Guy Woolfenden

Gallimaufry derives from music written by Guy Woolfenden for the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of the Henry IV plays which opened the Barbican Theatre, London in 1982. The score is dedicated to the director, Trevor Nunn, with gratitude for his suggestion that the music for these productions should be expanded and moulded into a form suitable for concert performance. The work is continuous and the thematic material of each of the six sections closely related. The "establishment" - leadership, temporal and ecclesiastical power - are depicted in the stately march which opens the work (Church and State). The second section, Inn and Out, in an energetic hemiola rhythm, is concerned with the stews and low-life revels at the Boar's Head Tavern. This is interrupted and finally integrated with the Tavern Brawl and Gadshill Ambush of Starts and Fits. The mood changes and the ambivalence of Prince Hal's relationship with his father and surrogate father, Falstaff, is portrayed in a serene cor anglais solo. (Father and Son). Advance and Retreat is a recruiting march, derived from the Tavern Tune and leads into the last movement, Church and Status Quo, which deals with the rejection of Falstaff and the crowning of Price Hal. Order is restored with a majestic affirmation of the opening material. The work was commissioned by Timothy Reynish and the British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles, with funds provided by North West Arts, and the first performance took place on September 24th 1983 in Manchester, with the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra conducted by the composer.

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