Fand Catalogue

  

The Death of Colonel Boles

A Cantata

for double SATB choir, solo SAB trio, T solo with tenor drum, solo cello and recorder quintet

Martin Read

The Death of Colonel Boles is a cantata that recounts the events of the night of 13th December 1643 relating to the Battle of Alton in the First English Civil War. Parliamentary forces serving Sir William Waller led a surprise attack on a garrison of Royalist cavalry and infantry serving the Earl of Crawford. Crawford fled to Winchester with the cavalry, leaving Colonel Richardus Boles to defend Alton with the remaining infantry. Overwhelmed, Boles’ forces sought refuge in St Lawrence’s Church, where they were killed making a last stand. The event is remembered for its savagery and for the personal heroism of Colonel Boles.

The work can be heard on the Martin Read – A Celebration CD.

A note about parts

When purchasing parts, the following part booklets are supplied:

• Tenor (Colonel Boles) with Tenor Drum (20 pages);
• Chorus Score (56 pages extracted from the full score);
• Solo ’Cello (24 pages);
• Recorder Quintet (16 pages).

(For comparison, the full score is 84 pages long and includes a substantial card cover in full colour.)

Please note that the Recorder Quintet part is supplied as a full recorder score booklet showing all five recorder parts together on each page. It is, in fact, a paper-covered version of the Four Interludes score (which is sold separately). This has two implications:

1. Should the recorder players desire more substantial copies of their music with attractive and robust colour covers, copies of the Four Interludes full score may be purchased separately; the musical content is identical.
2. The parts supplied with the separate Four Interludes publication are in fact individual, one-instrument parts for each separate recorder, and may be purchased on their own (without the full score) as a set of five parts.

It was felt that the recorder players would find it more helpful to read their lines off a common score that included the music for all five instruments. However, if individual instrument parts are required instead, perhaps for reasons of space or to minimise page-turns, they may still be obtained by purchasing a set of Four Interludes parts.

Sample pages

(Click to enlarge)

		Composer	Title	Forces	Total duration
		Martin Read	The Death of Colonel Boles A Cantata for double SATB choir, solo SAB trio, T solo with tenor drum, solo cello and recorder quintet	Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Choir (SATB), Double Choir (SATB), Tenor drum, ’Cello, Recorder Quintet	25¼ mins
	#	Composer	Movement	Forces	Duration
	1	Martin Read Words: Philip Sealey	I: Prologue	Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Double Choir (SATB), Tenor drum, ’Cello	5¼ mins
	2	Martin Read	II: Sir William Waller: his Jigg	Recorder Quintet	1 minute
	3	Martin Read Words: Philip Sealey	III: The Battle of Alton	Tenor, Double Choir (SATB), Tenor drum, ’Cello	3¼ mins
	4	Martin Read	IV: Prince Rupert’s March	Recorder Quintet	1½ mins
	5	Martin Read Words: Philip Sealey	V: St Lawrence Church	Tenor, Choir (SATB), Tenor drum, ’Cello	2¾ mins
	6	Martin Read	VI: Hopton’s Dumpe	Recorder Quintet	1½ mins
	7	Martin Read Words: Philip Sealey	VII: Bring me a mourning scarf	Soprano, Alto, Bass, Double Choir (SATB), ’Cello	2¾ mins
	8	Martin Read	VIII: Colonel Boles: his Pavane	Recorder Quintet	1½ mins
	9	Martin Read Words: Philip Sealey	IX: Epilogue	Tenor, Double Choir (SATB), Tenor drum, ’Cello	5¾ mins
	Parts
	Please note that the Recorder Quintet part is supplied as a full recorder score booklet; if five individual parts are required, they may be purchased separately from the Four Interludes page (see explanation above for more details).

Catalogue code: FM293 • Published: 18th April 2025
Entry last updated: 18th April 2025