| Summary: | <p> James Francis Burke (1923-1981) was one of the most renowned cornet soloists of the Twentieth Century. Despite having no use of his right arm, the result of suffering an injury at birth, Burke learned to play the cornet at an early age and began to perform solos for movies and radio shows by the age of 11. He is remembered primarily as the Cornet Soloist of the Goldman Band, a position he held for 32 years (1943-1975). Burke also performed extensively with the Baltimore Symphony, Radio City Music Hall, and Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestras and held teaching positions at the Peabody Conservatory (Baltimore, MD), Ithaca College (NY), Hofstra University (NY), and the University of Bridgeport (CT). During his lifetime Burke performed a number of cornet solos with band accompaniment and composed solos that he performed with the Goldman Band and others including <i>Danza Alegre, The Magic Trumpet, Amourette, Hocus Polka, Jimala Beguine, Joneta, Jolene,</i> and <i> Zorita</i>. Of these compositions, only <i>Zorita</i> is unpublished. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to transcribe the accompaniment for Burke's cornet solo, <i>Zorita</i> (c. 1968) for brass quintet. A secondary purpose of this study was to present a brief biographical sketch about Burke to provide historical context and background for the solo. A brief discussion of the work is included in this document, although complete analysis was beyond the scope of this study as was a complete biography of Burke. </p><p> The transcribed edition of the solo was created by consulting unpublished scores of <i>Zorita</i> and a recording of the solo performed by Burke. The original cornet solo remained intact and is presented with the transcribed brass quintet accompaniment. The accompaniment was scored for the traditional brass quintet instrumentation: two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba. This transcription, therefore, requires an additional cornet performer to be the soloist. Appropriate for concert performance by advanced students, <i> Zorita </i> balances <i>bel canto</i> melodies with highly technical scalar passages and extended sections of multiple articulation. </p>
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