The Medina Community Band
Marcus Neiman, conductor
John Connors, associate conductor & Matthew Hastings, assistant conductor
With
Denise Milner Howell, vocal soloist; Kevin Wallick, cornet soloist; and, Sadie Nayman, flute soloist
Ice Cream Social Host – Kiwanis Breakfast Club of Medina MCBA Welcome – Lu Ann Gresh, president
Thursday Evening, July 4th, 2019
Medina Uptown Park Square Gazebo 8:30 p.m.
Anthem, Star Spangled Banner (1889/1917) ...... Francis Scott Key John Philip Sousa
Selection, Indiana Jones Selections (1981/2007) ...... John Williams Hans van der Heide
Anniversary, Fly Me to the Moon (1954/2014) ...... Bart Howard Takashi Hoshide
Cornet Solo, From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific (1912) ...... Herbert L. Clarke
Kevin Wallick, soloist
Ragtime, Yankee Girl (1904) ...... J. Bodewalt Lampe
Sing & Whistle Along, Cheerio (1933) ...... Edwin Franko Goldman
Matthew Hastings, conducting
Flute Solo, Concertino, Op. 107 (1902/1960) ...... Cécile Chaminade Clayton Wilson Sadie Nayman, soloist
March, El Capitan (1896) ...... John Philip Sousa
Vocal Solo, I Dreamed a Dream (from Les Misérables) (1980/2009) ...... Claude-Michel Schönberg Michael Brown
Vocal Solo, Irving Berlin – Songs of America ...... Irving Berlin James Swearingen Denise Milner Howell, soloist
Patriotic Salute, Armed Forces Salute ...... Arr. Robert Lowden
National March, The Stars and Stripes Forever (1896) ...... John Philip Sousa
Patriotic Sing-A-Long, God Bless America (1917) ...... Irving Berlin Erik William Gustav Leidzén
Program subject to change
MCB Gazebo Concert – Thursday, July 4th, 2019 – Program Notes – page 1
Indiana Jones Selections John Williams / Hans van der Heide Williams, John
DOB: February 8th, 1932 (Queens, New York)
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career that spans six decades, Williams has composed many of the most famous film scores in Hollywood history, including: Star Wars, Superman, Home Alone, the first three Harry Potter movies, and all but two of Steven Spielberg’s feature films including the Indiana Jones series, Schindler’s List, E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, and Jaws. He also composed the soundtrack for the hit 1960s TV series Lost in Space. Williams has composed theme music for four Olympic Games, the NBC Nightly News, the inauguration of Barack Obama, and numerous television series and concert piece. He served as the principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993, and is now the orchestra’s laureate conductor. Williams is a five-time winner of the Academy Award. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards, seven SAFTA Awards, and 21 Grammy Awards. With 45 Academy Award nominations, Williams is together with composer Alfred Newman, the second most nominated individual after Walt Disney. He was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.
Indiana Jones Selections.
Includes: Raiders March from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) Slave Children’s Crusade from “Temple of Doom” (1984) Short Round’s Theme from “Temple of Doom” Love Theme from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” Keeper of the Grail from “Last Crusade” (1989)
The bandstration has been arranged by Hans van der Heide
Indiana" Jones's full name is Dr. Henry Walton Jones Jr., and his nickname is often shortened to "Indy". In his role as a college professor of archaeology, Jones is scholarly and learned in a tweed suit, lecturing on ancient civilizations. At the opportunity to recover important artifacts, Dr. Jones transforms into "Indiana," a "non-superhero superhero" image he has concocted for himself. Producer Frank Marshall said, "Indy [is] a fallible character. He makes mistakes and gets hurt. ... That's the other thing people like: He's a real character, not a character with superpowers." Spielberg said there "was the willingness to allow our leading man to get hurt and to express his pain and to get his mad out and to take pratfalls and sometimes be the butt of his own jokes.1 Indiana Jones is modeled after the strong-jawed heroes of the matinée serials and pulp magazines that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg enjoyed in their childhoods (such as the Republic Pictures serials, and the Doc Savage series). Sir H. Rider Haggard's safari guide/big game hunter Allan Quatermain of King Solomon's Mines is a notable template for Jones.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones#Character_description_and_formation
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Fly Me to the Moon Bart Howard / Takashi Hoshide
Born Howard Joseph Gustafson. Best-known for the perennial "Fly Me to the Moon," composer Bart Howard was born Howard Joseph Gustafson in Burlington, Iowa in 1916. After leaving home at 16 to serve as the pianist in a dance band that toured in support of Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, in 1934 he settled in Los Angeles in the hopes of mounting a career as a Hollywood tunesmith. Instead, Howard ended up as the accompanist behind female impersonator Rae Bourbon -- from there he backed comedienne Elizabeth Talbot-Martin, following her to New York City when she was booked at the Rainbow Room in 1937. From 1951 to 1959, Howard served as the emcee and intermission pianist at New York's Blue Angel; by day, he continued honing his own material, and in 1954, he completed "In Other Words." One publisher suggested he retitle the song "Take Me to the Moon," but he finally settled on "Fly Me to the Moon"; first performed by cabaret singer Felicia Sanders. In 1960, the song was made a huge hit by Peggy Lee, and was later recorded by Judy Garland, Doris Day, and -- perhaps most notably -- Frank Sinatra. Its success made Howard so wealthy that he curtailed his songwriting efforts and entered semi- retirement, although his "Let Me Love You" and "Don't Dream of Anybody but Me" also earned some measure of significant success. Frank Sinatra's 1964 recording of "Fly Me to the Moon" became closely associated with NASA's Apollo space program. A copy of the song was played on the Apollo 10 mission which orbited the Moon. It became the first music heard on the Moon when played on a portable cassette player by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin after he stepped onto the Moon. The song’s association with Apollo 11 was reprised many years later when Diana Krall sang it at the mission's 40th anniversary commemoration ceremony. She also sang a “slow and solemn version” in 2012 at the national memorial service for Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong.2
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_Me_to_the_Moon
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From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific Herbert L. Clarke
In America, in the small towns and burgeoning industrial metropolises of the turn of the “last” century, cornetist were heroes. Small girls and boys would flock to hear them and their bands, resplendent in paramilitary costume, filled the Sunday-park air. Herbert L. Clarke, certainly the most famous cornetist of his time, would in his long career conduct ensembles with such bizarre names as the Huntsville Leather Company Band of Ontario. Clarke was probably one of the two best-known players in cornet history. Proud of his Yankee heritage, he was born into a musical family in Woburn, Massachusetts, where his organist father assured all his sons through training in several instruments apiece, but tried to dissuade them from pursuing musical careers. Nevertheless, Herbert and his trombonist brother Ernest were to become famous soloists, first in Patrick Gilmore’s historic ensemble (then conducted by Victor Herbert), later with John Philip Sousa. At one time, Clarke was Sousa’s highest-paid soloist, but despite efforts of the great man to keep him permanently, Clarke’s band leading and composing interests were to take him on long sojourns. Much to Sousa’s frustration, in fact, Clarke insisted on retiring from solo performance on the cornet at age 50 (a cut-off point he had set for himself in his youth – that on one might ever say to him, “he doesn’t play as well as he did in his prime.”) A composer of 240 works, Clarke brought the curiously rigid form of the cornet solo as far as it could reasonably go in harmonic interest and wealth of musical ideas. A large part of the Gilmore and Sousa band tradition was the inclusion of virtuosic cornet features on each concert. Clarke claimed to have given 7,000 of these solo performances in his career. Not only did he perform these showpieces, but thanks to the encouragement of fellow bandsman Arthur Pryor, he composed them. From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific (cornet solo). Published in 1912 by M. Witmark & Sons, (New York). From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific, described as a "Rondo Caprice," was written by the American cornet virtuoso Herbert Lincoln Clarke. He recorded it with the Sousa Band. The piece has remained an important part of the standard solo literature with band. Kevin Wallick, cornet soloist, earned a bachelor of arts degree in communications from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He has been married to his wife, Kim, for 28 years, and they have one daughter, Amanda. Kevin is the business manager for Wadsworth based CityLink. Wallick, a lifelong Ohio resident, has played trumpet for over 40 years, he currently resides in North Canton, Ohio. He has been a member of Medina Community Band since 2016.
MCB Gazebo Concert – Thursday, July 4th, 2019 – Program Notes – page 4
Yankee Girl
J. Bodewalt Lampe Jens Bodewalt Lampe (at right) was born into the large and musical family of Christian and Dorothea Lampe in Ribe, Denmark, in 1869. A cobbler by trade, his father played tuba and bass violin in the summers with the band at the Tivoli Theater in Copenhagen, and several members of the family became well-known musicians. In 1873, when J.B. (as he was later called) was four, his father accepted an offer to direct the Great Western Band in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the family moved to America. In addition to a number of military style marches, Lampe composed many ragtime and two-step marches. In 1900, when Creole Belles was composed, ragtime was beginning to be the big “noise” in American popular music. Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag became the first ragtime sheet music best-seller in 1899. In 1900, the Sousa Band helped to popularize ragtime in Europe during its prolonged tour there. Creole Belles March with its strong syncopation over a steady rhythmic accompaniment, rapidly became a favorite with band audiences everywhere. The Sousa Band, with either Arthur Pryor or Herbert L. Clarke conducting, recorded the tune five times between 1902 and 1905. By 1904, with a few other marches and syncopated pieces under his belt, Lampe was pulled to New York to work for Remick, by now the predominant publisher of popular rags and songs, and remained there for nearly two decades. It is also where he and Josephine raised their children Walter, Petra, Dorothy, and most importantly, Joseph Dell, who would one day be his father's employer. In August 1907 Lampe purchased a spacious home at the corner of Petersville Road and Grant Street, Stephenson Park, New Rochelle, just off the Long Island Sound. While employed primarily as an arranger, soon to head that department for the publisher, he also managed to turn out some fine marches and lightly syncopated pieces. Among his more popular entries acquired by Remick were Dixie Girl, Happy Heine, and The Yankee Girl, the latter likely a nod to a popular logo for a tobacco product of that era which may have itself been inspired by a successful Colorado mine. The Happy Heine name was soon conveyed to race cars, boats, and the piece was even adopted by the 18th Infantry Regiment soon after they returned from duty in the Philippine Islands in 1905.3
3 http://www.ragpiano.com/comps/jblampe.shtml
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Cheerio Edwin Franko Goldman In speaking of his father, Richard Franko Goldman related in a broadcast interview that “the new image of the modern concert band is largely the work of one man Edwin Frank Goldman” (pictured at left). He went on to say “early in 1909 my father began to recognize that the musicians in New York who performed in the summer bands, most of whom were from the symphonies and the Metropolitan Opera, did not take the summer performances very seriously. The bands seldom rehearsed and considered the work only as a source of extra income. My father realized the enormous potential for a good wind ensemble. Subsequently in 1911 he founded a group which was initially called the New York Military Band. Later in 1920 when he was firmly established the ensemble became known as the Goldman Band”. The Goldman Band became one of the greatest in history and Goldman’s name became synonymous with musical excellence throughout the United States. He was the dean of bandmasters and certainly one of the most celebrated that ever lived. His famous series of live free concerts in New York’s Central Park and Prospect Park in Brooklyn were heard by more people than any other series of concerts in the world. He projected the spirit of old bandstands, the feature of every old-fashioned park and village square. He helped foster through his concerts a wholesome and happy nostalgia to the people of a great metropolis. The march Cheerio was written in October 1932 and had its first performance at a concert given on the anniversary of Sousa’s birthday, November 6, 1932. It was written as a companion piece to the composer’s famous march On the Mall. The march contains a singing and whistling refrain. It was first played over the radio as an unnamed composition and the radio listeners were asked to suggest a title. The name chosen was Cheerio. This march is dedicated to Mrs. Mabel Rosenthal. Original program notes from June 29, 1933, concert given by the Goldman Band Special Collections in Music, The University of Maryland, College Park. Until the Guggenheim family began funding the Goldman Band in 1924, support for the band’s activities came from subscriptions, advertisements, and donations. Goldman honored many donors with new compositions dedicated especially to them. This march was dedicated to Mrs. Mabel Rosenthal. It is not clear what relationship Mrs. Rosenthal had to the Goldman Band, but it is likely she made a significant contribution to the band, resulting in the dedication mentioned in the original program notes. Herbert N. Johnston referred to a trio of bandsmen including Patrick Gilmore, John Philip Sousa, and Edwin Franko Goldman as a “great triumvirate…which set the course of American band history…[and] which entertained and inspired the American people for over eighty years.” The original Goldman Band was active from 1911 until Richard Goldman’s death in 1980. After sixty-nine years, the Goldman Band had existed longer than any professional American band, including the bands of Patrick Gilmore and John Philip Sousa. The premiere performance of Cheerio was on the anniversary of John Philip Sousa’s birth and came exactly eight months after his death—March 6, 1932. Another legendary figure in American band history, Sousa was active as a bandsman for more than five decades, beginning in 1880, and was well established before the Goldman Band was conceived. Ironically, as a child, Sousa was inspired to take music more seriously after hearing a performance by the traveling musical group, the Franko Family. Goldman’s mother, Selma, was among the performers. (United States Army Field Band jacket notes)
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Concertino, Op. 107 Cécile Chaminade / Clayton Wilson Cécile Chaminade DOB: August 8, 1857 (Paris, France) DOD: April 18, 1944 (Monte Carlo, Monaco) Cécile Chaminade had a long and productive musical life. Although influenced by the music of Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt, she created her own melodic and harmonically imaginative style with French clarity and control. Her many honors include the Purple Ribbon from the French Academy and the Laurel Wreath from the Conservatory of Athens. Cécile-Louise-Stephanie-Chaminade was born into a musical environment. Her father was an excellent violinist, and her mother was known as a remarkable pianist and singer. She studied piano with her mother, who was her only teacher until she was 15. After hearing some of her compositions, written at the age of eight, Hector Berlioz encouraged her parents to give her a complete music education. At 15 she began studying fugue and counterpoint with Augustin Savard, followed later by piano with Felix Le Couppey and composition with Martin-Pierre-Joseph Marsic and Benjamin Godard. She gave her first public piano recital at 16 and the first recital of her works at the age of 18. Chaminade toured as a concert pianist to many cities, including London, Berlin, Leipzig, and Philadelphia, where she played her Concertstück with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1908. During that tour, she appeared on a music symposium (November 15) with John Philip Sousa regarding the question of popular music. Chaminade composed over 200 piano pieces (etudes, sonatas, waltzes, and airs de ballet, including Scarf Dance); piano concertos; a dramatic symphony (Les Amazones, for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra); an opera (La Sevillane-The Woman of Seville); a one-act ballet (Callirhoe); orchestral works (including Pardon Breton, Noel des Marins Angelus, and Angelique); two piano trios; and over 60 songs. Her piano pieces were much more popular than her more extended works. Charninade also wrote literary articles, including a chapter in The International Library of Music on the life of Georges Bizet (a neighbor near Le Visenet when she was a child). (from Program Notes for Band, Norman E. Smith) Concertino for Flute Concertino is a rhapsodic work in a romantic spirit, featuring two principal themes. The Concertino was commissioned by the Paris Conservatoire in 1902, presumably as an examination piece for flute students, where the celebrated French flautist and teacher Paul Taffanel, to whom the Concertino was dedicated, taught. Among flautists, legend has it that Chaminade wrote the Concertino to punish a flute-playing lover after he left her to marry someone else, wanting to make a piece so fiendishly difficult that he could not play it (though he supposedly did manage). However, Chaminade had married a music publisher the year before the piece was commissioned, which lessens the validity of the legend. Not long after composing it, Chaminade orchestrated it for a London concert played by her friend, flautist Marguerite de Forest Anderson. Chaminade’s composition shows a mature understanding of the beauty and technical possibilities of the flute. The original accompaniment was for piano. (from Program Notes for Band, Norman E. Smith)
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Sadie Claire Nayman, flute, will complete her senior year at Highland High School this spring (2019), where she is a member of the school’s marching band and wind ensemble. She was a member of the pit orchestra (Fall 2016, 2017 and 2018 musicals; appeared as a guest flute soloist with the Highland High School Orchestra and Choir (Fall 2016) in Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ. Sadie was the recipient of the Highland Middle School Director’s Award (Spring 2015), High School Freshman Pride Award in Music (Spring 2016), and Band Trophy (Spring 2018). Sadie is an honoree of the 61st Annual Medina Spring Leadership Ball and a 2018 graduate of Junior Leadership Medina County. She was inducted in the National Honor Society in 2016 and National Art Honor Society in 2017. Sadie is the founding member and co-president of Highland High School’s Tri-M Music Honor Society Chapter. She was selected to perform in the Baldwin Wallace College Conservatory Youth Band Camp (Summer 2015) and Honors Wind Ensemble (Spring 2016); Ohio State University Flute Workshop (Summer 2016); Oberlin Flute Academy (Summer 2017); and, was invited to participate in the Greater Cleveland Flute Society- Flute Festival Senior Flute Choir (February 2017). In addition, she was selected to perform in the Northeast Ohio Regional Orchestra (NERO) in October 2017 and 2018 and the Ohio Music Education Association 2018 and 2019 Professional Conference “All-State Bands.” Sadie has participated in the Medina County Schools’ Solo and Ensemble Festival (2014 and 2015) as well as the Ohio Music Education Association District Six Solo and Ensemble Adjudicated Event (2016 through 2019) and received consistent superior ratings in class “B” (2016) and class “A” (2017 through 2019) on both flute and piccolo performances. Sadie is a member of Marcus Neiman’s flute studio and a member of Medina Community Band. She was a featured piccolo and flute soloist with Medina Community Band during the 2017 and 2018 summer season concert series respectively.
MCB Gazebo Concert – Thursday, July 4th, 2019 – Program Notes – page 8
El Capitan March John Philip Sousa One of the perennial Sousa favorites, this march has enjoyed exceptional popularity with bands since it first appeared. It was extracted from the most successful of the Sousa operettas, El Capitan. El Capitan of the operetta was the comical and cowardly Don Medigua, the early seventeenth-century viceroy of Peru. Some of the themes appear in more than one act, and the closing theme of the march is the same rousing theme which ends the operetta. This was the march played by the Sousa Band, augmented to over a hundred men and all at Sousa’s personal expense, as they led Admiral Dewey’s victory parade in New York on September 30, 1899. It was a matter of sentiment with Sousa, because the same march had been played by the band on Dewey’s warship Olympia as it sailed out of Mirs Bay on the way to attack Manila during the Spanish- American war.
MCB Gazebo Concert – Thursday, July 4th, 2019 – Program Notes – page 9
I Dreamed a Dream (from Les Misérables) Claude-Michel Schönberg / Michael Brown Claude-Michel Schönberg DOB: July 6th, 1944 (Vannes, France) Claude-Michel Schönberg (born 6 July 1944 in Vannes) is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with lyricist Alain Boublil. Major works include La Révolution Française (1973), Les Misérables (1980), Miss Saigon (1989), Martin Guerre (1996), The Pirate Queen (2006), and Marguerite (2008). Schönberg began his career as a record producer and a singer. He wrote most of the music for the French musical and rock opera La Révolution Française, France's first rock opera, in 1973. He played the role of King Louis XVI in the show's production that year. Les Misérables celebrated its twentieth anniversary in London on October 8th, 2005. The Broadway production closed on May 18th, 2003, making it the third-longest-running Broadway musical, following Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. Schönberg oversaw the production of Les Misérables that returned to Broadway for an intended six-month engagement at the Broadhurst Theatre on November 9th, 2006, although it later extended its run. Schönberg was born in Vannes, France, to Hungarian Jewish parents. His father was an organ repairer and his mother was a piano tuner. He was formerly married to evening news anchor Béatrice Schönberg. In 2003, he married the English ballerina Charlotte Talbot. He has three children, a son and two daughters.4
I Dreamed a Dream (from Les Misérables) Based on Victor Hugo's classic novel, Les Misérables is an epic saga that sweeps through three turbulent decades of 19th century French history. It tells the story of Jean Valjean, a fugitive, who is pitted in a life-long struggle to avoid capture by the cruel and self- righteous Inspector Javert. Originally, Les Misérables was presented as a pop opera recording in France. The success of the recording led to it being staged in 1980 as an arena attraction in Paris at the Palais des Sports where it was a popular and critical success. It had its English language premiere in October, 1985 at the Barbicon Theatre in London. On Broadway, it opened at the Broadway Theater on March 12, 1987. Les Misérables is one of the longest-running shows ever on Broadway. Les Misérables has won 31 major awards including the 1987 Tony Award for best musical, and Best Musical honors from the New York Drama Critics Circle, The Drama Desk and The Outer Critics Circle. I Dreamed a Dream, from the musical Les Misérables, sung by the character Fantine during the first act. The music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with orchestrations by John Cameron. The English lyrics are by Herbert Kretzmer, based on the original French libretto by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel from the original French production. The song is a lament, sung by the anguished Fantine, who has just been fired from her job at the factory and thrown onto the streets. She thinks back to happier days and wonders at all that has gone wrong in her life.
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude-Michel_Sch%C3%B6nberg
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Irving Berlin – Songs of America Irving Berlin / James Swearingen Irving Berlin
DOB: May 11th, 1888 (Temoyun, Kirgizia, Russia) DOD: September 22, 1989 (New York City)
Irving Berlin – Israel Baline, the son of a Jewish cantor, immigrated to the United States from Russia with his family in 1893. Here, he spent his early years in great poverty. In 1904, he worked as a singing waiter in Chinatown and Bowery cabarets of New York City. After a printer erroneously printed his name "Irving Berlin" on a piece of music, he chose that name for his own. In 1911, he achieved success pioneering ragtime with Alexander's Ragtime Band (originally titled Alexander and his Clarinet) and Everybody's Doin' It. In his incredibly successful career, he produced over 1500 songs including those from such memorable Broadway hits as The Cocoanuts, Ziegfield Follies, This is the Army, Annie Get Your Gun, and Call Me Madame. His White Christmas has been the best-selling piece in all of music history except perhaps for John Philip Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. All this is particularly remarkable considering that he could not read music and could play the piano only in the key of F-sharp. That fact kept his fingers mostly on the black keys, but his special piano could automatically transpose, a feature he controlled with a lever under the keyboard.
Irving Berlin – Songs of America. James Swearingen’s arrangement includes This is the Army Mister Jones; Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor; This is a Great Country; and, God Bless America.
Denise Milner Howell, mezzo-soprano, is a versatile performer of opera, concerts, and recitals, whose singing has been called “superb” (Cleveland Classical). Ms. Howell’s solo engagements include performances with Cleveland Opera Theater, Opera Cleveland, Chautauqua Opera, Kent/Blossom Festival, Nightingale Opera Theatre, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Akron Lyric Opera Theatre, Akron Baroque, Tanglewood Festival, Carousel Dinner Theatre, and Buffalo Philharmonic. Recent performances include leading roles in Little Women (Meg), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Mother), Carmen (Mercédès), La cambiale di matrimonio (Clara), Robert Ward’s The Crucible (Rebecca Nurse), and Iolanthe (Celia). A frequent concert soloist, Ms. Howell has performed the alto solos in Handel’s Messiah, Mozart Requiem, Bach Magnificat, Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, Verdi Requiem, Vivaldi Gloria and Duruflé Requiem. Additionally, Ms. Howell is committed to the performance of new works by living composers, and has been heard at Cleveland Ingenuity Festival and New to New York Concert Series. In addition to performing, Ms. Howell is an active voice teacher. She currently teaches at Cleveland Institute of Music/Case Western Reserve University, and Kent State University Hugh A. Glauser School of Music. She lives in Sharon Township, Ohio with her husband, Gregg, and their three children.
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The Stars and Stripes Forever John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa
DOB: November 6th, 1854 (Washington, DC) DOD: March 6th, 1932 (Reading, PA) John Philip Sousa wrote the most famous American military marches of all time, including "Stars and Stripes Forever," earning him the nickname "the March King"; he was also known as a great bandleader, and organized the famed concert and military group, Sousa's Band. Born in Washington, D.C., on November 6, 1854, Sousa followed in the footsteps of his father, a musician in the U.S. Marine Corps, and enlisted by the age of 14. Before this, Sousa had studied violin with John Esputa. While active in the Marines, he composed his first march, "Salutation." Around the age of 16, Sousa began studying harmony with G.F. Benkert, then worked as a pit orchestra conductor at a local theater, followed by jobs as first chair violinist at the Ford Opera House, the Philadelphia Chestnut Street Theater, and later led the U.S. Marine Corps Band (1880-1992). Although most famous for his marches, Sousa composed in other styles as well, including a waltz, "Moonlight on the Potomac"; a gallop, "The Cuckoo" (both in 1869); the oratorio "Messiah of the Nations" (1914); and scores for Broadway musicals The Smugglers (1879), Desiree (1884), The Glass Blowers (1893), El Capitan (1896; which was his first real scoring success), American Maid (1913), and more. Sousa formed his sternly organized marching band in 1892, leading them through numerous U.S. and European tours, a world tour, and an appearance in the 1915 Broadway show Hip-Hip-Hooray. Sousa's Band also recorded many sides for the Victor label up through the early '30s. His most famous marches include "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (1897), "U.S. Field Artillery March," "Semper Fidelis" (written in 1888, it became the Marine Corps anthem), "Washington Post March" (1889), "King Cotton" (1895), "El Capitan" (1896), and many more. In addition to writing music, Sousa also wrote books, including the best-seller Fifth String and his autobiography, Marching Along. Actor Clifton Webb portrayed Sousa in the movie about his life entitled Stars and Stripes Forever. The instrument the sousaphone was named after this famous composer and bandleader. ~ Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide
The Stars and Stripes Forever (March) is considered the finest march ever written, and at the same time one of the most patriotic ever conceived. As reported in the Philadelphia Public Ledger (May 15, 1897) “ ... It is stirring enough to rouse the American eagle from his crag, and set him to shriek exultantly while he hurls his arrows at the aurora borealis.” (referring to the concert the Sousa Band gave the previous day at the Academy of Music).5 The march was not quite so well received though and actually got an over average rating for a new Sousa march. Yet, its popularity grew as Mr. Sousa used it during the Spanish-American War as a concert closer. Coupled with his Trooping of the Colors, the march quickly gained a vigorous response from audiences and critics alike. In fact, audiences rose from their chairs when the march was played. Mr. Sousa added to the entertainment value of the march by having the piccolo(s) line up in front of the band for the final trio, and then added the trumpets and trombones join them on the final repeat of the strain.
5 Research done by Elizabeth Hartman, head of the music department, Free Library of Philadelphia. Taken from John Philip Sousa, Descriptive Catalog of His Works (Paul E. Bierley, University of Illinois Press, 1973, page 71)
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The march was performed on almost all of Mr. Sousa’s concerts and always drew tears to the eyes of the audience. The author has noted the same emotional response of audiences to the march today. The march has been named as the national march of The United States. There are two commentaries of how the march was inspired. The first came as the result of an interview on Mr. Sousa’s patriotism. According to Mr. Sousa, the march was written with the inspiration of God. “I was in Europe and I got a cablegram that my manager was dead. I was in Italy and I wished to get home as soon as possible, I rushed to Genoa, then to Paris and to England and sailed for America. On board the steamer as I walked miles up and down the deck, back and forth, a mental band was playing ‘Stars and Stripes Forever.’ Day after day as I walked it persisted in crashing into my very soul. I wrote it on Christmas Day, 1896.”6 The second, and more probable inspiration for the march, came from Mr. Sousa’s own homesickness. He had been away from his homeland for some time on tour, and told an interviewer: “In a kind of dreamy way, I used to think over old days at Washington when I was leader of the Marine Band ... when we played at all public functions, and I could see the Stars and Stripes flying from the flagstaff in the grounds of the White House just as plainly as if I were back there again.” “Then I began to think of all the countries I had visited, of the foreign people I had met, of the vast differences between America and American people and other countries and other peoples, and that flag our ours became glorified ... and to my imagination it seemed to be the biggest, grandest, flag in the world, and I could not get back under it quick enough.” “It was in this impatient, fretful state of mind that the inspiration to compose ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever’ came to me.”7
6 Taken from program notes for the week beginning August 19th, 1923. Bierley, John Philip Sousa, page 71. 7 Ibid., page 72
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