KING UBU (1981) for large symphonic wind ensemble

This is movement III. "Ubu in Chains"

Michael Schelle, composer
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Commissioned by a Kappa Kappa Psi Music Fraternity consortium

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Michael Schelle's website: http://schellemusic.com/1.html

KING UBU (1981) - Mvmt. III: "Ubu in Chains"

SEVEN STEPS FROM HELL (1985)
- for large symphonic wind ensemble

by Michael Schelle

Commissioned by
Illinois Wesleyan University Wind Ensemble
Steven Eggleston, music director and conductor

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Michael Schelle's website:  http://schellemusic.com/1.html

SEVEN STEPS FROM HELL (1985) for wind ensemble

Miho Sasaki

REVERENCE FOR THE GODDESS (2020)

Commissioned by the Trinity University Symphonic Wind Ensemble
James Worman, music director and conductor
Premiered : May 9, 2021 in Laurie Hall, San Antonio, TX

Reverence for the Goddess is honoring the Goddesses. There are various Goddesses throughout the world and each represents its own powers - such as Athena, the Greek Goddess of wisdom, warfare, courage, compassion, civilization and inspiration.

Amaterasu, the Goddess of the Sun (in Shinto Japanese mythology), and Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom (the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty). The piece is rhapsodic in nature to express these multiple forms of being, strength, tolerance, warmth and intelligence.

Regarding the ancient goddesses, I often think of our soldiers, mothers, first responders, medical personnel, etc. the miracle workers who protect us and their loved ones so that we can have our routines, including waking up in the morning and going to bed at night.

In 2020, our normal lives have changed completely due to Covid-19, yet I'm here, writing music, in my house, living with our four cats and my family. That's because someone out there keeps protecting our world.
The piece was also inspired by music elements from my home, Japan.

Every Autumn, there's a week-long festival I regularly attended as a child. There are many drums, gongs, flutes and singing when we celebrate our goddesses.

www.sasakimusic.com

Miho Sasaki: Reverence For The Goddess (2020)

SUN-WUKONG (2013) for cello and orchestra
by Michael Schelle

South Shore Orchestra
Troy Webdell, music director and conductor
Joshua DeVries, cello
Live recording: 4 October 2013

The piece will go ON TOUR throughout China : w/ the South Shore Orchestra, January 2014

SUN-WUKONG is a legendary Chinese warrior-king of unbridled strength, power, agility, and magic ... and mischievous (sometimes malicious) behavior but, when fighting for what is right and good, he can be equally ferocious with intense compassion and emotion.

Various versions of this character are found throughout Asia and Eastern Europe.

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Midi recording here: https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/michael-schelle-sun-wukong

LIVE performance (Capital Conservatory Orchestra, Columbus, OH - Feb 2014) : https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/sun-wukong-2013-for-cello-and-orchestra

LIVE performance (Nanjing, China - Jan 2014): https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/michael-schelle-sun-wukong-2

VIDEO here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXbh8dgAM4E  (music begins @ 2:00)
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Michael Schelle's website: http://schellemusic.com/1.html

SUN-WUKONG (2013) for cello and orchestra

GIMME SHELTER (2001) by Michael Schelle

Many American composers have a 9/11 piece ... this is mine.

Genki Saji, violin
Ryoto Hibi, piano
Nagoya, Japan
November 2010

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Michael Schelle's website:  http://schellemusic.com/1.html

GIMME SHELTER (2001) for violin and piano

WRIGHT FLIGHT (2002) Piano Concerto
Movement 4: "Wright Waltz"
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Neal Gittleman, conductor
Andrew Russo, piano

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Michael Schelle's website:  http://schellemusic.com/1.html

WRIGHT FLIGHT (2002) Piano Concerto, Mvmt. 4

SAMURAI (1999)
In Memoriam: Akira Kurosawa

 - by MIchael Schelle

Çommissioned and premiered by:
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Neal Gittleman, conductor

January 2000
Schuster Center for the Performing Arts

Michael Schelle's website: http://schellemusic.com/1.html

SAMURAI (1999) for orchestra

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (2007)
- for voice and mixed chamber ensemble
by Michael Schelle

An homage to the failed eduction policies of the Bush administration. Ideally performed in a public school classroom, the entire ensemble sits in a very scrunched claustrophobic circle on the floor, w/ the voice (teacher) and percussionist in the middle. Everyone is SO physically close that when they play they bump into / crash into each other - finding it physically challenging to even play their own part(s) not to mention problems concentrating - and paying attention the 'teacher' - because of so much over-crowding, confusing standardized testing (contradictory musical performance instructions) and claustrophobic music at its Bush administration best.

The majority of the score is notated but there are sections of directed improv within clear guidelines / instructions, etc. Near the end, one by one, the players get up and depart, playing as they walk away . . .

JCA Composers Orchestra
October 2007
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Michael Schelle's website:  http://schellemusic.com/1.html

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (2007) for chamber ensemble

Michael Schelle
THROUGH THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF HELL (2013)
for new music ensemble vs. chamber orchestra

Commissioned for the Hartford New Music Festival 1913/2013
Hartford Chamber Orchestra and The Generous Ensemble

17 & 20 October 2013
Daniel D'Addio, conductor
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Through the Bright Lights of Hell (2013) is an anxious and suspicious “crossing over” into an unknowable landscape. It’s an odyssey into the fabled bright lights recounted by those who have stood at the threshold of death. I’ve written “heavenly” passages, “hellish” passages, and “traveling” passages, but suspect that distinguishing one from another might be a very subjective exercise for the audience: Are the tonal parts Heaven or Hell or something else? Does it matter? Enjoy the ride! An early stab at titling the piece had “_____________” (a blank to be filled in), before the word “Through,” suggesting that each listener might supply his or her own verbs, such as: Running, Escaping, Dancing, Blasting, Skipping, Stumbling, Breaking, Sleeping, Tripping, Coughing, Crashing, Laughing, Crying, Bleeding, Screaming … Through the Bright Lights of Hell.

Through the Bright Lights of Hell was commissioned for the combined forces of the Generous New Music Ensemble and the (vs. the) Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s landmark The Rite of Spring.  Although the volatile, confrontational and episodic nature of Through the Bright Lights of Hell is influenced and inspired by that iconic Stravinsky work, there are no direct references to The Rite or, for that matter, to any other of the groundbreaking works of the time (from Debussy or Ives or anyone else). There is, however, a brief passing nod to a different kind of 1913 classic, the popular American torch song The Curse of an Aching Heart (which is heard in multiple simultaneous keys near the end of this piece), but the ‘aching heart’ 'seeds' are planted across the entire 28:00 work. Throughout “Bright Lights of Hell” there are also embedded extremely brief, fractured glances at pieces from 1813, 1713, and 1613.

In this time of academic fascination with compositional mathematics, allow me to say, Through the Bright Lights of Hell is 28 minutes in duration, and its structure involves (approximately) four major seven-minute connecting sections. (4 x 7 = 28.) Still juggling numbers, the numbers 13 and 7 to be exact: Samuel Beckett was seven years old in 1913. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 dates from 1813.  J. S. Bach wrote much of his landmark “The Well-Tempered Clavier” in 1713. And the great Italian composer-performer Giuseppe Tartini dreamed that the devil appeared to him in 1713 and played his violin (or so goes the tale of Tartini’s Violin Sonata in G minor, a.k.a. the Devil’s Trill Sonata). If this sounds like doubletalk, keep in mind that Richard Nixon was born in 1913.

Most of the work on this piece was abstractly inspired by Samuel Beckett, and dedicated to one of his biggest fans, composer Scott Comanzo, director of the 1913/2013 Hartford New Music Festival. 


Although occasionally improvisatory in sound, the entire score is specifically, exactly - and painstakingly - thoroughly notated from start to finish.

Michael Schelle's website:  http://schellemusic.com/1.html


THROUGH THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF HELL (2013)

Michael Schelle
PLAY US CHASTITY ON YOUR VIOLIN (1984)
- for solo violin and chamber orchestra
MOVEMENT I: Vaccine

Mvmt. 2. "Intermezzo" ... https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/michael-schelle-play-us-1
Mvmt. 3. "Rhumbaba" ... https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/michael-schelle-play-us-2

Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble
Sherry Kloss, violin
David Stock, conductor

Pittsburgh, PA  1985

The title is a line taken from "THE GAS HEART", an iconic 1921 experimental / surrealistic play by Tristan Tzara. Commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and winner of the 1984 Harvey Gaul Memorial Composition Competition, PLAY US CHASTITY ON YOUR VIOLIN was a conscious move to simplicity, economy, innocence and intimacy .... all things not evident in the composers music up to 1984 . . .

THE GAS HEART  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gas_Heart

visit:  www.schellemusic.com

PLAY US CHASTITY ON YOUR VIOLIN (1984), Mvmt. 1 "Vaccine"

HOWL (1986), for solo clarinet and chamber ensemble
- by Michael Schelle

Commissioned and premiered by the Ronen Chamber Ensemble, David Bellman, clarinet.

A tribute to two of my favorite arts icons: 
- swing clarinetist Benny Goodman, and beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

Written following the death (1986)of Benny Goodman, and celebrating the 30th anniversary of the publication of Allen Ginsberg's iconic beat classic "HOWL", this 'strange bedfellows' piece fuses two disparate sources into a reverse musical journey. Beginning stylistically in the 1980's, the piece gradually moves back in time thru a smokey 1950's/60's beatnik coffee house, and ends in a 1940's Greenwich Village swing frenzy ... bis bis.

HOWL is in three sections:
1. 00:00 - 6:20 ... the opening
2. 06:20 - 8:00 ... spoken excerpts of "Howl", set against a smokey 1950's coffee house atmosphere, and
3. 08:00 - the end ... completely notated bebop Benny Goodman homage

Built-in (written in / notated) encore begins at 11:50
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HOWL has been performed many times across the US, including XTET (Los Angeles), the Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble (NYC), the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Eastman New Music Ensemble, and the University of Texas-Austin New Music Ensemble. 

Ginsberg himself gave me permission to use the few brief spoken excerpts. One of the most incredible performances happened in 1991, when Ginsberg himself joined an ensemble (conducted by me) and played the newly added 'for this one performance only' mini-improv bits on a conga drum and his little concertina accordion !!  - and we have the program and photos to prove it!!

Visit: www.schellemusic.com

HOWL (1986), for solo clarinet and chamber ensemble

BULLET TRAIN TO HELL / AFTER AFTERLIFE 
(the 2nd & 3rd mvmts of THE END OF THE WORLD (2011)
- by Michael Schelle
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Winner of the 2012 National Band Association "William D. Revelli" Composition Prize
http://www.nationalbandassociation.org/nbacommittee/revelli.asp

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This recording:

INDIANA UNIVERSITY 
SYMPHONIC WIND ENSEMBLE
Stephen Pratt, conductor
5 November 2013
IU Musical Arts Center, Bloomington, IN


N.B. The IU recording of Mvmt 1 ("The Exhausted Sun") DOES exist, and it's excellent, but we need to re-configure it (for some weird reason, the engineer split it into 3 sound different files!)

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VIDEO: University of South Florida: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWy3Fohb49A&feature=youtu.be

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Other recording of the entire work (3 mvmts): 

KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY .. https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/michael-schelle-the-end-of
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY .. https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/michael-schelle-the-end-of-the 



For more information on THE END OF THE WORLD: http://schellemusic.com/8.html

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THE END OF THE WORLD  (2011)                  Michael Schelle   (b. 1950)

       1.  THE EXHAUSTED SUN
       2.  BULLET TRAIN TO HELL
       3.  AFTER AFTERLIFE

      Written during the blistering, record-breaking heat wave of summer 2011, THE END OF THE WORLD was inspired, in some part, by the notorious cataclysmic end-of-the-world prophecy of Nostradamus (scheduled for late December 2012) and the Mayan calendar’s end-of-time prediction (also, according to some, on the immediate horizon). The primary source of inspiration, however, was the great earthquake and tsunami that leveled much of northern Japan in March 2011. My original plan was for a “serious” Nostradamus-related piece, but fate interceded: As I began work on the music in Spring 2011, I was heartbroken by the fear, disbelief and sadness on the face of my Japanese wife, composer/pianist Miho Sasaki, as she sat paralyzed by her emotions, watching televised images of her homeland’s devastation. So my piece took its shape and inspiration from this disaster. 
      
At the end of the day (or the end of the world), doomsday predictions are ephemeral, but Japan’s 3/11/11 cataclysm will have a profound international impact on generations to come. Besides, as I spoke with one of the consortium directors about my Nostradamus vs. Japan dilemma, it dawned on me that both subjects might very likely produce a similar score – so I chose to just embrace it all and seek the optimistic “substance after shadows” (Shinto prayer) for resolution. 

As old Nostradamus's predictions have come and gone without incident, and the Japanese people have (once again) picked themselves up from the ashes and resiliently moved on, now my piece may take on more universal considerations: perhaps reflecting on each listener’s personal experience(s) with the loss of important persons, places, or things.

THE END OF THE WORLD is a commission from a consortium group of 35 university and professional symphonic bands / wind ensembles from across the US and abroad.  In December 2012, selected from over 80 international entries, THE END OF THE WORLD was awarded the 2012 National Band Association "William D. Revelli Composition Prize".
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LA FIN DU MONDE  CONSORTIUM COMMISSION GROUP:  

Michigan, Eastman, Texas-Austin, Indiana, Nebraska, Illinois, Florida, 
Purdue, Arizona State, Michigan State, Kansas State, Wisconsin, Ithaca, 
Southern Illinois, UNC Greensboro, Minnesota, New Mexico, Louisiana, Butler, 
Trinity (TX), Capital, IPFW, Missouri, the Hartt School, Lawrence Conservatory, 
Virginia Commonwealth, Illinois Wesleyan,  Indiana Wind Symphony, etc.

The Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Performing Arts Center Symphonic Wind Ensemble

BULLET TRAIN TO HELL (2011) for wind ensemble

SWASHBUCKLER (1984)
- by Michael Schelle

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Raymond Harvey, conductor
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SWASHBUCKLER was originally written on a dare from one of my graduate composition students - a fella who insisted I only appreciated (and wrote) avant garde / experimental contemporary / new music. As I had the Buffalo Phil commission contract sitting on my desk at the time, I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to prove the student wrong, and to expand my catalogue with something different.

Quickly, the piece transcended the casual well-intentioned challenge, and became a sincere, genuine and respectful homage to the great swashbuckling film scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Max Steiner and Co., and to the quintessential movie stars of the classic 1930's Hollywood swashbuckler blockbusters I so dearly loved ("Captain Blood", "The Sea Hawk", etc. - Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone).  There's heroic music, action music, lugubrious night-sailing music, even a tortured 'love theme' in the middle of all the action ... a tip of the hat the great swashbuckling femme fatale, Olivia de Havilland.

Commissioned and premiered by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, this recording is the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (rescued just in time from an old 1/4 track reel-to-reel tape that was disintegrating!! - the sound quality here is not the greatest stereo high fidelity, for sure ... ).
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Peformed more regularly than I'd ever expected, this season the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra has SWASHBUCKLER on their May 2014 Subscription Series program.... coupled w/ Beethoven's 9th !! http://daytonperformingarts.org/content.jsp?articleId=3223
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Visit: www.schellemusic.com

SWASHBUCKLER (1984) for orchestra

EL SALON MEDICO (1976)
- by Michael Schelle

MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA
Sir Neville Marriner, music director and conductor

N.B.: this recording rescued just in time from an old 1/4 track reel-to-reel tape that was disintegrating!! - the sound quality here is not the greatest stereo high fidelity, for sure ... 
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Written near the end of my studies with Aaron Copland (and intentionally imitating his iconic Americana style of "Billy the Kid" and "Appalachian Spring"), EL SALON MEDICO was my 2nd orchestral piece and dedicated to my brother Patrick (who was beginning his surgery residency at a large Dallas hospital).

This brief piece proved to be a 'one-shot-deal' in this Americana style, and was in NO WAY the harbinger of things to come for me (stylistically), - not by a long shot !! But it was a blast to work on it under the guidance of the great man. It was a thrill, and and honor, to have worked with Copland for nearly 18 months.
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My friend, Pittsburgh composer David Stock, upon hearing the Minnesota Orchestra radio broadcast of EL SALON MEDICO (the title is, of course, a play on the Copland "El Salon Mexico") called me immediately after it ended and said:  "Schelle, dammit !!  So I'm listening to this piece on the radio and I'm thinking 'wait, I thought I knew every Copland orchestral piece there is, but I don't know this, but clearly it IS Copland, or it's a pretty good rip off".
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Another dear friend, Columbus (OH) composer Rocky Reuter, arranged a fantastic wind ensemble version of the piece, just because he 'thought it would be a cool band piece' - and surprized me out of the blue with the score. Now THAT'S true friendship (or complete insanity). The Reuter wind ensemble version has been performed numerous times by university band across the US.
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Visit: www.schellemusic.com

EL SALON MEDICO (1976) for orchestra

THE END OF THE WORLD (2011) by Michael Schelle
1. The Exhausted Sun (0:00 - 5:55)
2. Bullet Train to Hell (5:55 - 8:50)
3. After Afterlife (8:50 - end)

Winner of the 2012 National Band Association "William D. Revelli" Composition Prize
http://www.nationalbandassociation.org/nbacommittee/revelli.asp

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This recording:

KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY SYMPHONIC WIND ENSEMBLE
Frank Tracz, music director and conductor
McCain Concert Hall
Manhattan, KS
December 2013

For more information on the piece: schellemusic.com/8.html

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VIDEO (with video image projections): University of South Florida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWy3Fohb49A&feature=youtu.be
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Other recordings:

INDIANA UNIVERSITY .. https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/michael-schelle-bullet-train
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY .. https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/michael-schelle-the-end-of-the

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PROGRAM NOTE: (for printed concert programs)

THE END OF THE WORLD (2011) Michael Schelle (b. 1950)

1. THE EXHAUSTED SUN
2. BULLET TRAIN TO HELL
3. AFTER AFTERLIFE

Written during the blistering, record-breaking heat wave of summer 2011, THE END OF THE WORLD was inspired, in some part, by the notorious cataclysmic end-of-the-world prophecy of Nostradamus (scheduled for late December 2012) and the Mayan calendar’s end-of-time prediction (also, according to some, on the immediate horizon). The primary source of inspiration, however, was the great earthquake and tsunami that leveled much of northern Japan in March 2011. My original plan was for a “serious” Nostradamus-related piece, but fate interceded: As I began work on the music in Spring 2011, I was heartbroken by the fear, disbelief and sadness on the face of my Japanese wife, composer/pianist Miho Sasaki, as she sat paralyzed by her emotions, watching televised images of her homeland’s devastation. So my piece took its shape and inspiration from this disaster. 

At the end of the day (or the end of the world), doomsday predictions are ephemeral, but Japan’s 3/11/11 cataclysm will have a profound international impact on generations to come. Besides, as I spoke with one of the consortium directors about my Nostradamus vs. Japan dilemma, it dawned on me that both subjects might very likely produce a similar score – so I chose to just embrace it all and seek the optimistic “substance after shadows” (Shinto prayer) for resolution. 

As old Nostradamus's predictions have come and gone without incident, and the Japanese people have (once again) picked themselves up from the ashes and resiliently moved on, now my piece may take on more universal considerations: perhaps reflecting on each listener’s personal experience(s) with the loss of important persons, places, or things.

THE END OF THE WORLD is a commission from a consortium group of 35 university and professional symphonic bands / wind ensembles from across the US and abroad. In December 2012, selected from over 80 international entries, THE END OF THE WORLD was awarded the 2012 National Band Association "William D. Revelli Composition Prize".
.
LA FIN DU MONDE CONSORTIUM COMMISSION GROUP:

Michigan, Eastman, Texas-Austin, Indiana, Nebraska, Illinois, Florida, 
Purdue, Arizona State, Michigan State, Kansas State, Wisconsin, Ithaca, 
Southern Illinois, UNC Greensboro, Minnesota, New Mexico, Louisiana, Butler, 
Trinity (TX), Capital, IPFW, Missouri, the Hartt School, Lawrence Conservatory, 
Virginia Commonwealth, Illinois Wesleyan, Indiana Wind Symphony, etc.

The Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Performing Arts Center Symphonic Wind Ensemble

THE END OF THE WORLD (2011) for wind ensemble

大闹西双版纳

Michael Schelle

ESCAPE FROM XISHUANGBANNA (2022)
  大闹西双版纳
- for large orchestra and Chinese dasheng bells 

Commissioned by the Confucius Institute for 
the Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra of the USA
- Jianyun Meng, project director

Premiere:  29 December 2022
Carnegie Hall, New York City

Program note:  
In 2021, nearly 20 adult Asian elephants escaped their controlled habitat in Xishuangbanna, southwest China. Deforestation, urban expansion and climate change became too overwhelming for the gentle giants.  For over a year this determined herd travelled the countryside in search of food, freedom and a new home. Communities were evacuated, the travelling giants became a spectacle, a few died along the way but eventually the remaining creatures were returned to their newly-renovated original home in Xishuangabanna.

Near the end of the piece, an arrangement of "Dá xiáng" (the elephant), a classic Asian children's song, is introduced - for this optimistic moment, three young children have come to the front of the stage and sing the song as the orchestra (and dasheng bells) accompany them. The traditional songs disappears, the children exit, and we are left with an atmosphere of caution ...

http://www.schellemusic.com/1.html

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ESCAPE FROM XISHUANGBANNA (2022)

Michael Schelle

THE CASE OF THE HESITANT HERETIC  (2022)
- for solo piano

Written for Miho Sasaki for an April 2023 program that includes music by Prokofiev, Bartok, Beethoven and the killer Samuel Barber Piano Sonata - all of which are briefly (1 to 2 measures) referenced in the piece.

Schelle website:  http://www.schellemusic.com/1.html

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The Case of the Hesitant Heretic

Michael Schelle
PROFILE IN COURAGE (2023)
- for large orchestra

Written by (then) Senator John F. Kennedy, "Profiles in Courage" (1956) is a celebrated volume of short biographies describing acts of bravery and integrity, individuals that stood up for what was right, despite the repercussions.

Whereas JFK's book focuses on the courage of specific individuals, my piece embraces a more universal / "everyman" aesthetic - admirable acts of bravery, integrity and courage as applicable to each listener's personal experiences. 

This piece is for YOU, it is for the courageous people in YOUR life: friends, relatives, colleagues - first responders, military, law enforcement, social workers, people in medicine, in politics (occasionally), in the arts (often), and courage in the face of life's extreme challenges. Think of YOUR courageous person(s) when listening to this piece.

website: www.schellemusic.com/1.html

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PROFILE IN COURAGE (2023), for orchestra

Michael Schelle

CUT AND RUN  (2023)
- for clarinet and piano

" . . . to make a sudden departure from an awkward or uncomfortable 
situation rather than deal with it . . .  "


www.schellemusic.com/1.html�

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CUT AND RUN, for clarinet and piano

Michael Schelle

KINGFISH LEVINSKY  (2023)
- for clarinet, cello and piano

Temporary midi

Premiere:  November 3, 2023 
Bargemusic, Brooklyn, NY
Thomas Piercy, clarinet

Program note:

The piece is a snapshot biopic of flamboyant boxer Kingfish Levinsky (1910-1991)

A ranked heavyweight prizefighter in the 1930s, Chicago-native 
Kingfish Levinsky (1910-1991) - née Harry Kraków - battled the likes of
Jack Dempsey, Max Baer, Joe Lewis, Max Schmeling and Jack Sharkey.

For a portion of his career, Levinsky was managed by his sister Lena Kraków. 
Known as "Leapin' Lena", she was a colorful character who swore like a sailor, 
and rooted loudly for her brother during his bouts. After retiring from boxing,  
Levinsky briefly moved to the "professional wrestling" circuit (conjuring up the
tragic finale of Rod Serling's heartbreaking Requiem for a Heavyweight).

Most remember Levinsky as the punch drunk old ex-prizefighter selling cigars, 
ties and watches in front of his sister's fish market on Maxwell Street in Chicago.

A closet romantic, Levinsky was married to erotic fan dancer Roxanna Sand for just six weeks in 1934.
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n.b.:  Alternative version:  for bass clarinet, double bass and piano
https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/kingfish-levinsky-for-bass-clarinet-double-bass-and-piano

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www.schellemusic.com/1.html
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KINGFISH LEVINSKY - for clarinet, cello & piano

Michael Schelle

KINGFISH LEVINSKY  (2023)
- for clarinet, cello and piano

Temporary midi

Premiere:  November 3, 2023 
Bargemusic, Brooklyn, NY
Thomas Piercy, clarinet

Program note:

The piece is a snapshot biopic of flamboyant boxer Kingfish Levinsky (1910-1991)

A ranked heavyweight prizefighter in the 1930s, Chicago-native 
Kingfish Levinsky (1910-1991) - née Harry Kraków - battled the likes of
Jack Dempsey, Max Baer, Joe Lewis, Max Schmeling and Jack Sharkey.

For a portion of his career, Levinsky was managed by his sister Lena Kraków. 
Known as "Leapin' Lena", she was a colorful character who swore like a sailor, 
and rooted loudly for her brother during his bouts. After retiring from boxing,  
Levinsky briefly moved to the "professional wrestling" circuit (conjuring up the
tragic finale of Rod Serling's heartbreaking Requiem for a Heavyweight).

Most remember Levinsky as the punch drunk old ex-prizefighter selling cigars, 
ties and watches in front of his sister's fish market on Maxwell Street in Chicago.

A closet romantic, Levinsky was married to erotic fan dancer Roxanna Sand for just six weeks in 1934.
.
n.b.:  Alternative version:  for clarinet, cello and piano
https://soundcloud.com/rimsky-1/levinsky_piercy

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www.schellemusic.com/1.html

KINGFISH LEVINSKY - for bass clarinet, double bass and piano

Michael Schelle

THE AFFIRMATION  (2023)
- for orchestra

In 1995 I was commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to write a piece in celebration of the CSO's 100 anniversary season (the CSO was founded in 1895 by conductor Frank Van der Stucken). The resultant piece, "Centennimania", was premiered by the CSO under the direction of Maestro Keith Lockhart (who subsequently was named music director of the famed Boston Pops). A few seasons passed and no other orchestra programmed the piece. Finally one conductor said "Mike, it's the title, it has nothing to do with OUR orchestra, or most other orchestras". Since that adventure I have received two other "anniversary" celebration commissions, the most recent is this piece, for the 50th anniversary of the Kokomo Symphony Orchestra. In my most optimistic, affirmative piece yet, the title - and the music - reflects resilience, stamina, organizational ups and downs, highs and lows, and an overall embracing of progress, evolution and a bright horizon into the future - appropriate for the KSO but also as a universal aspiration. 

Traditionally, it has been said that Chief Kokomo (a.k.a. Ma-Ko-Ko-Mo,  a.k.a. Koh-Koh-Ma, a.k.a. Kokomoko, etc.) was a great Miami chieftain in north-central Indiana of enormous physical size (7'2"), who was able to use his superior strength and cunning to secure the interests of his people and win them a vast hunting territory.  This version of the story holds that Kokomo was "last of the fighting chiefs".  Another, darker version of the story attested among the early settlers, however, maintains that Kokomo was not a chief at all, but rather a lazy, dishonest, wife-beating drunkard. According to this version of the story, Kokomo was such a horrible, despicable character that the Miami refused to accept him as a member of their tribe.

In Japanese: "kokomoko" :    心百   ココモ 

Mind. Spirit. Feelings. Thoughts. Heart. Affirmation. The center of things.

www.schellemusic.com/1�

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THE AFFIRMATION (2023), for orchestra

Michael Schelle

THE FIFTH HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE  (2023)
- for large orchestra

Commissioned by the South Bend Symphony Orchestra
Alastair Willis, music director and conductor

- temporary midi -

Premiere:  February 10, 2023
Morris Center for the Arts
South Bend, IN

New Testament Book of Revelations:
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are War, Conquest, Famine, Death.

Old Testament’s Book of Ezekiel:
Four Horseman are Sword, Famine, Wild Beasts, Pestilence / Plague 

"The fifth horseman is us" ...
-  Charles Sutherland Elton (1900-1991), English zoologist and animal ecologist

1924: the unbeatable Notre Dame football team backfield, under Knute Rockne, was labeled the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame.

The piece will be premiered in South Bend, IN, February 10, 2024, in a concert paired with Mahler 5. In addition to a brief nod to the Notre Dame fight song (m. 198-199) this piece includes brief references to five 5th symphonies (Beethoven omitted intentionally):
      Mahler 5:  m. 196-198
      Tchaikovsky 5:  m. 199
      Shostakovich 5:  m. 242-243
      Bruckner 5:  m. 270-272
      Sibelius 5:  m. 295-298


www.schellemusic.com/1.html

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THE FIFTH HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE (2023), for large orchestra

Miho Sasaki

SILVER GENTLE (2015) 
- for brass choir and percussion

Commissioned by the North Meridian Brass Choir
Michael David Krueger, founder / director


Program Note: SILVER GENTLE, commissioned by the North Meridian Brass Choir, Michael David Krueger, founder and director, is inspired by - and dedicated to - our beloved gentle giant silver Maine Coon cat, Mary Claire (July 4, 2000 – December 28, 2014). A breathtaking creature, my original plan for her piece was to honor her beauty, patience and unconditional love - but as the piece progressed I realized that what was being drawn out was my grief, sadness, anger and, ultimately, reluctant acceptance. 

website:  sasakimusic.com

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Miho Sasaki :  SILVER GENTLE (2015)

Michael Schelle

WHEN FEARS CEASE TO BE (2023)
- for violin and accordion

Premiere: October 31, 2023 - Indianapolis
- Karolina Mikołajczyk, violin
- Iwo Jedynecki, bayan accordion

Written for Warsaw, Poland friends Karolina Mikołajczyk (violin) and Iwo Jedynecki (bayan accordion) during the final sabbatical of my lengthy university teaching career, "When Fears Cease to Be" explores the universal intersections of fear / relief, danger / safety, doubt / trust. The title is a compression of the infamous 1818 John Keats poem "When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be" - but the implication here is the opposite / reverse of Keats' sad, chilling message of doom - there IS some sadness and a touch of fear here - but fear and doubt can subside; safety, resolution and peace can prevail.

www.schellemusic.com/1.html

"When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be" (1818)

- by JOHN KEATS (1795-1821)

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

John Keats was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets,
along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in
publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25.

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WHEN FEARS CEASE TO BE

Michael Schelle

SUMMIT AT SAN QUENTIN (2019)
- for chamber orchestra

Commissioned and premiered by
The Indiana University New Music Ensemble
David Dzubay, music director and conductor
5 March 2020

SUMMIT AT SAN QUENTIN (2019) - by Michael Schelle
San Quentin State Prison, located north of San Francisco, opened in 1852. The oldest prison in California, it is also the state's only death row. It has a gas chamber, gallows, and an electric chair, but since 1996 most executions at the prison have been carried out by lethal injection. Throughout its long history San Quentin has been “home” to dozens of high-profile bad guys—murderers, politicians, drug peddlers—and musicians.

Among the many infamous inmates: Henry Cowell (famous experimental composer who did time as the prison’s band leader), Eldridge Cleaver (noted author and early leader of the Black Panthers), Merle Haggard (country music legend), Stanley “Tookie” Williams (a founder of the L.A. Crips gang), Charles Manson (cult leader and mastermind of the “Helter Skelter” murders), Sirhan Sirhan (assassin of Robert F. Kennedy), Danny Trejo (movie star, boxer, restauranteur), and Richard Ramirez (serial murderer-rapist known as the “Night Stalker”).

Before those folk called Quentin home it housed the likes of Earl “Black Bart” Boles (1829-1888), a notably well-mannered poet-stagecoach robber known as the “gentleman bandit,” and “The Duchess,” Evelita Juanita Spinelli (1889-1941)—gangster, pro wrestler, brothel madame, and the first woman to be executed in the state of California.

If one looks for an upside to San Quentin’s rouges gallery it would have to be the San Quentin Jazz Band, a group of talented inmates (most of them in for robbery and/or drug-related charges) made up of both professional and amateur musicians. Its members included saxophonist Art Pepper (one of the 1950’s most celebrated and visible proponents of “West Coast Jazz”), pianist Jimmy Bunn (who performed and recorded with Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus), trumpeters Nathaniel Meeks (who worked with the Gerald Wilson and Johnny Otis bands) and Dupree Bolton (who played with Jay McShann, Harold Land, Bobby Hutcherson, and Dexter Gordon), saxophonists Earl Anderza, and Frank Morgan (who worked with Lionel Hampton, Wild Bill Davis, and Leroy Vinnegar before his drug habit led him into spending nearly 30 years bouncing in and out of prison, after which he enjoyed a successful 20-year comeback career). Locked up in the overcrowded San Quentin—a few yards from the gas chamber, and amid dire prison violence—the San Quentin Jazz Band played strikingly original, vibrant, life-affirming music every weekend in the “Big House.”

Summit at San Quentin, commissioned by the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, David Dzubay, director/conductor, is a fictional gathering of various inmates (including some of those noted above) under the watchful eyes of the prison guards. The cinematic “form” of the piece is freely episodic—as various participants interact, interject, interfere, intervene and improvise. An oft-recurring rhythmic pulse—a musical reference to the inescapable confines of prison life—surrounds the entire piece.

www.schellemusic.com
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SUMMIT AT SAN QUENTIN (2019)

PRAYER (2004)
by Michael Schelle

Kennesaw State University Wind Ensemble
November 2014
Charae Krueger, cello
David Thomas Kehler, conductor

VIDEO (Live performance): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK0IkiOOuHE&t=4s

www.schellemusic.com

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PRAYER (2004) for cello, chamber winds and percussion

Michael Schelle

SWASHBUCKLER (1984) for large orchestra

Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Neal Gittleman, music director and conductor
May 2014

Homage to the swashbuckling adventures of Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Olivia De Havilland ... and 1930's pirate film director Michael Curtiz and composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

SWASHBUCKLER (1984) for large orchestra

ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN (2016)

- by Michael Schelle

VIDEO (Live performance): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwIrpkTIH3E

REVIEW: http://jayharveyupstage.blogspot.com/2016/09/punctuating-beethoven-michael-schelles.html?m=1

www.schellemusic.com

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ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN (2016), for solo piano

Michael Schelle

BURY THE HATCHET (2016)

- temporary midi -

Commissioned for the Corona Guitar Kvartet
Copenhagen, Denmark
Premiere:  1 October 2017, Copenhagen (then, 'on tour')

CGK website:  http://coronaguitarkvartet.dk/

Michael Schelle website:  www.schellemusic.com

BURY THE HATCHET (2016), for guitar quartet

Michael Schelle
ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN (2016)

Jim Loughery, piano
Crystal DeHaan Concert Hall, 2017

Senior Recital 10/29/2016

Michael Schelle

ULTERIOR MOTIVES (2019)
- for piano

Temporary midi -
Commissioned for pianist R. Kent Cook

April 2020 premiere postponed (Covid)
April 2021 premiere postponed (Covid)
Premieres scheduled for March / April 2022
Bloomington, IL (Illinois Wesleyan Univ.)  3/27
Indianapolis, IN  (Butler U)  3/31
Indianapolis, IN (U Indy)  4/1

www.schellemusic.com

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ULTERIOR MOTIVES (2019), for piano

Michael Schelle

SUMMIT AT SAN QUENTIN (2019)
- for large chamber ensemble
Commissioned by the IU NME

- temporary midi -

Premieres: March 5 (Bloomington), April 21 (Indianapolis)
Indiana University New Music Ensemble
David Dzubay, music director / conductor

SUMMIT AT SAN QUENTIN (2019)  -  by Michael Schelle

San Quentin State Prison, located north of San Francisco, opened in 1852. 
The oldest prison in California, it is also the state's only death row. It has a gas chamber, gallows, and an electric chair, but since 1996 most executions at the prison have been carried out by lethal injection. Throughout its long history San Quentin has been “home” to dozens of high-profile bad guys—murderers, politicians, drug peddlers—and musicians. 

Among the many infamous inmates: Henry Cowell (famous experimental composer who did time as the prison’s band leader), Eldridge Cleaver (noted author and early leader of the Black Panthers), Merle Haggard (country music legend), Stanley “Tookie”Williams (a founder of the L.A. Crips gang), Charles Manson (cult leader and mastermind of the “Helter Skelter” murders), Sirhan Sirhan (assassin of Robert F. Kennedy), Danny Trejo (movie star, boxer, restauranteur), and Richard Ramirez (serial murderer-rapist known as the “Night Stalker”).

Before those folk called Quentin home it housed the likes of Earl “Black Bart” Boles (1829-1888), a notably well-mannered poet-stagecoach robber known as the “gentleman bandit,” and “The Duchess,”  Evelita Juanita Spinelli (1889-1941)—gangster, pro wrestler, brothel madame, and the first woman to be executed in the state of California.

If one looks for an upside to San Quentin’s rouges gallery it would have to be the San Quentin Jazz Band, a group of talented inmates (most of them in for robbery and/or drug-related charges) made up of both professional and amateur musicians. Its members included saxophonist Art Pepper (one of the 1950’s most celebrated and visible proponents of “West Coast Jazz”), pianist Jimmy Bunn (who performed and recorded with Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus), trumpeters Nathaniel Meeks (who worked with the Gerald Wilson and Johnny Otis bands) and Dupree Bolton (who played with Jay McShann, Harold Land, Bobby Hutcherson, and Dexter Gordon), saxophonists Earl Anderza, and Frank Morgan (who worked with Lionel Hampton, Wild Bill Davis, and Leroy Vinnegar before his drug habit led him into spending nearly 30 years bouncing in and out of prison, after which he enjoyed a successful 20-year comeback career). 

Locked up in the overcrowded San Quentin—a few yards from the gas chamber, and amid dire prison violence—the San Quentin Jazz Band played strikingly original, vibrant, life-affirming music every weekend in the “Big House.”

"Summit at San Quentin", commissioned by the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, David Dzubay, director/conductor, is a fictional gathering of various inmates (including some of those noted above) under the watchful eyes of the prison guards. The cinematic “form” of the piece is freely episodic—as various participants interact, interject, interfere, intervene and improvise.  An oft-recurring rhythmic pulse—a musical reference to the inescapable confines of prison life—surrounds the entire piece.

www.schellemusic.com

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SUMMIT AT SAN QUENTIN (2019), for large chamber ensemble

Michael Schelle

VIRUS (2019), for large orchestra
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Neal Gittleman, music director and conductor
Schuster Performing Arts Center, Dayton
October 19, 20, 2019

www.schellemusic.com

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VIRUS (2019), for large orchestra

from STRUWWELPETER (1991) by Michael Schelle
"Conrad Suck-a-Thumb" is song No. 7 in the cycle about rotten children
Text by Heinrich Hoffman (1850)
Steven Stolen, tenor
Chamber Ensemble cond. by Robert Grechesky

Michael Schelle:  CONRAD SUCK-A-THUMB (1991)

RAIN (2009) by Michael Schelle

Text: Vladimir Nabokov
Music: Michael Schelle

Commissioned for the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Orchestra
Julia Kogan, soprano
Jeffery Meyer, conductor

This is an excerpt (the final 3:00 of the piece)

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Michael Schelle's website:  http://schellemusic.com/1.html

Popular tracks by Michael Schelle