Heimdall's Trumpet

The title is derived from the god Heimdallr of Norse mythology, whose call on the Gjallarhorn was to announce the apocalyptic events of Ragnarök ("Fate of the Gods").^[1] The events of Ragnarök were also famously depicted musically in Richard Wagner's opera Götterdämmerung, last of his four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen.^[3] Rouse had previously visited similar thematic material with his 1997 percussion concerto Der gerettete Alberich, which chronicles the exploits of the villainous dwarf Alberich following the destruction of Valhalla.^[4]

Heimdall's Trumpet is composed in four connected movements. A performance of the work lasts approximately 22 minutes. In the score program notes, Rouse wrote:

Cast in four movements, the title of the piece refers properly to the finale, which attempts in a general way to depict these mythological events as I imagine them. The onset of Ragnarok occurs only at the very end of the work, in a very short orchestral fortissimo outburst followed by an extended silence. The first movement is declamatory in nature and gives way to a whirlwind scherzo that utilizes a variety of mutes for both the soloist and the orchestral brass section. The third movement is a largo that swings like a pendulum between sections of substantive dissonance and straightforward consonance. The aforementioned finale, more specifically dramatic and programmatic in nature, returns to the more aggressive world of the first movement.^[1]

The piece is scored for solo trumpet and orchestra comprising three flutes (third doubling on piccolo), three oboes, three clarinets, three bassoons (third doubling on contrabassoon), four French horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, harp, timpani, percussion (three players), and strings (violins I & II, violas, violoncellos, and double basses).^[1]