Jim Berenholtz

S, fl, orch: 3-3-3-3; 4-3-3-1; perc; str

“First People, Last Stand” is an orchestral interlude from the first act of “Buffalo Nation”. The march to battle with which it climaxes was composed and orchestrated between 1974 and 1977. Twenty-five years later, the orchestration was revised and new introductory music was written to feature soloist Viviana Guzman on both Native American cedar flutes and classical transverse flute.

“First People, Last Stand” programmatically portrays the arrival of various Native American peoples into the valley of the Little Bighorn, as they build an enclave of armed resistance to further encroachment of their lands by the United States. This is followed by the music (which in the opera would also be sung) where Sitting Bull shares his mystical vision -
“From above a voice came down to me with a vision of our victory. The voice cried out, ‘I give you these because they have no ears’. Then I looked up and saw the soldiers with their heads pointing downwards. They were falling right into our camp.”

Finally we hear the music that accompanies the march of Custer’s army, the Seventh Cavalry, to the valley of the Little Bighorn, and unknowingly to their defeat.
    
“First People, Last Stand” was premiered by the Great Falls Symphony Orchestra in 2002 in Montana, the same state where Custer’s Last Stand occured. In 2003 it was performed by the Diablo Symphony at the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California. The score and parts for “First People, Last Stand” are available from the American Composers Alliance in NYC, or directly from the composer. It is an ideal work for inclusion in orchestral programs that feature the flute, that concern Native American culture, or that more generally deal with American history and American composers.

This item is listed as part of ACA's complete archival holdings, and may be available on request.