Cassazione Op. 8, transcription for wind band

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) made his first sketches for material that would later find its way into Cassazione at the end of the 1890s; there are already hints of it among the sketches for the First Symphony, completed in 1899. Heconducted the first performance of Cassazione as the opening number in a concert of his music held at the Helsinki University Hall on February 8, 1904. Described as ballad for orchestra, the work is structured in five episodes.Robert J. Ambrose’s transcription for wind band is based on the original full symphony orchestra version (the full score published by Fennica Gehrman, ISMN 9790550112353). This transcription gives an opportunity to perform thework with smaller ensembles (down to 28 musicians) as well as full wind band. See the sample pages for instrumentation and performance notes.