Piltdown Man

Sonya Leonore Stahl

General Information

  • ​Year of Composition: 2002
  • Difficulty: Grade IV
  • Duration: c. 3:00
  • Form: Dance-Rhapsody

Instrumentation

  • Piccolo
  • Flute I-II
  • Oboe I-II
  • Bassoon I-II
  • B-flat Clarinet I-II
  • Bass Clarinet
  • Alto Saxophone I-II
  • Tenor Saxophone
  • Baritone Saxophone
  • B-flat Trumpet I-II
  • Horn in F I-II
  • Trombone I-II
  • Euphonium
  • Tuba
  • String Bass
  • Timpani
  • Percussion
  • Mallets
Percussion Instruments Needed:
  • Bass Drum
  • Glockenspiel
  • Snare Drum
  • Tambourine
  • Timpani
  • Triangle
  • Vibraphone
  • Vibraslap

Purchase Options

Look/Listen

ISU Wind Symphony - Rehearsal Reading

Program Note

Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus dawsonii) was a modern human skull and orangutan jaw that for fifty years was thought to be the remains of the Missing Link. Like this famous faked fossil, this piece also at first appears to be from a much earlier era, paying homage to the great tradition of English band music and composers such as Holst, Jacob, and Vaughan Williams. Piltdown Man was "found" in England, and the perpetuation of the myth for so long was due to the great desire of the British to have a fossil hominid in which they could show national pride.