My Favorite Marches

Copyright 2007, 2013 by Ronald B. Standler

Table of Contents
Introduction
My Favorite Marches
Links to websites about composers of marches
Links to publishers of sheet music
Links to recordings of band music
Links to band websites

Introduction

I have enjoyed listening to military band music since the mid-1950s, when my mother purchased a phonograph record of French and American military marches, recorded by the Band de la Garde Républicane and sold in the USA on the Angel record label, a label normally devoted to recordings of classical music.

During approximately 1850 until the 1930s, life in the USA included community bands that played marches, polkas, and other short works. Before commercial radio stations (radio began in 1920s) and television (began around 1950), people made their own entertainment, and community bands were part of that entertainment. Many of the better bands (e.g., Dodworth's Saxhorn Band, Claudio S. Grafulla's 7th Regiment Band of the New York State Militia, Sousa's Band during 1892 until 1932) toured the nation, giving concerts. By the 1940s, jazz had replaced marches as popular music in the USA.

My criticism of most recordings of military band music is that there is too much emphasis on the percussion instruments, and often the brass instruments overwhelm the woodwind instruments (particularly the tuba, which often has little to contribute to either the melody or harmony).

After I purchased a computer-controlled synthesizer in May 1992, I experimented with arranging some of Sousa's marches for a string ensemble. I was pleasantly surprised to see that such arrangements could expose the real music contained in the band version. The Washington Post March is particularly suited for strings. I have read that the original version of that march was composed in 1889 not as a march, but as a two-step dance to be played at an ice cream social sponsored by that newspaper. In looking at sheet music for concert versions of Sousa's marches, I sometimes found ornaments and syncopation that were omitted from sheet music intended for school/college bands. Including such ornaments and syncopation in my arrangements made the march sound more like classical music for an orchestra.

In 1993, I was not able to find a retail music store in the USA that would sell me authentic versions of French or German military marches. The development of the Internet makes it easier to find obscure publishers of military marches worldwide. I have posted this webpage to make it easier for other people to find music for these military marches.

My Favorite Military Marches

The following are my personal favorite marches.

American marches:: Sanderson: Hail to the Chief; Sousa: Belle of Chicago; Sousa: El Capitan; Sousa: High School Cadets; Sousa: King Cotton; Sousa: Semper Fidelis; Sousa: Thunderer; Sousa: Washington Post March
French marches:: J. Alazard: Saint-Cyr; Gabauer: Premier pas de Manoeuvre; Duvernoy: Deuxieme pas de Manoeuvre; Hoering: Marche de la Légion Etrangère; Mehul: Le Chant du Départ; G. Meister Le Grenadier du Caucase; G. Parès: Trocadéro; F. Romain: Sonnez Clairons; Wettge: Défilé de la Garde Républicaine; ?: Pas Cadénce des Sans-Culottes; ?: Les Trainards
German military marches: Michael Haydn: Der Koburger Marsch (composed in 1793); anonymous: Herzog von Braunschweig; Möllendorf: Parademarsch Nr. 1 (composed in 1846); Scherzer: Bayerischer Defiliermarsch (composed in 1850)

My Favorite National Anthems

In selecting these anthems, I only judge the music, not the words, and not the country. In alphabetical order:

Austria-Hungary (1797-1919) "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser," composed by F.J. Haydn. The melody is the subject of variations in the slow movement of Haydn: String Quartet Op. 76, Nr. 3, the so-called "Kaiserquartett". In the year 1841, a German hijacked this music for an anthem with words "Deutschland über Alles." history
In 1947 Austria adopted a new national anthem, "Land der Berge, Land am Strome," from a melody by W.A. Mozart. Österreichische Bundeshymne, official sheet music for soprano, alto, and Klavier on page 2 of 3. Alternative sources for the sheet music are: Wien-Konkret, NationalFeiertag, and TU-Graz.
Belgium: La Brabançonne Excellent webpage by nongovernmental organization.
Canada: O Canada The official version contains only a soprano voice with no harmony.
France: La Marseillaise
Norway: "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" Nongovernmental organization

Webpages about national anthems:

nationalanthemns.info by David Kendall has history, MIDI files, lyrics, and sheet music for more than 400 anthems.

U.S. Navy Band MP3 files

Composers

John Philip Sousa

Sousa at Dallas Wind Symphony
Sousa Archives at Univ. Illinois Urbana-Champaign
U.S. Marine Corps Band
Library of Congress has copies of instrumental sheet music for 158 works by Sousa, and another 314 versions for Klavier
International Music Score Library Project public domain sheet music for 48 marches by Sousa.
Paul Bierley, John Philip Sousa: A Descriptive Catalogue of His Works, University of Illinois Press, 1973.
recordings of Sousa's band. It is suggested that these recordings are at a fast tempo, to squeeze one march onto a single wax cylinder or 78 RPM disk.
Crystal Records has released a set of three compact disks that contain all of the commercial recordings by the Sousa Band during years 1897 to 1930.

Publishers of sheet music for military marches

Alfred published some of Frederick Fennell's arrangements of Sousa marches.
Alphonse Leduc publishes some French military marches
C.L. Barnhouse in Iowa publishes 162 works by Sousa, including 21 of Keith Brion and Loras Schissel's arrangements of Sousa's marches.
Bote & Bock, music publishers in Berlin, was purchased in 1997 by Boosey & Hawkes. Bote & Bock published 165 marches in two-volumes, titled Deutsche Armeemärsche.
Carl Fischer published concert versions of Sousa's marches. Fischer seems to have purchased Harry Coleman Co. in Philadelphia, the original publisher in the 1880s and 1890s of many of Sousa's marches. Since 2004, Theodore Presser (see below) sells Fischer's publications.
Wilhelm Halter in Karlsruhe, Germany
J.V. Music has brass quintet music of the American Civil War era.
Verlag Louis Oertel in Hannover, Germany published many marches since its founding in 1866, but ceased business in the year 2006.
Theodore Presser publishes many of Sousa's marches, including many of Frederick Fennell's arrangements: El Capitan, King Cotton, and The Washington Post March. In 1930, Presser purchased the John Church Company, one of the original publishers of Sousa's marches. Since 2004, Presser and Carl Fischer have common ownership, but continue to maintain separate identities.
Rundel in Germany
Schott publishes Friedrich Deisenroth (editor): Deutsche Armeemärsche, 59 pp.

retail stores:
See my list of sources for sheet music for classical instrumental music at www.rbs0.com/music.htm

Fest-Musik-Haus in Texas (USA) imports German and European marches

recordings of military marches

See my general list of sources for recordings of classical music at www.rbs0.com/music4.htm

Bundeswehr CD production

Corelia French manufacturer of CDs

retail stores:

Discurio retail store in England

links to band websites

Some of these websites contain downloadable recordings, copies of sheet music, history, etc.

U.S. Marine Band, provides music for the president of the USA since the year 1798.
U.S. Army Bands
1. U.S. Army Field Band at Fort Meade, Maryland.
2. U.S. Army Band at Fort Myer, Virginia.
U.S. Navy Band in Washington, DC.
U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.
Band de la Garde Républicane in Paris, France. Founded in the year 1848, many of its members teach at the Paris Conservatory.

This document is posted at http://www.rbs0.com/music3.htm
created 24 Dec 2007, revised 27 Jan 2013

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