4'

On 25 October 2007 the town of Agincourt, Iowa celebrated its 150th birthday with a major museum exhibition, a series of public presentations, and other far less formal events. Coincidentally, it was also the 592nd anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, Henry V's decisive victory over the French in the Hundred Years' War, a subject I have treated before — in the large-scale work Sennets, Cortege, and Tuckets. Consequently, when approached to provide a celebratory fanfare for the town of Agincourt's birthday, I felt myself on familiar, inspiring ground. It is always an honor and pleasure as a citizen-composer to supply music for important public events. I was particularly intrigued by this project because Agincourt, Iowa does not exist.

Agincourt, Iowa, is a purely imaginary place, begun as an academic exercise, but now grown far beyond those boundaries. With more than sixty participants (students, architects, landscape architects, artists, designers, craftsmen, historians — both amateur and professional, and one composer), the celebration was multi-medial and poly-disciplinary, all of it directed toward understanding how we collectively go about creating a "sense of place." Music plays an enormous role in our understanding of ourselves, our times, and our place in the world; it was an honor and a pleasure to help with music to create Agincourt's "sense of place."

The fanfare was premiered on 25 October 2007 at the opening gala of the Agincourt Exhibition at the Rourke Gallery in Moorehead, North Dakota by the Concordia College Brass Ensemble.