Title: The Noble Stand
Description: In 480 BC, the Battle of Thermopylae, a small mountain pass in central Greece, was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states and the invading Persian Empire of Xerxes I.  Greatly outnumbered, the Greeks held up the Persians advance for seven days in total (including three of battle), before the rear-guard was annihilated in one of history's most famous and noble stands.  Here in a piece for concert band at the Grade 1.5 level are the musical images of battles being waged and armies on the march.