Under Siege

This work for wind band was one of the award-winning compositions in a competition organised by the Cottonera Foundation in 2022, in collaboration with the National Band Clubs Organisation, judged by international composers. It was premiered on the 23rd September 2022 during the National Festival for Wind Bands in Cospicua by Banda San Lawrenz, Birgu, under the baton of Mro Jonathan Abela.

UNDER SIEGEis a musical composition for wind band having the aim of commemorating the historical events that took place in Cottonera during the Second World War. Owing to its strategic location, Cottonera, built around the Grand Harbour, had its dockyard crowded with British fleet ships. This made the three cities the main targets of attacks from the Axis during World War II. Cottonera was practically besieged by air and sea bombardments for two and a half years between June 1940 and November 1942. 

The title UNDER SIEGEcommemorates this second siege in the history of Cottonera.

However, this piece does not focus only on the war itself. The three subtitles, highlighting the three parts into which the composition has been divided, are adjectives describing the state of Cottonera and its people before, during and after the war.

The first part Serene describes the state of Cottonera as Europe was about to enter a dark period in history. The predictions of the imminent tragedy were few although indications began to show otherwise. As a result, the people of Cottonera continued with their daily routine. Until the first airstrike on the 11th of June 1940.

In Besieged the rising tension approaching these islands starts to be felt. This enables the listener to be led slowly into the central part of this piece. The tone is no longer a calm one but it progresses into a more tense and agitated one, just as the life of the Cottonera people had become. Being continuously under siege, whole families found themselves spending more time in shelters rather than in their homes. Many were those who lost their dwellings or even their lives in these attacks. Many others had to leave Cottonera once and for all and move to other villages.

Thank Heavens, the Axis lost the war and the Allies won it. The moments of joy and glory that reigned within the people of Cottonera once the war was over and won, can be clearly felt in Victorious, the final part of this composition. It is here that in the background the first four bars of the Maltese National Anthem can be heard, the anthem/prayer that emphasizes the bravery of the Maltese, especially of the inhabitants of Cottonera, who resisted even with their own lives this bloody siege.

Parts included: Piccolo, Flute 1, Flute 2, Oboe, Eb Clarinet, Bb Clarinet 1, Bb Clarinet 2, Bass Clarinet, Sax Alto 1, Sax Alto 2, Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax, Horn 1, Horn 2, Horn 3, Horn 4, Bb Trumpet 1, Bb Trumpet 2, Trombone 1, Trombone 2, Trombone 3, Baritone, Euphonium, Tuba, Timpani, Snare

Drum, Cymbals, Bass Drum, Mark tree, Tubular Bells, Glockenspiel, Full score.

(Additional part: Bassoon)