“Ophelia” is a dark and moody piece for concert band. It accompanies the death scene of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Its dissonant tones and changes in tempo illustrate Ophelia’s spiraling madness as she wanders the forest, climbs a tree, and at last falls into the river. The heartbeat effect in percussion and low brass punctuated by a single bell tone at the end of the piece signals her demise. This score features multiple meter and tempo changes as well as some dramatic effects in percussion. This is the composer’s own arrangement of the original concert band score.

Grade 3

Full set includes: