CONCERTO FOR EUPHONIUM - PHILIP HARPER
In March 2020, I made contact with Philip Harper, who currently conducts The Cory Band which is the current world number one ranked brass band, to explore commissioning a new piece of music for the Euphonium which explored some of the major events that were experienced by my Great Grandfather Henry Nichols, and the men of The 1/6th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment between July 1916 and March 1917. Over the course of the following months, myself and Philip Harper explored a number of potential options for a new work for the Euphonium before I settled on the idea of commissioning a new 'Concerto for Euphonium' from the pen of Philip Harper.
After a lot of preparation and planning, it was decided that this new 'Concerto for Euphonium' would be split into three movements with the first movement of the new 'Concerto for Euphonium' focusing on the events of August 1916 where The 1/6th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment conducted an attack around Oviller La Boisselle in conjunction with the other infantry battalions from The 143rd Infantry Brigade, The 48th (South Midland) Division. The second movement explores the events that took place in December 1916, where the men of The 1/6th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment were relieved from their front line positions around Le Sars by The 1/4th Battalion, The Gloucester Regiment. The men of The 1/6th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment spent December 1916 and early January 1917, on a period of rest and training around Millencourt, Warloy and Liercourt. The second movement of Philip Harper's 'Concerto for Euphonium' concludes with the men of The 1/6th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment preparing to return to the front line.
The final movement of Philip Harper's 'Concerto for Euphonium' focuses on the events of Sunday 4th February 1917, where The 1/6th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment repelled a trench raid that was conducted by elements of The 4th Foot Guards Regiment (Das 4. Garde Regiment zu Fuß) who were part of The 1st Prussian Guards Infantry Division (Die 1. Garde Infanterie Division).
Over the course of the past year, myself and Steven Mead have received and worked on a number of drafts of Philip Harper's new 'Concerto for Euphonium' which after many hours of work has led to the final version of this new 'Concerto for Euphonium' being finalised in its current form.
As this project explores such a specific subject, I approached Tim Godden and Christa Hook to help bring the project to life through their artwork. It has been absolutely incredible to see the research that has gone into the creation of each piece of artwork with even the tiniest details being featured within the final version of each piece of artwork. A rather exciting aspect of this part of the project was seeing the correct company and battalion identification patches and insignia which were worn by the men of The 1/6th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment in late 1916 and early 1917 being recreated within each piece of artwork.
To give a historical perspective and context to the project, I asked historian Paul Reed if he would be willing to write an introduction to each movement of Philip Harper's new 'Concerto for Euphonium'. I have always been inspired by the work of Paul Reed and it has been a real privilege to be able to commission and feature an original piece of writing from the pen of Paul Reed within this project. To further bring to life the historical aspects of this project, I challenged my friend Andy Hart who is an experienced living historian and modeller, to create a model diorama of a small section of British front line trench using an original 1917 dated trench map. The section of trench featured in the diorama was originally located in the area facing the German front line trenches around La Maisonnette with the diorama depicting the events of Sunday 4th February 1917, where elements of The 4th Foot Guards Regiment (Das 4. Garde Regiment zu Fuß) raided the front line trenches occupied by the men of The 1/6th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
It has been an absolutely incredible experience to watch this project coming to life over the course of the past year. It has been a privilege to work alongside so many talented individuals who have used their talents to bring to life the real life experiences of my Great Grandfather Henry Nichols, and the men of The 1/6th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
I wanted to finish this post by sharing a short excerpt from the first movement of Philip Harper's new 'Concerto for Euphonium' as well as sharing a small preview of some of the artwork and part of the model diorama which has been specially created for this project by Tim Godden, Christa Hook and Andy Hart which you can view in the gallery below.
