The unpublished works include 21 major orchestral compositions, nearly doubling those already in print and challenging the view of some that Nelhybel was primarily a composer for band. Also included are over 25 additional works for chorus, 22 for small ensembles, 16 concertos and three operas.
Almost 40 compositions for band and band with soloists are among the unpublished works. The collection also includes solos for organ and harp; duos for strings, brass, winds and piano; trios for recorders and strings; quartets for brass, strings and clarinet; quintets for brass, guitar, winds and keyboards; sextets for brass, winds and piano; an octet for horns; and 22 small ensemble works for saxophone, clarinet, organ, brass, strings and even handbells.
Award-winning playwright and poet John Doucet is a noted enthusiast of Nelhybel’s work. “This composer, best known for band compositions, has written fantastic pieces for larger ensembles, orchestras and choruses,” Doucet said. “The works challenge both the performer and listener with flurries of unique ideas spun across measures in elaborate complementary rhythms. The sound is quite unique in twentieth century literature.
In 1996 Frederick Fennell conducted the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra in a performance and recording of Nelhybel's unpublished Sinfonia Resurrectionis. Fennell said, “Nelhybel left us no words about this work; like Gustaf Mauler he seems to be searching for something in his Sinfonia – an expression possible only through the extended resource of the large ensemble for which the music is intended."
In the epilogue from his published orchestral/choral work Let There Be Music,
Nelhybel described the power and place of music in his life and, perhaps, in all our lives. “Let music speak for me the last kind words forgotten in the haste of living. With music, then, let me return to peace, at last. Let there be music of dreams, music of hope, music of love, music of joy, music of life. Music of peace.”
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The above notes are excerpted from:
https://www.scranton.edu/academics/performance-music/nelhybel/collection.shtml
Almost 40 compositions for band and band with soloists are among the unpublished works. The collection also includes solos for organ and harp; duos for strings, brass, winds and piano; trios for recorders and strings; quartets for brass, strings and clarinet; quintets for brass, guitar, winds and keyboards; sextets for brass, winds and piano; an octet for horns; and 22 small ensemble works for saxophone, clarinet, organ, brass, strings and even handbells.
Award-winning playwright and poet John Doucet is a noted enthusiast of Nelhybel’s work. “This composer, best known for band compositions, has written fantastic pieces for larger ensembles, orchestras and choruses,” Doucet said. “The works challenge both the performer and listener with flurries of unique ideas spun across measures in elaborate complementary rhythms. The sound is quite unique in twentieth century literature.
In 1996 Frederick Fennell conducted the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra in a performance and recording of Nelhybel's unpublished Sinfonia Resurrectionis. Fennell said, “Nelhybel left us no words about this work; like Gustaf Mauler he seems to be searching for something in his Sinfonia – an expression possible only through the extended resource of the large ensemble for which the music is intended."
In the epilogue from his published orchestral/choral work Let There Be Music,
Nelhybel described the power and place of music in his life and, perhaps, in all our lives. “Let music speak for me the last kind words forgotten in the haste of living. With music, then, let me return to peace, at last. Let there be music of dreams, music of hope, music of love, music of joy, music of life. Music of peace.”
_______
The above notes are excerpted from:
https://www.scranton.edu/academics/performance-music/nelhybel/collection.shtml