Cat No. JM45801
Price £89.95
Composer: Karl Jenkins
Arranger: Tony Small
Categories: LIGHT CONCERT MUSIC, TEST PIECES (Major Works)

A Mass for Peace " L'Homme Arme"

You can listen to extracts of this work on your computer, by clicking on the "MORE DETAILS" button on the right - this will reveal the six audio extracts for you to sample this great work now arranged for brass band. The recorded version differs slightly from the printed version - the printed version has links between movements which the recording does not.

If you enjoyed listening to these extracts, you can buy the full recording of this work on the CD section of our site. If you want to perform this work with your band, you can of course purchase the score and parts here right now, by clicking on "BUY NOW".

The recording is ECHOES OF THE EAST on Doyen DOY CD195

The Armed Man:A Mass for Peace, was commissioned by the Royal Armouries to commemorate the end of one millennium and the beginning of another. The Royal Armouries is Britain’s oldest national museum. It grew out of the arsenal of the medieval monarchs of England housed in the Tower of London and displays the hardware of war so that people can understand what war really is and what it means to the people involved in it.

Karl Jenkins started composing The Armed Man when the tragedy of Kosovo unfolded. He was thus reminded daily of the horror of such conflict and was so moved by these events that he decided to dedicate this work to the victims of Kosovo.

L ‘Homme Armé was a song written at the Court of Charles of Burgundy between 1450 and 1463 and is the theme forming the framework of this Mass by Karl Jenkins. Guy Wilson, the Master of the Royal Armouries, selected the inspiring text used in this composition. The first performance was given by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall, London on the 25 April 2000 and has since been recorded on CD, conducted by the composer (Virgin 7243 8 11015 2 0). The Armed Man has 12 movements (plus an additional one without any music: A Call To Prayers) but this version for brass band uses only six of them in addition to quotations from other movements linking the sections and was first performed in 2002 by the National Youth Brass Band of Wales conducted by Dr Robert Childs. A longer version was recorded on the Doyen label ( ECHOES of the EAST ) by the Buy As You View Band 2005, conducted by Dr. Robert Childs.

The movements are:
1. L’Homme Armé(The Armed Man) - written 1450-63.
2. Hymn Before Action - set to the powerful poem of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), which ends "Lord grant us strength to die! ".
3. Charge - words by John Dryden (1631-1700) and Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).
4. Agnus Dei words: ordinary of the Mass (Greek,).
5. Benedictus words: ordinary of the Mass (Latin).
6. Better is Peace - words of Sir Thomas Mallory (?-1471), Le Morte d’Arthur (1469-1470) and Lord Tennyson (1809-1892).

The duration of this arrangement is approx 15 minutes. For competition purposes, an optional cut can be made - letter Q to R - thus reducing the length to approx. 14 minutes.

Notes for a Concert Performance:
In a concert performance, band members could stamp their feet in time with the beat, as if marching, commencing quietly and getting louder until the first entry in bar three, with the first two bars repeated for as long as required in order to build up a suitably dramatic effect. Another atmospheric effect - between bars 171-174, get as many persons as possible to sing, starting quietly, until a tremendous crescendo is achieved, ending in a scream the composer states in his score: “sing any notes & randomly gliss. up & down, then hold (at the pause in bar 174) to convey the horror of conflict!” Should a choir be performing with the band in a concert, it would be ideal for them assist.

BENEDICTUS (arranged by Tony Small) has been published as a euphonium solo, arranged by Tony Small for David Childs and recorded on the Doyen label ( Hear My Prayer), and is on sale separately.