Description
The Cowboys was the first piece of The Coeur d'Alene Suite composed, in 1994, inspired by lyrics by Duke Lenhart and performed as a chamber orchestra arrangement by the Ensamble Rosario, in Rosario, Argentina by a chamber orchestra and performed as a band arrangement by the North Idaho College Symphony in May 14, 2000, conducted by Terry Jones. The piece was always intended to be a smaller part of a larger piece which turned out to be the Coeur d’Alene Suite, primarily written in the last two months of 2004.
Cowboys in North Idaho are represented in this musical story depicting a fictitious posse of local concerned citizens deputized by the sheriff Galloping Over The Hills in a mythical rendition of the search for the Henry Plummer Gang, a notorious group of murderous bandits who frequently robbed stages and killed passengers and crew along the highway now known as Highway 95, from the Coeur d’Alene to the Boise areas. When the posse catches up with the Plummer Gang In January, 1863 there is a Shoot out with Outlaws represented by a chaotic rhythm of syncopation and an almost modern melody, intended to represent the confusion and clamor of the shootout. The members of the gang are killed and the piece ends with the good guys Galloping Home. The dominant rhythm of the beginning and ending movements is the clip-clopping of the horse’s hooves.