Marshall's Civic Band

Composed in 1889. "'The Picador' was one of several marches sold outright to the 
publisher, Harry Coleman, for $35 each. That sum included arrangements for band, 
orchestra, and piano. The frontispiece of the original sheet music depicts a 
bullfight scene with a picador in action. If the mild mannered Sousa had seen a 
bullfight before composing this march, he would surely have chosen another 
title. After witnessing a bullfight while on vacation in Mexico, he was shocked 
by what he had seen and thereafter referred to bullfighting as a worthless and 
unfair sport." 
 
The Works of John Philip Sousa 
pgs. 77-78 
Paul E. Bierley 
Integrity Press 
1984