Irish Tune from County Derry (Danny Boy Londonderry Air)
Percy Aldridge Grainger Transcribed by Jari Villanueva

Score
3 Cornets in Bb
3 Horns in F
2 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Suspended Cymbal
Timpani
Eb Alto Horn Substitute part for Horns in F
Treble Clef Baritone Substitute part for Euphonium

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Irish Tune from County Derry for Brass Ensemble transcribed by Jari Villanueva from the original arrangement by Percy Grainger.

Percy Grainger (1882-1961) was a piano prodigy turned composer. His many admirers today still recognize that he possessed “the supreme virtue of never being dull.” Born in Australia, he began studying piano at an early age. He came to the U. S. at the outbreak of World War I and enlisted as an Army bandsman, becoming an American citizen in 1918. He went on to explore the frontiers of music with his idiosyncratic folk song settings, his lifelong advocacy for the saxophone, and his Free Music machines which predated electronic synthesizers. His many masterworks for winds include Lincolnshire Posy, Handel in the Strand, and Molly on the Shore.

Irish Tune from County Derry is a setting of a now-famous tune from the Irish county of Derry in the north (also sometimes called Londonderry). This melody has several alternate titles including “Danny Boy” and “Londondery Air” It was during his stay in England that he became passionately involved in collecting and arranging folk songs and country dances. Irish Tune from County Derry is based on a tune collected by a Miss J. Ross of New Town, Limavaday, County Derry, Ireland, and published in “The Petri Collection of Ancient Music of Ireland” in 1885. The original setting was an a capella version for mixed voices, which was much admired by Edward Grieg, with whom Grainger developed a strong friendship. An orchestral version followed and the military band version was completed in 1918.