NORMANDY, 1944
Concert Band, Gr. 5
NORMANDY, 1944 was written to commemorate the 80th
anniversary of the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. Given the codename OVERLORD, the operation brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the Allied militaries in what became the largest amphibious invasion in military history. Nearly 160,000 troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and other allies landed on five separate beachheads of Normandy in Nazi-occupied France. Despite fierce enemy opposition, Allied forces persisted and were successful in taking the beachheads of Normandy. By the end of the day, a total of 4,414 Allied troops had been killed, and more than 5,000 were wounded. By the end of the 3-month Battle of Normandy which followed, there were more than 200,000 Allied troops dead, wounded, or missing. Still, the Normandy campaign was a stunning success, and by September 1944 all but a fraction of France had been liberated. Fighting by the brave soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied forces ultimately led to the defeat and surrender of German Nazi forces on May 7, 1945.
The composition itself is in three sections. The slow opening sets the scene and depicts the plodding approach to Normandy’s beachheads, followed by a faster section to portray the intense battle. The final section is an elegy to mourn those that were lost, and the music closes with an abbreviated quotation of the bugle call “Taps. ” Throughout the composition, fragments of the national anthems from the USA (The Star Spangled Banner), Great Britain (God Save the King), Canada (Oh, Canada), and France (Le Marseillaise) are used to pay tribute to these Allied nations.