Charles Booker... Compositions

Commissioned by Chief Warrant Officer William Horton, conductor and commander of the 392nd Army Band of Fort Lee, Virginia, Declaration 1776 was composed in January of 2003 and premiered at Fort Lee, Virginia on the 4th of July of the same year. The Declaration of Independence has been called the greatest written state paper of western civilization. The musical form of the piece is based on the five sections of the Declaration of Independence. The first section represents the introduction of the Declaration. The second represents the Preamble, followed by the third section which is the New England psalmody. The fourth section (the war) represents the indictment of George III, and the denunciation of the British people [who] "... have been deaf to the voice of justice..." Finally, the last section is representative of the conclusion... "that these United Colonies are and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States... and for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes and sacred Honor."

Recording by the U.S. Military Academy Band (West Point], Colonel Thomas Rotondi conducting. Published by Booker Music. Narrators: Sergeant Major Rick Gerard and Claudette M. Booker.