)

Toccata Fantasy (1980)

The Well-Tempered Marimbist, Books I and II

Concerto for Marimba

David Maslanka-

(12) Variations on Lost Love- composed in 1977

William Moersch commissioning projects

(13.1) Merlin- Andrew Thomas

(13.2) Velocities- Joseph Schwantner

(13.3) Reflections of the Nature of Water- Daniel Druckman

These three solos begin a new trend of highly virtuosic pieces for solo marimba. These solos
combine a combined contemporary language with idiomatic four mallet playing, making them
“more” approachable.

1995-

Michael Burritt-

Works that include pedagogical foundations that are expanded upon. (lateral stokes)

(14) Caritas- Composed in 1996

 Paul Smadbeck-

(15) Virginia Tate- composed in 1995

In all of my compositions for marimba, I tend to utilize an arpeggiated style of playing which
brings out both the percussive strength of the instrument as well as its legato capabilities and
richness of tone. Virginia Tate is consistent with these compostional goals.

Musically, I wanted to initially create for the listener a mood of quiet reflection. The form is a
fairly simple AABC Coda, prefaced by an introduction in c-sharp. The primary melodic theme,
also in c-sharp, is stated twice and leads to a rather forceful section in f-sharp which develops
fragments of earlier material. This is followed by a contrasting dolce in G, which builds in
intensity and leads to a coda. Here, the listener is teased into an expectation of a return to the
primary melodic theme when, instead, the material from the introduction is used in a
downward cascade of chords, ending in a quiet echo of the opening theme. – Paul Smadbeck,
Sept. 2005

From here we begin to see an explosion of repertoire moving to a Performer-Composer model. This
model is one where the performer is writing literature that is designed with their technical facility in
mind. Here we see the upper limits of what is possible being pushed by composers like Casey Cangelosi,
Pius Cheung.