Festival Overture on ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’: Study score

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Composed for a special July 4th, 1879 orchestral concert conducted by the famed bandmaster and conductor Patrick Gilmore, the ‘Festival Overture on the American National Air’ was not Dudley Buck’s first treatment of the famous melody composed by John Stafford Smith. In 1866 Buch composed the Concert Variations on ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ for organ as his Op.23 - published in 1869. The overture became quite popular in the composer’s lifetime, often featured in Gilmore’s summer concerts held on Coney Island’s Manhattan Beach during the 1880s and early 1890s in a band arrangement. It was also a regular in orchestral concerts conducted in both America and in Europe by Frank Van der Stucken - founder of the Cincinnati Symphony.

This new definitive performing edition by Clark McAlister is based on the composer’s manuscript held at the Library of Congress. Previously issued by the now-defunct E.F. Kalmus in 2011, this new study score is a reduced-format reproduction of the beautifully engraved large score issued that year. The orchestral parts and full score for this outstanding edition are now exclusively available from Serenissima Music.