The Inferno, by Robert W. Smith -- Score & Sound

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The Inferno
From The Divine Comedy
By Robert W. Smith
Item: 00-BD9563
Series: Belwin Classic Band
Level: 5
The Inferno is the first movement of Robert W. Smith's four-movement work The Divine Comedy based on Dante Alighieri's literary classic of the same name. Dante's vision of hell consists of nine concentric circles divided into four categories of sin. This first movement of the epic work uses visual imagery with huge blocks of sound and explosive winds and percussion. Colossal in scope!
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[@djungelskogsn7529]

One of the best pieces ever written for wind band. Rest In Peace, Robert W. Smith.

[@M.kai07]

He was the father of my middle school band teacher. Such a nice fellow, rest in peace.

[@Bigmike24743]

Mrs cole right

[@M.kai07]

@@Bigmike24743 yeah.

[@reddestdeadofred]

@@M.kai07jesus dude. sorry for the loss :( but seriously, one of the most talented composers ever.

[@cal3b_.p3rc98]

I like how “impending doom” is a type of tenpo

[@andrewpennell7920]

Well one time I had something called stripper tempo…still don’t know what that even is. I just followed along with everyone else. I don’t even remember what song it was.

[@Gigglegiggle248]

@@andrewpennell7920 probably just meant a sleazy, slow, gaudy swing.

[@madisonchant6232]

"Impending doom" is no a tempo. It's how they want you to make the audience feel

[@cal3b_.p3rc98]

@@madisonchant6232 it’s a joke dude, I’m aware it’s not a tempo, I’m a percussionist

[@CarolineMosesComedy]

Hey, in honor band we played "Zero Quarter" by Am're Ford (amazing piece, by the way) and the style instruction for most of it was "with a lil' stank."

[@Jadethesheep9046]

My favorite band experience was learning to play this piece, and then somehow having the entire low brass convince our band director to play it for an elementary school. Needless to say we brought 7 kids to tears from the intro

[@alex_k747]

For any non percussionists, you have no idea how fun it is to slam the bass drum as hard as humanely possible at the quadruple forte at the end of the song

[@maxseneffii9362]

Fancy seeing you here

[@alex_k747]

@@maxseneffii9362 UHHUUUUUUUUUUUUHHH

[@murica4evs]

I imagine it's quite satisfying to really get to let loose and show the bass drum how you really feel

[@wrath5332]

Probably as much fun as the rush we get with those runs throughout the whole song. It's been over 10 years and I STILL LISTEN to this amazing song occasionally.

[@ilovehomies]

i dont play precussion but i remember slamming the drums hard as hell back in middle school 💯💯

[@michaelolmoz225]

Timpani is nuts in this. Also the ending of this with the percussion fade out is actually so dope

[@mateostauffenecker1014]

I find it funny that someone uses the word dope to describe music such as this😂

[@zachs_]

Played timpani on this piece and it was so much fun. Top 5 timpani parts I've ever played for sure.

[@averagehuman522]

Before when I played Timpani, it was only ever a background part with eighth notes being the craziest thing ever. When I got this part out of the blue, however, oh man the ecstacy I hadn't even ever played a peice with more than two pages nor on more than two timpani

[@BladeTNT2018]

The last measure is sure insane

[@Annoyance1969]

more advanced music and especially more classical music like this is always much more for timpani. as a timpanist, thats great for me. for the low brass in front of me, its a "gentle" reminder to bring earplugs.

[@justinpierce7712]

The amount of low Bb in the oboe part is insane. So are the oboe and piccolo duet. Timpani is awesome in this too

[@sophiebug5909]

As an oboe player, yes the Bb is terrible. 😂

[@carylltheoboist]

@@sophiebug5909As an oboist as well, I can agree. It’s horrible😭

[@kathyconway-ward2856]

I played this thirty years ago and the oboe solo still makes me tense up 😂

[@user-ox7bf8ik6z]

i’m having to play this as a sophomore and it’s terrible

[@bdegirt4111]

I remember learning this in a week at band camp and maaaaaan was it hard but the chains and percussion was so sick

[@bdegirt4111]

I played tenor sax and man those runs went crazy

[@yukihirasoma4233]

@@bdegirt4111 i’m in high school and i play tenor sax too. our band director is making up learn it on our own 😭😭 it’s pretty cool but damn i need some type of help lol

[@bdegirt4111]

@@yukihirasoma4233 good luck I lowkey just air played cause the guy beside me was a god

[@hornguy04]

I also did this in a field show once, part of a show called “Enigma” which also featured Allegro Barbaro (Bartok) and a gorgeous ballad called “Poeme” that I have never learned the composer of.

[@VyxtheBat]

YOU MARCHED TO THIS?????? I WANNA MARCH TO THISSS!!!!

[@weebutv8311]

This was the first song my grandpa bought me, he sadly passed away last year and this song and the (other ones : Purgatorio, The Ascension, and Paradiso) make me feel like he's still with me.

[@brayden9369]

Before I tell you my story you need to know I'm a percussionist, and my fellow percussionist know that they don't get assigned every song... ok so I recommended this to my band director and he liked it so much that we are now playing it for our spring concert... BUT I DIDNT GET ASSIGNED TO THIS SONG. I literally recommended this and he doesn't even put me on. I hope you can feel my pain and anger ok thanks byeee

[@k1oeve]

Aw man :(

[@thequesoman6429]

Fun fact: My state’s district 3 high school honor band learned and preformed this in 2 days👍

[@eboone]

@@michaelclarke843 state band

[@bammmyouuu7752]

@@eboone That’s district band

[@bennyboy2414]

It's a stellar piece. That's awesome

[@andrewhofmann]

i think this would fit really well with “The Planets” by Gustav Holst

[@beanspaghetti2389]

i’m playing this with holsts second suite lol

[@argoknees2126]

It's an interesting thought, but the issue is that "The Planets" follows consistent orchestration patterns that are not able to b e configured with concert band. Thats why all the CB arrangements of it sound garbage. It has very similar brass patterns so I do see what you mean.

[@kylebarfuss7977]

This has the coolest French horn part

[@felix-ht3zk]

Right? I play French horn, and when I heard the Horn part I went absolutely nuts. It's so amazing

[@supertownsend]

@@felix-ht3zk We did this piece in high school and I was so excited to have a real horn part, and also so scared to have a real horn part, in a difficult concert piece.

[@garrisoncluff5367]

Imagine playing this with 6 horns!

[@user-qv9tg5su9v]

I will say the 4 parts together at 3:20 sounds really good. I also like it when my main instrument, the Euphonium, joins the French Horn on some parts.

[@wadeDAbear]

That’s what I’m saying, nobody talks about the cutoff after the French horn soli

[@justinsilva38]

I can’t get over this piece, listen to it every single mf day

[@rili424]

FACTS BESTIE

[@rili424]

YOURE RIGHT

[@rili424]

HEY JUSTIN

[@justinsilva38]

@@rili424 girl what 🤨

[@rili424]

@@justinsilva38 it’s gabby 😎

[@skyeelizabeth01]

Not sure how I haven't found this piece sooner, but oh my goodness I absolutely love the intensity of this piece. And the oboe solo in Bb Minor is a perfect way of starting the symphony.

[@dinonuggy08]

I love when Flutes and Saxes have the run, but when clarinets have it at 2:06, it LOVE the way it sounds (coming from a Saxophone)

[@RandomBox999]

This is one of the songs I'm playing in a concert and this is definitely my favorite but also the hardest

[@gothard5]

This was one of the songs for all county band my senior year of HS 21 years ago. I was first chair Tenor Sax. I never did figure this one out. It baffles me to this day. I honestly don’t think I should have been in all county band at all. the music was just so overwhelmingly difficult for me. I just wasn’t getting it. I remember being so lost even during the main concert. I will always love the music we did though.

[@mrmrmeta3698]

So this is in my mind part of a four piece family Tempest grade 1 Windstorm grade 1 1/2 Into the storm 3 Inferno 5-6

[@BladeTNT2018]

Songs of Sailor and Sea

[@t1m0thyduk3]

THANK YOU! i thought i was the only one that thought the tempest and into the storm sounded the same

[@mrmrmeta3698]

Maelstrom is also part of the storm song family

[@razrv3lc]

Tempest and Into the Storm for sure are relatives. Into the Storm is practically the same melody just more intricate.

[@phrogtime4160]

Impending doom is very true. I think my fingers crumbled into dust my first play through

[@Nomadmandude]

My favorite recorded version. Robert W. Smith's The Divine Comedy is amazing and so much fun back in highschool band.

[@jrseahorse5886]

As an oboe, this was one of my favorite pieces of all time. But sadly when we played this I still had a beginners oboe which doesn’t include a low Bb so we couldn’t keep the piece.

[@piotrjakuc6357]

Fire version of Into the Storm?

[@BladeTNT2018]

probably

[@mateostauffenecker1014]

The ostinato really reminded me of the one from Into the Storm. Just quicker and more threatening.

[@Minty10]

OMG YES!

[@blakecarterpiano]

Like a combo of the planets+rite of spring, but easy enough for youth bands 3:16 is basically an excerpt from the rite of spring, with a different melody over it, and with different percussion.

[@chloethifault]

Played this with my high school concert band at Place Des Arts in Montreal in 2007! Whah an amazing moment and piece! Thanks for letting me relive that memory! 🥰❤️!

[@nayraan147]

Ooh quebec people! I live near Montreal also

[@theyakel1]

As an 8th grader this is what my nightmares are made of

[@voideater6222]

We're doing this for band this year so I'm living your nightmare lol

[@theyakel1]

@@voideater6222 I’m now in 9th grade and we’re doing ride look it up it’s a grade 5 😃

[@DavidD-KingWolf65]

@@theyakel1 dude some members of my band are doing the Ascension. I'm one of 'em :D

[@theyakel1]

@@DavidD-KingWolf65 that comment was last year I’m doing pieces that’s are 3 grades higher than what I was doing (I’m in my schools wind symphony) we are doing ringmasters March which is now what my nightmares are made of and à la machaut and Slava (help)

[@theyakel1]

Amateur. 😌

[@VyxtheBat]

last time i played this was in middle school. i had braces at the time, and I played tenor trombone. I now find myself in high school, without braces, playing bass bone, with a director who absolutely hates this piece. *I swear. I swear I will not die until I have played this piece again.*

[@DavidD-KingWolf65]

You played a Grade 5 in middle school. I salute. Also, why does your teacher hate it? Also, fellow trombonist here.

[@VyxtheBat]

@DavidtheKingWolf hey! 👋 I asked my band director why he hates it, he said it was made to be fun and fill a niche, and doesn't actully hold any meaning or story. I told him I agree, but it doesn't really make it a bad piece. It's kinda like ice cream; not very healthy but still ok once in a while Nice pfp btw, did you draw it?

[@DavidD-KingWolf65]

@@VyxtheBat thanks. Sadly no. My best friend did. They are an amazing artist and I am more than glad to have them as a friend. I am an artist though and have my talents on characters and landscapes myself. I don't really get how it could "fill a niche". I feel that whenever a concert transcription of pop music comes up that's what it does. I like pop music but I feel it is acting as if "this is a pop song that the audience is going to recognize, we don't need to try". I have that trauma because I saw a local school with a bad band play Wake Me Up by Evanescence on concert stage and I felt "OOOOHHH THAT MAKES SENSE" and that popped in my head lol. Marching band, it's different. I feel less like that now but in filling a niche that suddenly will like band just because they're playing recognizeable tunes on stage, then it is likely to diminish the meaning of concert band and the song transcribed.

[@VyxtheBat]

@@DavidD-KingWolf65 zigackly! if pop song band arrangements aren't "filling a niche" idk what is funny thing is he recently gave us africa by toto lmao. the irony

[@DavidD-KingWolf65]

@@VyxtheBat BRAAAAAHHHHH 💀. THE ABSOLUTE IRONY!!!!!!! Like, someone give them a new musical library for a universal set PLEASE XD! I also forgot to tell you that besides Trombone and art, I also write music. My current set doesn't have much of a consistent ensemble lol. I am doing a movement known as "Immersionism" which isn't about musical gimmicks like virtuosity of musicians or compositional technicalities, but about immersing the audience into the music and the story of such. Like how Robert W. Smith did with this and other movements of his Divine Comedy (Though the first two movements are the best at defining the story, and my two favorites on general). It's still a growing personal musical style but I just want to keep it on lol.

[@noahburgess7630]

Yes finally I can freely learn this stud of a Timpani piece :3

[@benjamintheshark9279]

I played this in my school's band, and I played chains, whip, and gong. It was so much fun

[@clipsofstuffs2197]

I hope I get put on those. Those or timpani.

[@CFEF44AB1399978B0011]

I played a variation on this piece, as a marching band show. It was actually partially based on this piece and possibly a couple others, it was supposed to represent the divine comedy and the props plus uniform change mid show was freaking awesome.

[@marcusbrokenborough394]

I'll always remember playing this piece in 2000.

[@Bobaking147]

For all non instrument people give credit to the people who play this. IT IS SO HARD TO PLAY THIS SONG!!!!

[@Angel-ds2ic]

word practicing this for my wind ensemble this piece is pretty difficult and even though I’ve only had it for a month or so there’s just some parts I can’t get down

[@RiceWitch-dingus-400]

reminds me of rite of spring!

[@sylverfish6916]

Im piccolo in this for band soon and im so excited this piece is just ✨chefs kiss✨

[@TheGodsMustBeCrazy]

My concert band played this when I was a freshman. It was insane.

[@carringtonpilon1310]

We’re learning this for a Halloween concert in October!

[@garrisoncluff5367]

I love the oboe/English Horn solo.

[@floheart1]

this is just amazing

[@johnnybrewer2992]

We played the world premier of this symphony (as a complete work--Paradiso was completed when he came to Troy in 97. The muted trumpet solo was great fun to play.

[@toxiboi5771]

Rip Robert W. Smith

[@maestromarcorodrigues2179]

Very, very good!!!! Congratulations.

[@EXCELSIOR67]

2:05 I got blasted bro

[@cbpiv5995]

3:16 Spring Rounds (from the rite of spring) vibes

[@elliotfetchin4996]

I played timpani for this. So much fun :>

[@StarFyreX]

Finally you upload it

[@SGTAMUSA]

Thank you, for this masterpiece! RWS

[@pieisgood2372]

Into the Storm 2.0

[@trix2562]

But just as good

[@bobbyjcfhvlichtenstein8253]

I love both pieces, but I miiiiight have to side with this one

[@LimaJean-yz6zf]

Tempest(lvl 1) Into the Storm(lvl 2) The Inferno(lvl 3)

[@arcadeoutpost]

Great battle music

[@loganrios9079]

My school is doing this song along with Mars from planet suites and salvation is created for our spring concert

[@jones7294]

Now Robert wrote this song!!!

[@Daniel-hx1yu]

3:16 sounds like Spring Rounds from Rite of Spring

[@eliasc.4040]

Y'know that scene from monty python and the holy grail, right after the bridge of death? The intro to this song fits perfect

[@FrostRblx957]

Best orchestra beat drop 0:27

[@victorialarsen9935]

rip woodwinds

[@raynbowmushr00m19]

I’m playin this on horn in my symphonic band😊

[@ritachoi1677]

noice, im playing it on percussion, i'm the whip and chains :)

[@fadisoueidi4127]

nice one. a bit heavy on the Stravinsky influence though...

[@Sabbathfaax]

Miss playing the toms on this beast :(

[@kai9920]

i playing this piece right now it is mad hard, but it isnt the hardest thing by far

[@butterycroissant]

3:16 sounds kinda like spring rounds in rite of spring

[@ABFan-bj2uj]

An Eb Contrabass Clarinet is a Contralto clarinet.

[@BladeTNT2018]

yup

[@alexkrall2660]

Yeah man so true

[@evenspookier]

hi, is this on spotify?

[@zachbaker6025]

nope

[@beansforjeans]

Nope 😓

[@BladeTNT2018]

7:01 R.I.P headphone users

[@murica4evs]

It was fine at the beginning and then Smith decided to hit up the ensemble with a modest 173 bpm. You know, because that's the most commonly used tempo. 😂

[@DavidD-KingWolf65]

200 BPM has been used before 😂

[@TootsTheSnoops]

5:01 trumpet solo

[@user-sj5zz4vf6o]

2022?

[@jDnDvS.]

1:49

[@BladeTNT2018]

What is the dynamic of the last measure?

[@JohnJApanovitch]

If I recall seeing it, it's quadruple forte, which is quite loud.

[@BladeTNT2018]

@@JohnJApanovitch First time seeing it

[@JohnJApanovitch]

@@BladeTNT2018 I've seen it before in some pieces. It's quite rare, though. I actually plan to conduct this piece on my channel next year, so it will be interesting to see how I'll pull it off.

[@calebthecalico]

@@JohnJApanovitch i'd like to see it

[@JohnJApanovitch]

@@calebthecalico Well you're in luck, because I actually know how to conduct "The Inferno". It's a hard piece, but I will be doing it sometime in 2021. I hope to do all of "The Divine Comedy" next year.

[@BladeTNT2018]

7:05

[@TootsTheSnoops]

2:28

[@bensnurplecumderdickerpatc1045]

for my fellow piccolos 4:00

[@black_circle322]

Quadruple F

[@logancalvaresi3447]

There should have been more hood balls in this song

[@DurpyKraken]

Idk. Robert W Smith’s music has grown boring to me. His songs are repetitive, predictable and a bit to simple now hearing more music of his. Not impressed.

[@Daniel-hx1yu]

Yeah i get bored of him too. Most his pieces are just copes of eachother. The rest of the symphony is good though because the movements didnt stick to his typical style. But his pieces are time-friendly since they can be learned in really short notice and still have a nice outcome to listeners.

[@floheart1]

this is the only part of the whole suite that sounds like his usual “loop a high woodwind part” “clarinets have melody” “slow part” “brass rise, loud melody” “original melody plays” kind of formula that he uses. but this is a lot more chaotic.

[@matthewharris22708]

OK so fortissississimo ( 𝒇𝒇𝒇𝒇 ) is an actual dynamic?

[@LimaJean-yz6zf]

idk