The Universal
Judgment
A Symphonic Poem by Camille De Nardis,
Transcribed for the Goldman Band by Antonio Cafarella
Page updated May 14, 2020
This very popular tone poem is often performed by high school and
college bands. It is one of my favorite works. Its
theme of triumph after struggle has great appeal and its many
dramatics make the work very interesting. The high school
band I was in performed it in 1972 and a recording is
below. It is published by Carl Fischer, Inc. (c) 1934.
Oddly, I recently discovered that it is listed as
"permanently out of print" but I am told not to take
that too seriously. There are three performances in mp3
files below that you can download.
The work has 481 measures and is in the key of E-flat and is
mostly in 2/4 time except that 4/4 is used for most of the
majestic sections. The opening section is marked,
Allegro con fuoco (fast with fire, energy, spirit). The
opening tempo marking on the score is 120 beats per minute and
the indicated tempo drops to the 60s at several places in the
work. The time of performance is listed as 8 minutes and 50
seconds which is clearly an error. The time of performance
using the marked tempos is somewhat over
13 minutes.
(1) Here
is a recording (low quality mono) of The Universal
Judgment ( alternate common misspelling for searches, The Universal
Judgement ) theuniversaljudgment.mp3 (12 Mbytes,
13:11) as performed in 1972 by the high school band in which I
played the clarinet. It was recorded by a portable cassette
recorder in the audience in the auditorium which was better known
as the cave because of its bad acoustics. I have done about
all that can be done to enhance the recording to at least be
reasonable. It is really not that bad if one listens to the
music rather than the sound.
(2) In
searching the Internet I found the following mp3 file of an
excellent performance by the Army Ground Forces Band, Lieutenant
Colonel James D. Holt, Jr., Commander and principal conductor at http://www.forscom.army.mil/band/ (now a dead link).
I am posting a copy of it
here. The file name is as I
found it including the misspelling. UniversalJudgement.mp3
(10.0 Mbytes,10:52). This performance is at top
tempo. My preference is for a more sedate tempo as I used
in my recording below.
(3) The
following is a version that I did myself during July, 2008 on my
aging orchestral synthesizer (1992 vintage), the_universal_judgment.mp3 (13:24).
It was a lot of fun to do and is how I would conduct the work
were I a conductor. This work taxes my synthesized
orchestra to the limit and I had to make a few adjustments in
orchestration and in some of the notes to achieve a good overall
sound. In some cases this meant adding some parts in
octaves and some modifications to the tympani parts -- bass
clarinet substitution for light tympani roll. I think the
performance turned out well and captures the fire and spirit even
though the orchestra is simpler than the original. I
usually like dramatics in the tempo but this work is best done
with static tempos except for the places where dynamics are
marked. I decided to stick to the tempos as marked on the
score as those really do feel right. The result of
this is that the trumpet fanfare in the middle is performed
slower than is usually heard but once you become acclimated to
the tempo it really feels right and is as the composer intended
(M.M. = 64). The closing section is marked pui
mosso and I jump the tempo from 120 to 134 beats per minute
which is definitely noticeable without over doing it. My
copy of the condensed score had two errors on the last page
(measures 451, 452 and 459, 460) -- a D# and D natural
should have been F# and F natural in two places which caused
a very dissonant sound on some big chords.
Here is a little background information. Camille De Nardis
(1857 - 1951 -- this is the spelling of his name on the
score -- other spellings I have found are Camillo de Nardis and
Camill de Nardis, sometimes the last name appears as deNardis)
was director of the Conservatory in Naples, Italy. This
composition (the only one known in present existence) won first
prize in a national band context in Naples in 1878 and also in a
competition in Turin, Italy, in 1880. In 1934 Antonio
Cafarella prepared an arrangement of the original score for
concert band -- specifically for the Goldman Band. This
arrangement has been popular ever since.
The Universal Judgment is based on a
religious concept of a journey of purification consisting of
hardships with glimpses of hope and joy for those who are
awaiting the universal judgment before receiving final
blessedness. The music follows this progression with
alternating sections of hardships (heavy brass
parts), hope (high woodwinds frequently representing
angels), and joy (also woodwinds and including lyrical brass
parts), and with a triumphant conclusion representing final
blessedness. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Purgatory
for more information. There is a giant fresco (16th
century) painted by Ferraù Faenzone (a work commissioned by
Cardinal Angelo Cesi) depicting the Universal Judgment on the
rear wall of the Cathedral (11th century) of Todi, Italy.
See the picture below.
The following is quoted from http://www.rlrubens.com/italy.html :
"The Universal Judgment
: This massive fresco that covers
the rear wall of the chapel is awesome –and a lot of
fun. In it, Jesus
sits, enthroned, presiding over the judgment of
humanity. Flanked by
the twelve apostles, with the saints and angels in attendance,
there is a division into the blessed (on the left side –and
therefore to his right) and the damned (on the
right). Notice that
things are much more ordered and structured in heaven above and
among the righteous on the left; a swirling chaotic disorder
characterizes the situation among the damned, with Satan in the
center (with one of the damned in his mouth, and one in another
orifice). (The
arrangement is not unrelated to that of Dante’s
Inferno.)
Things are actually much more interesting over there,
however: the
fantasies of the torments of Hell range from the horrifying
(Nancy entertained the idea that maybe in view of what we were
looking at we should be careful…maybe even go to confession!) to
the wildly kinky (à la Hieronymus Bosch).
"
The above picture is taken from this site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53699812@N00/462833919/in/set-72157594548680193/
Quoted text: "The
Cathedral (11th century) of Todi, Italy.
The counter-facade is occupied by a giant fresco depicting the
Universal Judgment (16th century) by Ferraù Faenzone, a work
commissioned by Cardinal Angelo Cesi, in which the influence, if
nowhere near the genius, of Michaelangelo is easily
discerned. "
The following is quoted directly from this site (typos
included): http://www.irishlegends.com/Pages/herbs/herbsarticle52.html
"The climax of the Program will be
"Universal Judgment," a symphonic poem by Camillo De
Nardis, long time director of the Conservatory in Naples. This
composition won first prize in a national band contest at Naples
in 1878, and in a competition at Turin, Italy, in 1880.
Arrangement was specially prepared from the original score for
the Goldman Band by Antonio Cafarella. The work itself "is
extended in form and made up of a number of well-contrasted'
melodious movements. The first of these is an Allegro con fuoco,
in a well-developed fugal form; this is followed by a Moderato
assai, descriptive of the heavnly hosts; and in turn by a
recurrence of the first movement in altered form eading into an
inspired Maestoso and Choral. A spirited Allegro brings the
composition to a close." "
The following is quoted directly from this site (typos
included): http://www.und.nodak.edu/instruct/knorman/521/universaljudg.html
(now a dead link)
"Based on the original Italian score,
this piece vividly depicts 19th century Italian opera. The
instrumentation is heavy on the brass. Featured are the trumpets
in an array of fanfares representing echoing choirs of the
heavenly hosts. The piece is also rhythmically active, drawing
specific atteniton to the percussion section. Noteworthy about
the piece are sudden fluctuations in dynamics and sections of
fugue that unify the woodwinds and the brass. This arrangement
does justice to the composer's original intention. This
symphonic poem won first prize at a national band competition in
Naples in 1878 and was first published in 1934
." This particular review concerning opera seems a bit
odd given what the work is actually based on. Perhaps the
writer has confused the grand style and theme of this work with
operatic music by Wagner (who was not Italian). It is true
that the concepts of this work would fit a dramatic operatic
theme of that period.
Ken's Music
Page You can access other mp3 files on my main
music page.
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You are invited to visit my main web page at http://www.kennethkuhn.com . There is a variety
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