Product Description
The first performance of "Martha, or The Market at Richmond," a romantic comic opera by the German composer Friedrich von Flotow, took place in Vienna in 1847. Subsequent presentations were performed in a number of other languages, including Hungarian, Czech, English and Italian. Two of the most memorable arias from Martha are “The Last Rose of Summer” and “Ach! so fromm.” “Last Rose” was, of course, based on the poem by Thomas Moore. “Ach! So fromm,” known more familiarly by its Italian lyric, “M'appari, tutt'amor,” was an original composition by Flotow, a piece he had composed for an earlier opera and inserted into Act 3 of Martha as Lyonel’s tenor solo.
In 1955, The Crew Cuts, a Canadian pop singing group, recorded a song titled “Mostly Martha.” Written by Dorcas Cochran (words) and Ralph Sterling (music), it charted in early 1956. As so many pop song writers have done, Sterling borrowed the melody from a piece of classical music: “M’appari.” While “M’appari” and “Mostly Martha” share the same melody, the words and sentiment are quite different. Lyonel laments that Martha has left him, while The Crew Cuts jauntily proclaim, “Mostly Martha, Mostly Martha. What has she got? She's got the most.”
This brass quintet arrangement takes a middle ground. It follows closely the basic structure of Flotow’s operatic aria but does so in a sort-of up-tempo manner and with a great deal of variation in the accompaniment. It’s not really The-Crew-Cut-style “She’s got the most,” but it’s certainly more positive than Lyonel’s song of longing. The piece starts with a suggested tempo of 90 bpm, changes to 80 at section C, and speeds up to 92 at the end. All instruments get a turn playing the melody, and there are no really tricky rhythmic patterns. There are, however, grace notes, rallentandos, an “a piacere” and a number of fermatas. All notes are, for the most part, within normal playing range of each of the five instruments, with two exceptions: near the end Trumpet 1 has an A above its staff, followed two measures later by a high B-flat.
Completed in 2022, performance time runs about 2 minutes, 45 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge. He would like to receive your suggestions, comments, corrections and criticisms. Also, purchase of this piece entitles you to your choice of another of his arrangements at no charge; send a copy of your purchase receipt to him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the search box. (Also, purchase of this piece entitles you to your choice of another of his arrangements at no charge; send a copy of your purchase receipt directly to him at lessmith61@bellsouth.net.)
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