In February 1993, just a matter of weeks before he died, John Golland (1942-1993), frail and wheelchair bound, was brought to the old BBC Studios on Oxford Road in Manchester to hear two of his last works performed at the BBC Festival of Brass. Both pieces came into being through Golland’s connection with Salford University, where he had been lecturing on its Brass Musicianship course until the onset of his final illness. Roy Newsome, one of the originators of the course, was responsible for commissioning Aria (Op. 83), which had been premièred by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, under Richard Evans, and then played in Manchester by Sun Life Band with Dr. Newsome at the helm. The other more extrovert score was Concerto for Band (Op. 82), which was receiving a UK premiere by the Manger Musikklag from Norway. Talking with John Golland in the studio at the time, I was left in no doubt that he was proud of these ‘late’ works and that he valued the encouragement and support of his Salford colleagues and many others in the brass band community, particularly in the North West and in Switzerland, who had also commissioned music from him over the years.
However, looking back on his work, he acknowledged that the manner in which he composed during the second part of his career – an idiom that, for want of a better expression, might be described as ‘Radio 2 and a half’ – was not how he thought he would end up writing. He seemed to regret that he hadn’t had the confidence to press on, after serving a long and determined apprenticeship, to expand further the more complex and intense language of the works that he composed around the age of 30. Until then, writing for orchestra and chamber ensembles was a higher priority than bands, as he sought to establish a professional composing career. Golland’s favoured path would have led to symphonies, string quartets and operas, but his was a long and winding path that eventually arrived at a different destination.
His musical gift was spotted early, when at the age of two he was found trying to pick out nursery rhymes on his grandmother’s piano. When he was four, his parents (a window cleaner and a dressmaker from Dukinfield, near Ashton-under-Lyne, where Golland lived throughout his life) bought him a piano of his own. He began piano lessons at 4 with local teacher Peggy Mayers. Despite problems with his sight, among other physical challenges, Golland showed promise and soon after gaining a scholarship to De La Salle College, Salford, was making strides as a pianist as well as beginning to compose and arrange. At de la Salle he was taught piano by the school music-master and began to learn the violin and recorder; he also began to compose and to arrange hymns for the annual speech days.
Set on a teaching career, Golland attended training college in Oldham (also De La Salle), beginning his first job as a music teacher at St. Anselm’s School, Oldham in 1964. More importantly, he also undertook part-time studies at the Royal Manchester College of Music with two distinguished teachers, the composer, poet, painter and ‘all-rounder’, Thomas Pitfield (1903-1999), who was a huge formative influence, and the pianist, Marjorie Clementi, for whom he composed Epigrams. Golland’s early music followed a well-trodden path, beginning with chamber music (including a couple of string quartets, a brass quartet and a wind quintet), songs, choral works and gradually expanding in scope and scale to orchestra and band.
He also showed himself adept at providing ‘do-able’ music for his school, for young or inexperienced performers – a kind of Tameside Gebrauchmusik. Songs for Children and Bats in the Belfry are two early examples. Golland’s first brass band work dates from 1967 – a short rhapsody entitled The Lonely Sea and Sky (Op. 8). A suite entitled Deva (Op. 16) was his first brass band publication. From then until his death, he was hardly ever without a brass or wind band project of some kind ‘on the go’.
In 1970, Golland gave up full-time school teaching to devote more time to composition. He became enormously productive as both composer and arranger for brass and concert band – testament perhaps to his self-motivation and discipline. His output became immediately more substantial and ambitious, including a 60 minute Christmas oratorio, The Word Made Flesh (Op. 24) – also with words by Thomas Pitfield – a Concerto for Trumpet and Strings (Op. 29), the first two of his three orchestral Sinfoniettas, for amateur orchestras, and an opera for children based on Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant (Op. 61). By far the most adventurous of his early works was his Symphony (Op.33), completed in February 1972. From the manuscript copy, which I have read through, this appears to be Golland’s most serious and musically complex score. It has never been performed or subject to any further revision, unlike the Trumpet Concerto or the Piano Concerto (Op. 35), completed five months later. This was composed originally with brass band accompaniment, but Golland completed an orchestral version, with revisions, in 1987. It too remains in manuscript.
Golland’s contribution to the repertoire of the brass and wind band in this country and on the European continent is highly regarded, both for its range and craftsmanship. He became a fine ‘orchestrator’ for brass and wind band, but was not born into the banding community like many of its most skilled practitioners. In fact he was into his 20s before he picked up a brass band instrument – the euphonium – presumably in order to familiarise himself with the possibilities of the medium from the inside. He played in Stalybridge Band for a short time, but it wasn’t long before his talents as conductor, composer and arranger were being put to productive use. He worked with Boarshurst and West Hill bands, and Mossley Brow Choir, before taking on Adamson Military Band in 1970. He later also directed City of Chester Band and was the resident conductor for a short time at Foden’s, following the retirement of Rex Mortimer in 1976. Golland conducted and composed for the James Shepherd Versatile Brass. The first time I witnessed his bold conducting style was the musical director of Dobcross Band.
His most admired brass band composition is Sounds (Op.37) of 1973. It is an impressive abstract symphonic study for band – concise and disciplined in organisation, intense in expression, colourful in execution and full of subtle harmonic twists and turns that add complexity and depth to Golland’s diatonic, post-romantic idiom. Realising that it might have potential as a Championship test-piece, Golland tried to get it picked for major competitions, but with no success. The composer’s faith in the piece never wavered and over the years made several revisions, including the addition of a loud ending, in an attempt to make it more contest friendly. However, as he commented to me in 1991, “It’s the only reworking over which, in retrospect, I have any regrets.” For many, including myself, the chord sequence that he added, but didn’t seem to like, is one of the work’s most original touches. The first performance of the final, definitive version eventually took place in 1991, when Black Dyke Mills performed it at the BBC Festival of Brass, conducted by David King, since when the work has taken its rightful place in the established repertoire of serious brass band works.
I am in no doubt that John Golland’s confidence was knocked by the lack of interest shown in Sounds over the years. He said as much to me in 1993, but whatever the compromises he felt he had to make to get his later music performed, he clearly found a formula for success commercially and artistically within the field of band music. He relished writing warm, expansive melodies. He learned much from favourite opera composers such as Richard Strauss and Puccini. His harmonic palette became straightforward, a broadbrush approach often simple chord sequences over which he could spin his tunes. He completed no fewer than 37 original works for band, the majority commissioned as concert works rather than test pieces, although the more substantial of them have found their niche on the contest stage. Being as productive as he was, it is perhaps not a surprise than sometimes the level of inspiration or imagination drops, but at its best his music is colourful, communicative and always well-crafted for the intended forces. The process by which he conjured up instrumental colours as if out of the ether at the start of Sounds, with a mixture of barred and metrically free material he developed to a sophisticated level as the opening gambit of his most personal pieces – as in the elusive sound world of Atmospheres, or his evocation of the Swiss Alps in Bellnaand Concerto for Orchestra.
Golland’s band music is especially admired in Switzerland, where he spent many summer holidays and received some notable commissions, including Sounds, Bellna, Atmospheres and Concerto for Band. He also accepted a number of requests for ‘occasional’ pieces from banding friends and associates, including two marches in the 1980s to which he assigned the same opus number (op. 66 no. 2). The first of the pair is the more interesting. Graubünden March was completed on 24 August 1981 and inscribed ‘for Martin Casenteri and Brassband Graubünden’. His solo concertos have become repertoire staples – two for euphonium, one each for Robert and Nicholas Childs, a late lyrical Flugelhorn Concerto for Grimethorpe Colliery Band’s Stan Lippeatt, and a Tuba Concerto that remained unperformed until taken up after Golland’s death by tubists Andrew Duncan and James Gourlay.
Away from the banding community, other works have also become internationally recognized, notably his New World Dances, one of a number of pieces written for recorder virtuoso and all-round encourager of new work for the instrument, John Turner. Those with long memories might recall his hugely entertaining musical contributions to three series of ITV’s comedy sketch shows Dear Ladies, starring Dr. Evadne Hinge (aka George Logan) and Dame Hilda Bracket (aka Patrick Fyffe). Golland also composed for Granada TV and for a film, Ardotalia (1971)In the late 1980s he resumed teaching, in the department of Music and Media Studies at Salford College of Technology (Now Salford University) A plaque erected at Dukinfield Town Hall in celebration of the life of John Golland, a composer, arranger and band conductor, born in Ashton-under-Lyne and who lived in Dukinfield all his life. Golland died April 14th 1993, after a long illness. After his death his parents invited John Turner, his executor, to establish The John Golland Trust to promote and manage his compositions.
His own meticulously documented catalogue of original compositions extends to well over 100 original works, of which 88 were allotted opus numbers. Some are missing but the majority were published. Those that remain in manuscript are now part of an extensive John Golland Collection which his late mother deposited to the RNCM Archive in 1998. After her death in 2001 John Golland’s executors formalised the RNCM’s acquisition.
In beginning the process of creating a Catalogue Raisonne of the John Golland’s finished original work, I have drawn on five primary sources, the composer’s own typewritten Catalogue of Works, a handwritten publisher lists, chronological lists of compositions and arrangements and the catalogue of the RNCM’s John Golland Collection. I have also researched the publication lists of the music publishers to whom Golland released his work. Compositions and arrangements are presented in opus or date order within genre specific classifications. Where appropriate current publishers, durations, dedicatees and performance details and commentaries are included.
Manuscript sources and catalogues
GCW Golland typewritten Catalogue of Works and Arrangements
GLO Golland typewritten list of compositions with opus numbers
GT The Golland Trust, contact John Turner (Executor), 40 Parsonage Road,
Heaton Moor, Stockport, SK4 4JR
GWL Golland handwritten work list
RNCM Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
Publishers
CM Con Moto Publications (formerly Mostyn Music), ceased trading in April 2016. All copyrights were returned to The Golland Trust or reassigned to Studio Music
EMI Re-assignments from British & Continental Music Agencies Ltd, London
Forsyth Forsyth Brother Ltd., Manchester
Frantom Frantom Music, Chesterfield, Derbyshire. No current record of this company has
been traced
Hall Hallamshire Music, Louth, Lincolnshire
Kirklees Kirklees Music, Brighouse, West Yorkshire
Molinaar Molinaar NV, The Netherlands
SM Studio Music, since 2019 a wholly owned imprint, alongside R.Smith & Co, of Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCol), Wellingborough, Northants.
Catalogue classifications
Band Music [wind and brass]
Chamber Music [3 or more players]
Choral Music
Instrumental music [unaccompanied and with keyboard]
Keyboard Music [harpsichord, organ and piano]
Orchestral works
Theatre, television and film music
Vocal music
THE ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS OF JOHN GOLLAND
BAND MUSIC
JG 8 The Lonely Sea and Sky, Rhapsody for brass band, Op.8
MS – RNCM (JG/O/08), full score and sketches; D – score dated 24 July – 3 August 1967; P – contact GT; T – c. 9 mins; FP – 11 May, 2003, Brighouse & Rastrick Band, cond. David Hirst. Golland’s first original work for brass band, the Rhapsody’s title is derived from the second line of John Masefield’s poem Sea Fever. It is likely that Golland composed the work for the City of Chester Brass Band.
JG wo5 West Hill March for brass band
Work missing; listed in GLO but yet to be located.
JG wo6 Glossop March for brass band
Work missing; listed in GLO but yet to be located
JG 16 Deva, Op.16 Suite for brass band (or wind band)
MS – whereabouts of holograph full score not located; RNCM (JG/O/16), brass band parts;
D – 1971; P – Molinaar, 1972 (brass band), 1975 (wind band); T – 10 mins; FP – 3 October 1971, Veter (Switzerland) by Brass Band Bienne.
JG 18 Party Pieces, Op.19 Suite No. 2 for brass band (also scored for orchestra) MS – RNCM (JG/O/18), two ms scores, one titled Party Pieces and the other Party Piece Suite (Divertimento); D – score dated 7 April 1969; P – Frantom (undated); T – 10 mins; FP – 19 May 1975, Worsley by Walkden and Hammonds Sauce Works bands; C – second manuscript is inscribed ‘To my father’. The RNCM also hold two further photocopies of the Suite, copied from a different manuscript. [See also under orchestral music].
JG 20i & ii Pastiche, Op.20a & b Overture for brass band or wind band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/20), sets of brass and wind band parts; D – June 1969, rescored 1975; P – Frantom (brass band version); T – 9 mins; FP – 7 May 1984 (wind band)
JG 23 The Cosmonauts, Op. 23 Overture for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/23), three scores, band parts and sketches; D – score dated February 1970; Unpublished; T – 9 mins
JG 26 Epic Theme, Op. 26 Prelude for brass band (or wind band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/26), Full scores and conductor score; D – 1971; P – GT; T – 9 mins;
FP – 24 October 1971; C – 1971 Glossop Festival.In GCW Golland notes that a wind band version has been completed.
JG 27 Fantasia on Cheshire Folk Tunes, Op. 27 arranged for brass and wind bands MS – RNCM (JG/O/27), wind band parts (some photocopies); D – orchestral score dated 12 January 1971; P – Frantom (brass band version); T – 8-9 mins
JG 34 Mancunia, Op. 34 March-Prelude for brass band (also arranged for wind band) MS – RNCM (JG/O/34), scores and printed parts; D – score dated 5 April 1972; P – EMI (1974); T – c.5 mins; FP – 18 June 1972, Belle Vue Pleasure Gardens; C – Manchester Sports Council.
JG 35 Concerto for Piano and Brass Band, Op. 35 (also arranged for wind band and orchestra)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/35), full score and piano reduction of original version; full score and two piano version of revised version and brass band parts; D – original full score is dated 3 July 1972, revised score ‘Winter 1986-87’; P – contact GT; T – 27 mins; FP – 30 September 1972, Bienne, Switzerland; C – ‘A tous mes amis Biennois’. In GLO Golland notes that he completed a wind band version in 1990. The whereabouts of score and parts is not known.
JG 36 Serenade, Op. 36 for trombone and brass band (or piano)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/36), instrumental parts; D – c. 1972; P – Hall; D – 4 mins
JG 37 Sounds, Op.37 Symphonic Study for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/35), full score of original version; D – c. 1973, later revised; P – Kirklees (1991); T – 15 mins; FP – 29 September 1974; C – Ustermusiktage, Switzerland. Golland writes about Sounds as follows: ‘My idea was to fashion a series of symphonic variations out of the opening fragments, in particular a little three-note motif which governs the development of the melodic and harmonic interest. The original quiet ending was meant to takethe music back whence it came. The revised loud ending, with its special sound effects, also refers to the “home” key of each variation.’
JG 38 A Christmas Offering, Op. 38 A Fantasia on Christmas Carols for brass band (or wind band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/38), full and short brass band scores, plus photocopied and printed score and parts; score and parts of wind band version; D – 1973; P – contact GT; c. 14mins
JG 39i Fanfare for Youth, Op. 39, no. 1 for brass band
MS – whereabouts not located; D – c.1973; P – EMI; T – 3 mins; FP – 3 February 1974, Worsley
JG 39ii Fives and Threes, Op. 39, no. 2 arranged for brass band
MS – In GWC, Golland notes that he has prepared a version for full brass band. Performing material has yet to be located.
JG 40 In Celebration, Op. 40 Overture for brass or wind band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/40& 90), brass band score (and annotated photocopy), plus band parts. Also set of published material; D – c.1974; P – contact GT ; T – 7 mins.
JG 41 Relay, Op. 41 for three cornets, three trombones and brass or wind band MS – RNCM (JG/O/41), full score; D – score dated 25 October 1974; P – SM, brass band version; T – 4 mins FP – 15 January, 1975, Manchester Town Hall.
JG 42i Chartreuse, Op. 42, no. 1 March for brass band
MS – whereabouts of holograph MS note located; RNCM (JG/O/42), photocopied parts; GT, photocopy of holograph score; D – c. 1975; P – Contact GT; T – 3 mins; FP – 30 March, 1975, Bienne Brass Band, Switzerland. The first of Golland’s many visits to Switzerland came about through an invitation from Brass Band Bienne in the early 1970s. This was the start of a long friendship with the band, its conductor Sisin Eicher and his son Pascal, who later took over the conducting of the band from his father. Golland named this march after the band’s favourite restaurant and included a melody written for Sisin Eicher by pianist Marcel Frossard. The original manuscript material may now reside in Switzerland.
JG 42ii Soft Candlelight, Op. 42ii for brass band
MS – missing work; whereabouts of holograph material unknown; D – c. 1975; Unpublished; T – 3 mins
JG 43 Fanfare Diversions, Op.43 for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/43), full score; D – score dated 20 September 1975; P – Hall; T – 10 mins; FP – 11 September 1977, Peterborough.
The declamatory nature of this tri-partite work has made it popular as a contest piece. It has been chosen as a test piece for various contests including the National Championships of The Netherlands, the Pontin’s Contest in the UK and the Swiss ‘Open’ Contest (1990).
JG wo10 Fanfare for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/sketches), full score; D – score dated April 1976; Unpublished
JG 46 Concerto for Tuba, Op. 46 arranged for brass band (Paul Hindmarsh)
or wind band (Christian Janssen)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/46), two full scores and piano reduction; D – c. 1976-7; P – SM, brass band, Baton Music (The Netherlands), wind band under license; T – 20 mins; FP – Brass band: 25 January 2020, RNCM Brass Band Festival, Manchester, by Leslie Neish (tuba), Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, conducted by Russell Gray. A version for brass band (now presumed lost) was prepared by composer and conductor Philip Harper for tuba player Steve Sykes and Grimethorpe Colliery Band (Ray Farr). At the invitation of The Golland Trust, Paul Hindmarsh completed a second brass band transcription in 2018.
JG 47i Capriccio Burlando, Op. 47, no. 1 for horn trio and brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/47), full score (mis-catalogued as 41-1), note and parts, originally titled Holiday for Horns; D – score dated 29 March 1977; P – Hall; T – 4 mins
JG 47ii Chanson Trevaux, Op. 47, no. 2 Traditional Swiss melody arranged for brass or wind band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/47-2), photocopies MS of score and portion of holograph, plus two
photocopied sets of printed parts; D – c. 1976; P – Hall; T – 3 mins; FP – 4 December 1976,
Switzerland
JG 48i Cantilena, Op. 48, no. 1 for solo instrument in B flat and brass band MS – RNCM, full score mis-catalogued as (JG/O/45a); D – score dated May 1977; P – Hall; T – 3 mins.
JG 48ii Peace, Op. 48, no. 2 for euphonium (or baritone) and brass band (or piano) MS – RNCM (JG/O/48), two photocopied full scores, plus set of MS parts; D – 1973 (as an organ voluntary); P – Hall; T – 4 mins.
The items that comprise Op. 47 and 48 were probably have become four of Golland’s most commercially successful brass band works. Cantilena is of moderate difficulty and designed to be performed on any treble and tenor brass band instrument in B flat. It works especially well on the softer-sounding instruments like the flugelhorn and baritone horn. Peace was originally composed as an organ voluntary, which was played at the funeral of his niece Alice, who died of cancer at a very tender age. Golland inscribed this published work ‘For Robert and Gillian’. His poignant melody has found its home in the repertoire of euphonium and baritone players all over the world.
JG 49i Bandkraft, Op. 49, no. 1 for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/49-2), band parts for volume 1 of the collection, including Golland’s title
march; D – 1978; P – Forsyth (1978); T – 4 mins
JG 49ii Bossa Nova, Op. 49, no. 2 for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/49-1), full score; D – 1978; P – Forsyth (1978); T – 4 mins; C – ‘For Ifor James’.
In 1978 Manchester publisher Forsyth Brothers brought out a volume of Bandkraft – New Music for Brass as a means of introducing brass bands below the elite level to joys and challenges of contemporary music of all styles. Under the general editorship of the distinguished French horn player Ivor James, who was at that time introducing contemporary music to elite bands as musical director of Besses o’ th’ Barn Band, three volumes of short original pieces and arrangements were published for players of modest technique. John Golland was the ‘nuts and bolts’ editor of the series, which is still available on line as a download, or in print. The three volumes of Bankcraft have proved especially useful for youth bands, where the flexible nature of the scoring made it possible for the pieces to be performed successfully with less than a full complement of players.
JG 50 Scherzo, Op. 50 for tuba and brass band (or piano)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/50), photocopy of full score; D – c. 1977-8; P – Hall; T – c. 5 mins
JG 51 Lesser Thorns, Op. 51 Four Tableaux for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/51), full scores and parts; GT, partially re-edited score masters; D – score dated March 1978; P – contact GT; T – 12 mins.
The composer has written: ‘Lesser Thorns is the name of a house. It is the home of composer Thomas Pitfield and his wife Alice. I first knew Tom as my tutor for composition, but over the years he and Alice have become very close friends indeed, and it was as a 75th birthday present that this piece was composed in 1978. A certain amount of subterfuge went on during this composition – I ‘borrowed’ (with Alice’s help” his notebook of birdcalls (Tom always has been a very ardent observer of all the countryside – flora, fauna, and feathers as well!) and selected a couple of these. Then I found out his favourite hymn tune (Divinum Myserium) and Alice’s favourite folk tune. I tried to weave these all together in four tableaux, which hopefully present a musical picture of a marvellous person. [JG, 1987]
JG 53i & ii A Christmas Overture, Op. 53a & b for brass band or wind band
MS – whereabouts of MSs has not been located; D – c. 1977-8; P – Hall; T – 7 mins.
JG 55 Into the Ark, Op. 55 for narrator and brass band (or wind band), with text by Thomas Pitfield
MS – RNCM (JG/O/55), Scores of brass and wind band versions; GT, original MS brass band parts, production masters for both versions; D – 1978; P – contact GT; T – 14 mins; FP – 9 February 1979, RNCM Manchester, Manchester North Music Centre Brass Band; C – Commissioned by Manchester Education Committee.
JG 57 Three-bone Rag, Op. 57 for trombone trio and brass band (or wind band) MS – RNCM (JG/O/57), MS score and parts of both versions; D – c. 1979; P – Kirklees; T – 4 mins; FP – 22 August 1982, Aubonne, Switzerland; T – 4 mins; C – ‘For Andrew, ‘Tec and Paul’.
JG 64 Concerto No. 1 for Euphonium and Brass Band, Op. 64 also with wind band or orchestra
MS – RNCM (JG/O/64), piano reduction score, brass band parts plus two incomplete photocopies sets of brass and wind band parts; D – 1980-81; P – Chester (Wise Music), rental only, piano reduction for sale; T – 19 mins; FP – brass band: 2 March 1981, Sydney Opera House, Australia; wind band: 29 September 1983, RNCM, Manchester.
John Golland’s autobiographical Euphonium Concerto No.1, was composed for Robert Childs, who gave the first performance in 1981 in Australia, where the Grimethorpe Colliery Band (MD. Ray Farr), of which Robert was then a member, was on tour.
JG 65 Prelude, Song and Dance, Op. 65 for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/65), 2 scores of original ensemble version; one of the final brass band suite with band parts; RNCM (JG/O/sketches), Unfinished score for ‘Scherzo for Op. 65’); D – 1981;P – Kirklees; T – 10 mins; FP – 25 September 1981, Switzerland (full version).
The attractive suite Prelude, Song and Dance is musically and technically aimed at community (4th section in band contest grading) and youth bands. Golland composed it for the small, children’s band of St. John Bosco Junior School, Moston, in Manchester and made a full version for publication. Sketches of a ‘Scherzo for Op. 65’ indicate that Golland had considered producing a four-movement suite.
JG 66i Graubünden March, Op. 66, no. 1 for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/66-2), full score and two sets of band parts; Brassband Graubünden, a further MS set; D – score; dated 24 August 1981; P – GT [ by request], edited Paul Hindmarsh; T – 4 mins; FP – 19 September 1981, Chur, Switzerland by Brassband Graubünden; C – ‘Martin Casenteri and Brassband Graubünden’.
JG 66ii Marshe Pierre Pertuis, Op. 66, no. 2 for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/66-2a), full score and two sets of band parts; D – score dated 17 November 1986; P – GT [ by request], edited Paul Hindmarsh; T – c. 3 mins; C – ‘Pour Romain, Jacqueline, Aude et Laure’, his great friends from Brassband Bienne.
JG 68 Rêves d’Enfants, Op. 68 Fantasie sur thèmes Suisses pour brassband (or wind band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/68), holograph short score, full score (photocopy), wind and brass band parts. D – 1982; P – Hall; T – 8 mins; FP – 26 August 1982, Torrestruy, Switzerland.
One of’s closest friends in Switzerland was Romain Farine, flugel horn player of. Golland often stayed with Romain Farine and his family on his visits to Brassband Bienne. He dedicated Infant Dreams to Romain’s daughters, Aude and Laure.
JG 71 Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 71 for E flat tenor horn (or F horn) and brass band (or wind band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/71), 2 full scores, 2 short scores, horn and piano parts; set of published material; D – 1986; P – SM (1986); T – 8 mins; C – ‘For Gordon and Sylvia Higginbottom on their 25th wedding anniversary’.
JG 72i Ballade for Cornet, Op. 72, no. 1 with brass band (or piano)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/71), full score and printed parts; photocopied parts marked up for wind
band; 2 piano reduction scores; D – 1984; P – SM (1986); T – c.5 mins; C – ‘For Alan and Ann’.
JG 72ii Adagio for Cornet, Op. 72, no. 2 with brass band (or piano)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/71-2 & sketches), full score and piano reduction, listed as Ballade No. 2; D – unknown; Unpublished; T – c.5 mins; C – ‘For Phil and Jane’.
JG 73 Childs Play, Op. 73 for euphonium duet (or solo) and brass band (or piano)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/73), photocopies of full score, piano reduction and parts; D – 1986; P – Hall; T – 7 mins; C – ‘For Robert and Nicholas Childs’.
JG 77 Concerto No. 2 for Euphonium and Brass Band, Op. 77 also with wind band or orchestra
MS – RNCM (JG/O/77), piano reduction score; D – 1987; P – SM, rental only, piano reduction for sale; D – 20 mins; FP – brass band: 28 January 1988, Barbican, London, played by Nicholas Childs (euphonium); C – ‘For Nicholas and Robert Childs’.
At the heart of this substantial, ‘Straussian’ work, is an extended slow movement which was composed as a tribute ‘In memoriam’ to John Childs, father of Robert and Nicholas.
JG 79 Atmospheres, Op. 79 for concert band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/79), parts; whereabouts of MS score not located; D – c. 1988-9; P – Molinaar; T – 18 mins; FP – 1 October 1989, Ustermusiktage, Switzerland; C – ‘For Robert, Lisbeth, Markus and Brigitte’.
JG 80 Bellna, Op. 80 Suite for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/80), full score with additional transposed ms of second movement (Nocturne-Chasseral); D – 1988-9; P – Kirklees [revised edition by Paul Hindmarsh]; T – 15 mins (revised edn.); FP – 22 April 1989, Bienne; C – commissioned to mark Brassband Bienne’s 25th anniversary.
Bellna is a richly romantic and evocative work full of Swiss flavour. The first movement celebrates the region itself in an expansive and demanding soundscape, full of extravagant gestures. It is considered to be too long and technically demanding in comparison with the rest of the work by those who have performed it. The Golland Trust, in association with publisher Kirklees, agreed to publishing an abridged version of the first movement, undertaken by Paul Hindmarsh, to create a more balanced form. The haunting central nocturne was inspired by a night time drive up the highest mountain pass in the area. The energetic finale describes the atmosphere of La Braderie, a three-day feast in Bienne itself.
JG 81 Meiso, Op. 81 Duet for tenor and baritone horn with brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/81), ms parts; whereabout of full score not confirmed; D – 1990; P – Kirklees (1992); T – c. 6 mins; FP – June 1990, Japan; 28 June, Leeds Town Hall, UK.
Originally entitled Contemplation, this atmospheric duet was commissioned for Alexander Smith and Peter Christian, principal horn and baritone (respectively) of John Foster and Son Black Dyke Mills Band.
JG 82 Concerto for Brass Band, Op. 82
MS – RNCM (JG/O/82), incomplete full score and sketches; whereabouts of ms full score
not confirmed; D – 1989-90; P – Kirklees; T – 16 mins; FP – 5 July, 1990, Rotreux,
Switzerland by the National Youth Brass Band of Switzerland, conducted by Ray Farr; C – commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Switzerland and dedicated to the band and its founding conductor Markus Bach.
JG 83 Aria, Op. 83 for brass band
MS – RNCM (JG/O/83), set of parts; whereabouts of ms full score not confirmed; D – 1989-90; P – Kirklees ; T – 9 mins; FP – 11 August 1990, Winsford, Cheshire; C – commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, supported by North West Arts, and is inscribed ‘For Roy and Muriel, and the NYBBGB’.
JG 85 Derborence, Op. 85 Overture for brass band after the novel by Ramuz (1878 – 1947).
MS – whereabouts not confirmed; D – 1991; P – Kirklees; T – 13 mins; FP – 7 September 1991, Gstaad, Switzerland.
Derborence tells the true story, from the 18th century, of a herdsman who is buried alive when a mountain falls on the summer village he temporarily inhabits. The work opens with Golland’s expansive harmonic gestures as befits the grandeur of the alpine setting. Thereafter the music becomes folk like in its ‘alpine echoes’ styling.
JG 86 Dies Natalis, Op. 85 for brass band
MS – whereabouts not confirmed; D – 1991; P – Kirklees; T – 8 mins; C – composed for Lees and Goldwick Band now Oldham(Lees) Band.
JG 87 Concerto for Flugelhorn and brass band, Op.87
MS – whereabouts not confirmed; D – 1991; P – Kirklees; T – 12 mins; FP – 24 October 1992, Southwell Minster, Notts, by Stan Lippeatt (flugel) and Thoresby Colliery Brass Band; C – commissioned by Stan Lippeatt with funds from West Midlands Arts and the National Coal Board.
JG 89 Rhapsody No. 2, Don Quixote, Op. 89 for baritone horn and brass band (or piano)
MS – RNCM (JC/O/89), 2 full scores, piano reduction; D – 1992; P – Kirklees; T – 9 mins;
C – commissioned by Peter Christian, to whom it is dedicated. This final composition was completed by Roy Newsome.
CHAMBER MUSIC
JG wo4 String Quartet
MS – RNCM (JG/O/1a) score; D – 22 November-January 1965; Unpublished and unperformed. The manuscript is inscribed to ‘WSC JFK Requiescant in pace’. The initials refer to President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas on 22 November 1963, the day Golland began writing the work, and Sir Winston Churchill, who died on 24 January 1965, the month in which he completed it. Golland does not include this item in any of his own work lists.
JG 5 Wind Quintet, Op. 5 for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn
MS – RNCM (JG/O/5), full score and parts (no flute); D – 9 April 1967 at end of score;
P – Molenaar, 1972; T – 15 mins; C – dedicated ‘For Miss Peggy Mayers’, Golland’s first piano teacher.
JG 6 Divertimento (Brass Quartet No. 1), Op. 6 for 2 cornets, tenor horn and euphonium
i. Fanfare ii. Fughetta iii. Scherzo iv. Nocturne v. Finale
MS – RNCM (JG/O/6), score and parts, prepared for publication and sheets of revisions and photocopy score of Divertimento; D – 1962-1967; P – Kirklees, 1991; T – 11 mins; FP – original version, April 1962; revised version, 20 May 1967, Glossop, Derbyshire.
JG 7 String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7
MS – RNCM (JG/O/7), photocopy of original version and holograph of revision; D – original
version dated May-June 1967, revised score 1975; P – contact GT; T – 13 mins.
JG 30 Trio for Trombones, Op. 30
MS – missing work, whereabouts not located; D – c. 1971; P – Unpublished; T – c. 9 mins. GCW indicates that the trio was composed for Chris Thorpe, one-time principal trombone of the Salford Symphony Orchestra (amateur).
JG wo7 Fanfare for four trumpets
Work listed in GLO but yet to be traced
JG 39ii Fives and Threes, Op. 39, no. 2 for large brass ensemble ( 3 B flat trumpets; E flat trumpet; 2 horns in E flat; 2 trombones (treble clef); euphonium (treble clef); E flat tuba; Percussion.)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/39), full score; D – score dated 30 May, 1974; P – SM, ensemble; T – c. 5 mins; FP – 3 October 1974, Royal Albert Hall, London by James Shepherd Versatile Brass, for whom it was composed.
JG 60 String Quartet No. 2, Op. 60
MS – RNCM (JG/O/60), two sets (score and parts), one with composed named as E. Mayall; RNCM (JG/S/3), sketch scores for serenade, elegy, prelude and fugue – identified for inclusion in String Quartet no. 2; D – c.1979-80; P – contact GT.
JG 62 New World Dances Op. 62 for recorder (or flute) and guitar (or piano/ harpsichord)
i. Ragtime ii. Blues iii. Bossa Nova
MS – RNCM (JG/O/62), recorder and guitar score; John Turner, holograph fair copy and parts; D – 1980; P – Forsyth; T – c. 7 mins; FP – 5 October 1980, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle by John Turner (recorders) and Neil Smith (guitar); C – ‘For John Turner and Neil Smith’.
New World Dances has become one of the best-known pieces in the recorder repertoire, frequently performed worldwide. A lazy Blues is framed by a quick Ragtime using the simplest of harmonic progressions to support two jaunty and memorable tunes (but with some extra counterpoint in this string version).and a rhythmic Bossa Nova, in which the recorder takes wing from time to time with quasi-improvisatory flourishes. [John Turner]
JG 63 Bagatelles (Brass Quartet No. 2), Op. 63 for 2 B flat cornets, E flat horn and euphonium
MS – RNCM (JG/O/63), score, with annotated copy, and parts; D – 1980; P – Hall; T – 9 mins; FP – 6 November 1980, Oxford.
JG 74 A Classical Quartet (Brass Quartet No. 3), Op. 74 for 2 B flat cornets, E flat horn and euphonium
MS – RNCM (JG/O/74), score and parts; D – score dated May 1987; P – SM; T – c. mins; FP – 18 April 1988, Swiss National Quartet Championships; C – commissioned by the Swiss Brass Band Association.
JG 75 Rondo Profundo, Op. 75 Quartet for two E flat and two BB flat tubas MS – RNCM (JG/O/75), two scores; D – one score dated 7 July 1987; P – Hall; T – 6 mins; C – commissioned by H&H Cougar Brass, Invercargill, New Zealand.
JG 89 Phantasie (Brass Quartet No. 4) for 2 B flat cornets, E flat horn and euphonium MS – whereabouts not confirmed; D – 1992; P – Kirklees; FP – 18 April 1993, Gstaad, Switzerland; T – 8 mins; C – commissioned for the Swiss National Quartet Championships 1993
CHORAL MUSIC
JG 2 Two Motets, Op. 2 for SATB choir, unaccompanied
i. A Christmas Carol (text: Eleanor Farjeon, 1881 – 1965)
ii. God be in my head (text: Anon.)
MS – RNCM(JG/O/2), score; D – December 1966; Unpublished and unperformed.
JG 4 A Children’s Requiem, Op. 4 for voices and instruments
i. On another’s sorrow (text: William Blake) ii. Requiem iii. Sanctus
iv. In Paradisum v. The Divine Image (text: William Blake)
MS – whereabouts not documented (RNCM photocopy); D – August – December 1966;
Unpublished; T – 13 mins; FP – 9 July 1968; C – ‘For Bobby (1947-1958) and the children of Aberfan (October 1966)’.
JG 9 Three Songs for Children, Op. 9 for junior voices and piano
i. The Jumblies (text: Edward Lear) ii. The Mad Dog (text: Oliver Goldsmith)
iii. He Haw Hum (text: Anon.) iv. I’ve got a Penny (text: T.P.)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/9), 2 scores – a. titled Two Songs for Children (items i and iii; b. Four Songs for Children. A fourth song I’ve got a Penny is unfinished; D – September 1967 added at end of item iii; Unpublished; FP – 27 November 1967; C – composed for the Junior Choir of Knutsford County Secondary School, Cheshire.
JG10 Two Part Songs (with Descants), Op.10
MS – missing work; whereabouts not located. [Listed in GWL 11; other sources as Op. 10]; T – c. 5 mins
JG11 Two Christmas Songs, Op.11
MS – missing work; whereabouts not located. [Listed in GWL 10; other sources as Op. 11]; T – c. 4 mins
JG12 Pied Beauty, Op.12 for unaccompanied chorus, text by Gerard Manley Hopkins MS – missing work, whereabout not located; T – c. 5 mins.
JG 13 Bats in the Belfy, an absurdity for female voices, piano and percussion, Op. 13, text by Thomas Pitfield
MS – whereabouts of holograph ms not located; RNCM (JG/O/13), two photocopies of score; D – 19 April 1968 added at end of score; Unpublished; T – 9 mins; FP – 9 July 1968; C – ‘To Astley Grammar School for Girls, Dukinfield, Cheshire’.
JG15 Two Masses, Op. 15
MS – missing work, whereabout not located; Unpublished; T – c. 10 mins.
JG24 The Word Made Flesh, Op. 24 An Oratorio for Christmas
Text – selected by John Golland, with additional words by Thomas B. Pitfield; MS – RNCM (JG/O/24), full score, vocal score, parts; P – contact GT for further information; T – 60 mins; FP – 14 December 1970, Hyde, Cheshire.
JG 44 A Gloucester Psalm, Op. 44 for choir and brass band (or wind band), text by Thomas Pitfield
MS – RNCM (JG/O/44), vocal score; GT, copy of ms full score, choral score, brass band parts; D – c.1975-6; P – contact GT for further information; T – 14 mins; FP – 13 March 1977, Gloucester Cathedral, by the Cathedral Choir and Cinderford Brass Band.
JG 54 A Short Mass
MS – RNCM (JG/O/54), 2 scores and set of Acclamations differing those in the scores; D – score dated 11 October 1978; P – contact GT for further information; T – 8 mins; FP – 24 December 1978, Salford Cathedral [RC]; C – inscribed ‘In Memory of Pope John Paul I’.
JG 56 Two Choral Pieces, Op. 56 a & b for choir [SATB} and organ
i. Haec Dies ii. Ave Verum
MS – RNCM (JG/O/56), scores; D – i. 3 January 1979; ii.7 January 1979; Unpublished; T – c. 4 mins each; FP – Salford Cathedral, Easter 1979; C – inscribed, ‘For his Lordship the Bishop of Salford, the Rt. Rev. Thomas Holland, Easter 1979’.
JG wo14 Whit Friday for narrator, choir and brass band
Work listed in GLO but not traced
JG 69ii Dormi Jesu, Op. 69, no. 2 for unaccompanied chorus [SATB]
MS – whereabout not located; D – 1985; Unpublished; T – 2 mins; C – inscribed ‘For Douglas Steele on his 75th birthday’ Douglas Steele (1910-1999) organist, pianist, teacher at Chetham’s School of Music and Stockport Grammar School was a prolific composer.
JG wo13 Festival Hymn Work listed in GLO but not traced
JG 70 Te Deum, Op. 70 for soprano solo, choir and brass band (or wind band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/70), holograph full score of wind band version, photocopies of choral score and some brass band parts; GT, scores and part masters; D – 1984; P – contact GT; T– 25 mins; C – commissioned by Lewis-Merthyr Brass Band (South Wales) in collaboration with The Welsh Amateur Music Federation (now Ty Cerdd).
The band had successful performed A Gloucester Psalm in 1893, under its Musical Director of that period Nigel Seaman (then principal tuba BBC National Orchestra of Wales). The first performance of Te Deum was due to take place at the Llandaff Festival in 1984 but was cancelled because the choir chosen for the performance had not prepared the work to the appropriate standard. This substantial work awaits performance.
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
[with keyboard]
JG 25 Sonatina for flute and piano, Op. 25
MS – RNCM (JG/O25), piano score and flute part; D – score dated 18 September 1970, revised August 1975; P – Kirklees; T– c. 9 mins; C – ‘To Trixie’
JG 29 Concerto for Trumpet, Op. 29 arranged for trumpet and piano
MS – RNCM (JG/O/29), piano reduction score; D – 1971, revised 1985/6; P – contact GT; T – c. 25 mins.
JG 36 Serenade, Op. 36 for trombone and piano (or brass band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/36), instrumental parts; D – c. 1972; P – Hall; T – 4 mins.
JG 46 Concerto for Tuba, Op. 46 arranged for tuba and piano
MS – RNCM (JG/O/46), two full scores and piano reduction; D – c. 1976-7; P – SM, for sale;T – 20 mins.
JG 48ii Peace, Op. 48, no. 2 for euphonium (or baritone) and piano (or brass band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/48), two photocopied full scores, plus set of ms parts; D – 1973 (as an organ voluntary); P – Hall; T – 4 mins.
JG 50 Scherzo, Op. 50 for tuba and piano (or brass band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/50), photocopy of full score; D – c. 1978; P – Hall; T – 5 mins.
JG 52 Divertissment, Op. 52 Four Pieces for treble recorder (or horn) and piano
i. Entrée ii. Gavotte and Musette iii. Air iv. Gigue
MS – RNCM (JG/O/52), an original version entitled Cassation and a revised holograph, with final gigue replaced with a new one, entitled Divertissment; D – 1977 (Cassation); November 1985 (Divertissment); P – Forsyth; T – 11 mins; FP – Cassation: 4 July 1977, Manchester played by John Turner (recorder) and Heather Slade-Lipkin (paino); Divertissment: 15 August 1985, Sarpsborg (Norway), played by Ifor James (French horn), three movements only. John Turner gave the first performance of Divertissment on recorder on 11 April 1988, Hyde, Cheshire.
JG wo12 Ding Dong Merrily Variations for clarinet and piano
MS – A. Richardson- score and part; D – score dated 18 November 1979; P – contact GT;
T – 3 mins; FP – Hyde Town Hall, Tom Verity (clarinet).
This lively and witty set of variations on Ding Dong Merrily on High obligato was composed by Golland whilst he was detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure in Strangeways Prison for an offence for which in the present climate he would almost certainly not have been prosecuted. This set of clarinet variations and an obligato for Little Donkey were written for a fellow “guest” who played the clarinet.
JG 64 Concerto No. 1 for Euphonium, Op.64
MS – RNCM (JG/O/64), piano reduction score, brass band parts plus two incomplete photocopies sets of brass and wind band parts; D – 1981-2; T – 19 mins; P – Chester (Wise Music), piano reduction in Just Brass series [JB22].
JG 67 Ascent, Op. 67 for horn and piano
MS – RNCM (JG/O/76), score and parts, entitled Aubade; D – c. 1982; P – Forsyth [Modern Wind Music Series]; T – 5 mins.
Ascent was included in a volume devoted to solo and accompanied pieces for horn by contemporary Manchester based composers of the 1980s, David Ellis, Anthony Gilbert, James Langley and John Golland, who changed the title of his work to avoid confusion with Ellis’s Aubade.
JG wo14 Hornpipe for recorder and guitar
MS – John Turner; D – c. 1982; Unpublished and unperformed.
Intended for inclusion in a second set of New World Dances that did not materialise.
JG 71 Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 71 for E flat tenor horn (or F horn) and piano (or band) MS – RNCM (JG/O/71), 2 full scores, 2 short scores, horn and piano parts; D – 1986;
P – SM (1986); T – 8 mins; C – ‘For Gordon and Sylvia Higginbottom on their 25th wedding
anniversary’.
JG 72i Ballade for Cornet, Op. 72, no. 1 with piano (or brass band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/71), full ms score and printed parts; photocopied parts marked up for wind band; 2 piano reduction scores; D – 1984; P – SM (1986); T – 5 mins; FP – 29 August 1984; C – ‘For Alan and Ann’.
JG 72ii Adagio for Cornet, Op. 72, no. 2 with piano (or brass band)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/71-2), full score and piano reduction, listed as Ballade No. 2; D – unknown; Unpublished; T – c. 5 mins; C – ‘For Phil and Jane’.
JG 73 Childs Play, Op. 73 for euphonium duet (or solo) and brass band (or piano)
MS – RNCM (JG/O/73), photocopies of full score, piano reduction and parts; D – 1986; P – Hall; T – 7 mins; FP – 4 May 1986, Robert and Nicholas Childs, St. David’s Hall, Cardiff; C – ‘For Robert and Nicholas Childs’.
JG 76 Caprice for solo recorder, Op. 76
MS – RNCM (JG/O/76), two scores, one incomplete; D – 1987; P – Forsyth; T – 4 mins; C – ‘For John Turner’, who gave the first performance on 16 April 1997, Manchester. Composed on evening on a return train journey from London to Manchester following a concert in which John Turner performed New World Dances.
JG 77 Concerto No. 2 for Euphonium, Op. 77
MS – RNCM (JG/O/77), piano reduction score; D – 1987; P – SM, piano reduction for sale; T – 20 mins; C – ‘For Nicholas and Robert Childs’.
JG 78 Sonata for horn and piano, Op. 78
MS – RNCM (JG/O/78), score and parts for horn in E flat and F; D – December 1989; P – Kirklees; T – 18 mins; C – ‘For Gordon Higginbottom’
JG 84 Un Petit Rien, Op. 84 for cornet and piano (or 10-piece brass ensemble) MS – RNCM (JG/O/84), score and part; D – c. 1990-91; P – Kirklees; T – 10 mins.
JG 87 Concerto for Flugelhorn , Op.87
MS – whereabouts not confirmed; D – 1992; P – Kirklees [soloist with piano reduction]; T – c. 12 mins; FP – 24 October 1992, Southwell Minster, Notts, by Stan Lippeatt (flugel) and Thoresby Colliery Brass Band; C – commissioned by Stan Lippeatt with funds from West Midlands Arts and the National Coal Board.
JG 89 Rhapsody No. 2, Don Quixote, Op. 89 for baritone horn and piano (or brass band)
MS – RNCM (JC/O/89), 2 full scores, piano reduction; D – 1992; P – Kirklees (edited by Roy Newsome); T – 9 mins; C – commissioned by Peter Christian, to whom it is dedicated.
KEYBOARD MUSIC
JG 1 A Little Suite, Op. 1 for piano
MS – RNCM (JG/O/1), score; D – November 1966; Unpublished; T – 4 mins;
FP – 7 March 1967, the composer (piano), Stalybridge.
JG 3 Four for Three, Op. 3 for piano duet
i. Prelude ii. Scherzo: The Clown iii. Day Dreams: Lullaby
MS – RNCM (JG/O/03), score; Unpublished; T – 3 mins; C – ‘Lois, Mildred and Ian’.
JG 22 Epigrams, Op. 22 for piano
MS – RNCM (JG/O/22) , three scores; D – January 1970; Unpublished; C – ‘For Marjorie
Clementi’. Golland’s piano teacher at the RNCM.
JG wo9 Cadenza for Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25
Listed in GLO but yet to be located
JG 26 Epic Theme, Op. 26 arranged for two pianos
S – RNCM (JG/O/26), score; D – arrangement dated 1976; Unpublished; T – 9 mins
JG 28 Fantasia for organ, Op. 28
MS – RNCM (JG/O/28), 3 scores, one sketch with corrections; D – c. 1971, score undated; Unpublished; T – c. 8 mins; FP – 7 November 1971, Ashton-under-Lyne Parish Church, Ronald Frost (organ), for whom it was composed.
JG 32 Two Epithalamiums for organ, Op. 32
i. ‘for Marie and Philip’ ii. ‘for Marsha and John’
MS – RNCM (JG/O/32), item 22i only; ii. Missing; D – 1971 and 1972; Unpublished; T – c. 2 mins each; FP – i. 15 January 1972, Ashton-under-Lyne, ii. 10 June 1972, Dukinfield.
JG 45 Sounds II, Op. 45 Three Pieces for piano
MS – RNCM (JG/O/45), two scores and one annotated photocopy; D – c. 1976-7; Unpublished; T – c.11 mins; C – ‘To Maruso and Taiko Kawasaki’.
JG 59 Bagatelles, Op. 59 for harpsichord
MS – RNCM (JG/O/59), two scores; D – 1979; Unpublished; T – c. 6 mins; FP – 14 August 1979, Sale, Cheshire by Heather Slade-Lipkin, for whom the pieces were composed.
JG wo19 Wedding Music for organ
MS – RNCM (JG/S/3), score includes wedding march, processional, hymn tunes (Woodland, St. Godric, Blaenwern, Selwyn) and recessional; D – 1990; Unpublished; Composed and arranged for the wedding of ‘Janet and Roger’.
JG wo20 Sonatina for piano
MS – RNCM (JG/S/3), score; Undated; Unpublished
ORCHESTRAL WORKS
JG 14 Easter Evening, Op. 14
MS – missing work, whereabouts not located; Unpublished; T – c. 10 mins.
JG 17 Variations for Orchestra, Op.17
MS – RNCM (JG/O/17), two manuscript full scores, titled Kaleidoscope Variations;
D – November 1968 – January 1969; Unpublished and unperformed; T – 15mins (GWL) to 19 mins (GCW); C – ‘To my parents’.
JG 19 Party Pieces, Op.18
MS – RNCM (JG/O/19), full score bearing the pseudonym Edward Mayall; D – completed on 7 April 1969, scored for orchestra in 1972; Unpublished in this version. [See also under Band Music for the definitive version].
JG 20 Pastiche – an overture for orchestra, Op.20
MS – RNCM (JG/O/20), two full scores and orchestral parts; D – June 1969; Unpublished in this version; T – 9 mins; FP – 5 March 1970; C – composed for Glossop Concert Orchestra. In 1975 Golland rescored the work for brass band.
JG 21 Sinfonietta No. 1, Op.21
MS – RNCM (JG/O/21), two full scores; D – September 1969; P – contact GT;
C – ‘For Kenneth Duckworth and Altrincham Grammar School for Girls Orchestra.’
JG 27 Fantasia on Cheshire Folk Tunes, Op. 27
MS – RNCM (JG/O/27), full score and parts; D – score dated 12 January 1971; Unpublished in this version; T – c.9 mins; FP – 17 February 1971; C – composed for Golland’s local amateur orchestra, the Dukinfield Philomusica. Also versions for brass and wind band.
JG 29 Concerto for Trumpet and String Orchestra, Op. 29
MS – RNCM (JG/O/29), original full score (photocopy), instrumental parts; D – 1971, revised 1985/6; P – contact GT, including score for trumpet and piano; T– c. 25 mins;
The original version received a performance on 1 May 1971 in Altrincham, Cheshire. There is no record of a performance of the revision. The finale includes a quotation from the trumpet concerto by Josef Haydn.
JG 31 Sinfonietta No. 2 Melandra Castle, Op.31
MS – RNCM (JG/O/31), two full scores; D – 1971; Unpublished; T – c. 13 mins; C – commissioned for the 1971 Glossop Festival and premiered on 13 November 1971
JG 33 Symphony, Op. 33
MS – RNCM (JG/O/33), full score; D – score dated February 1972; Unpublished and unperformed
JG 35 Piano Concerto, Op. 35
MS – RNCM (JG/O/35), photocopied full score and letter from BBC, acknowledging its return (1991); D – 1972, revised and re-orchestrated 1990; Unpublished and unperformed in this version.
JG wo Lesser Thorns, [Poem for orchestra]
MS – RNCM (JG/O/36a), full score, parts and sketch; D – score undated; Unpublished and
unperformed; C – ‘To TBP [Thomas Baron Pitfield] with gratitude, sincere admiration and
affection’. This work is different from Lesser Thorns Op. 51 for brass band.
JG 46 Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra, Op. 46
MS – RNCM (JG/O/46), two full scores and piano reduction; D – c. 1976-7;
P – SM (2017), tuba and piano reduction for sale; orchestral material rental only; T – 20 mins; FP – July 1997, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, by Andrew Duncan (tuba) and the Halle Orchestra.The circumstances of the composition of this major work are unknown. The work has become a major addition to the tuba repertoire, particularly for students, in its piano reduction.
JG 58 Sinfonietta No. 3, Op. 58
MS – RNCM (JG/O/58) full score; GT, score and part production masters; D – 1979; P – GT; T – listed as 14 mins in GWL and 19 mins in GCW; FP – 23 February 1980, Alderley Edge, Cheshire; C – commissioned by the North West Arts council for the amateur players of the Alderley Edge Orchestra.
JG 62a New World Dances Op. 62a for recorder (or flute) and string orchestra
i. Ragtime ii. Blues iii. Bossa Nova
MS – whereabouts not located ; D – 1980, arranged 1992; T – 7 mins; P – Forsyth; FP – 19 April 1997, Bramhall United Reformed Church, Bramhall, Cheshire, by John Turner (recorders) and the Northern Chamber Orchestra. This set of dances was originally written for recorder and guitar (with alternative accompaniment for piano) in 1980. Shortly before his death, the composer made a version for recorder and string orchestra at John Turner’s request.
JG 64 Concerto No. 1 for Euphonium and Orchestra, Op. 64 also with band
MS – RNCM (JG/)/64), piano reduction score, brass band parts plus; D – 1981-2; P – Chester (Wise Music), rental only; T – 19 mins
JG 77 Concerto No. 2 for Euphonium and Orchestra, Op. 77 also with band MS – whereabouts of full orchestral score not located; D – 1987; P – SM, rental only, piano
reduction for sale; T – 20 mins; C – ‘For Nicholas and Robert Childs’.
THEATRE, TELEVISION AND FILM MUSIC
JG wo2 Antigone [Acts 1 and 2] for soprano, mezzo, baritone and bass soloists,
chorus and orchestra
MS – RNCM (JG/S/3), full score; D – score dated November 1963 – January 1965; Unpublished and unperformed
JG wo8 Ardotalia Music for film – Item listed in GLO but yet to be traced
JG 61 The Selfish Giant, An Opera for Children, Op. 61 for young singers, ‘Giant’, percussion, tuba and string orchestra
MS – RNCM (JG/O/61), full score; GT, 2 copies of full score; D – completed July 1980; Unpublished; T – 45 mins; FP – 9 February 1981, RNCM, Manchester.
JG wo16 Dear Ladies Incidental music and arrangements for three series of BBC’s comedy sketch series [1983-5]. The location of the music has not been traced. Golland’s substantial contribution included original title music, songs and incidental pieces in addition to many arrangements for voice, piano and small band.
JG wo17 Hells Bells Incidental music and arrangements for a BBC comedy drama series starring Derek Nimmo as the Dean of Norchester Cathedral; six episodes broadcast in 1986. The music has not been traced. Golland used the hymn tune Selwyn as his title theme, arranged for organ and bells (MS: RNCM)
VOCAL MUSIC
JG wo1i Song for contralto and piano, text by Gerard Manley Hopkins
MS – RNCM (JG/sketches), score (untitled); D – 1964; Unpublished and unperformed
JG wo4 Tempus Amorque Fugent, A song cycle
MS – RNCM (JG/O10), holograph score with notes on the settings. This entry gives the work the designation Op. 10. In GLO it is the first work mentioned without opus number; D – July-August, 1966; Unpublished; C – inscribed ‘For Kay Molineri’.
Golland’s ambitious song cycle comprises 17 settings on the theme of the transient nature of love. His choice of English Elizabethan and Jacobean lyrics extends from Robert Southwell’s Tymes goe by Turnes to Song and Thou hast made me by John Donne. There is a single Shakespeare setting, Shall I compare thee, and also Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd. Golland sets six lyrics of Thomas Campion and four by the metaphysical master George Herbert. The cycle concludes with Adieu, Farewell (Thomas Nashe) and Epitaph by Sir Walter Raleigh.
JG 18 The Jackdaw of Rheims, Op. 18 for two treble voices and piano, text by Richard Harris Barham
S – RNCM (JG/O/18), score; D – c. 1969; Unpublished and unperformed; T – 15 mins.
JG wo11 Caring Song for high voice and piano
MS – RNCM (JG/S/3) score; D – score dated 24 December 1979; Unpublished
JG 69i To Music for high voice, piano, text by Herrick
MS – RNCM (JG/O/69), incomplete score; D – c.1983; P – Forsyth [in a A Birthday Album for Thomas Pitfield]; T – c.2 mins; FP – April 1983, Macclesfield, in Thomas Pitfield 80th birthday; T – c.2 mins; C – ‘For Tom Pitfield on his 80th birthday’.
JG wo19 To Musick for high voice, recorder and piano, text by Herrick
MS – John Turner; D – unknown; P – Forsyth; T – c.2 mins; FP – 16 April 1997, Music Department, University of Manchester, Alison Wells (soprano), John Turner (recorder), Keith Swallow (piano); C – composed at the request of John Turner, who writes, ‘There are two separate settings of the Herrick poem. The first, in the Birthday Album for Thomas Pitfield, is for soprano and piano. The second, for soprano, recorder and piano, was first performed in the little post death festival. I did not know about that other one till after his death his mother presented me with this manuscript. The first with piano is To Music and the one with both recorder and piano is titled To Musick, with a K to avoid any confusion.
JG wo20 And death shall have no dominion Song for high voice and piano, text by Dylan Thomas
MS – RNCM (JG/S/3) undated score; unpublished]
There is still much to research in creating a complete catalogue of John Golland’s work. In the possession of his executor John Turner is the 300-page folder in which Golland organised his life, his routine and composing/arranging schedule. He was very prolific and further sturdy will reveal the true extent of his legacy. The RNCM collection also contains the manuscripts and sketches of the majority of the original works along with the working documents of over 50 unfinished works, including substantial fragments of concertos for cornet (2), trombone, percussion and two symphonies (Four Temperaments and Anima Vitae), chamber music, songs and occasional pieces. This is too fragmentary to be documented in this first catalogue, as it requires extensive research with the source material. The same applies to Golland’s 150 arrangements and transcriptions, of which the manuscripts of 104 are preserved in the RNCM’s collection. By far the largest portion of these are concert items for brass band, many of which have become popular repertoire works particularly for community and youth bands. There are also arrangements for stage band commissioned by the BBC. Other more substantial items have received little exposure, like his arrangement of the Hummel Trumpet Concerto, Variations on the St. Anthony Chorale by Brahms or Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The work continues…