Composer’s Note:

“Quod erat demonstrandum”” (Latin for “Which was to be proven”) is a phrase frequently found at the end of a mathematical proof or philosophical argument. It seemed a proper title for a work of this type: a short work making use of techniques that I’ve found useful in many of my recent pieces. In short, it is a summation, the conclusion of a an imaginary rhetorical argument. In retrospect, the fanfare shares many characteristics with the finale of my Symphony for Wind Ensemble, a work I composed in 2013 and 2014. The work begins with an emphatic trumpet theme around which are built a trombone countermelody, a forceful E-flat pedal, and strident woodwind arabesques. This is followed by a repeated ascending theme in the lowest instruments of the ensemble. The arabesques return, before the piece closes with highly condensed versions of these previous ideas.