Title | Semper Fidelis March | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Composer | Sousa, John Philip |
Marshall’s Civic Band Topeka, KS Est’d 1884 |
Number | M-77 |
Type | CB | |||
Date | 1916 | |||
Key | C | |||
Arranger | None | Length | 0.00 | |
Publisher | Carl Fischer | Vocal | No | |
Association | Grade/Difficulty | ?/? | ||
Last Performed | Unknown | |||
Manuscript | No | |||
Style | March | Location | Marshall's Band Library | |
Cataloger | Perry Hartman | |||
Date Cataloged | 06/30/1993 | |||
Notes |
Composed in 1888. "It is unfortunate that President Chester A. Arthur, the man responsible for this march, did not live to hear it. In a conversation with Sousa, then leader of the U.S. Marine Band, he expressed his displeasure at the official use of the song 'Hail to the Chief.' When Sousa stated that it was actually an old Scottish boating song, the President suggested that he compose more appropriate music. Sousa responded with two pieces, not one. First he composed 'Presidential Polonaise' (1886). Then, two years after Arthur's death, he wrote 'Semper Fidelis.' "The march takes its title from the motto of the U.S. Marine Corps: 'Semper Fidelis' - 'Always Faithful.' The trio is an extension of an earlier Sousa composition, 'With Steady Step,' one of eight brief trumpet and drum pieces he wroth for 'The Trumpet and Drum' (1886). It was dedicated to those who inspired it - the officers and men of the U.S. Marine Corps. In Sousa's own words: 'I wrote 'Semper Fidelis' one night while in tears, after my comrades of the Marine Crops had sung their famous hymn at Quantico'.... "'Semper Fidelis' subsequently gained recognition as the official march of the U.S. Marine Crops. Sousa regarded it as his best march, musically speaking. It became one of his most popular marches, and he once stated that it was the favorite march of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany - before World War I, of course. It was played by the Sousa Band in many foreign countries and always received acclaim as a well-known composition. Few knew that it had been sold outright to the publisher for the unbelievably low sum of $35." The Works of John Philip Sousa pgs 82-83 Paul E. Bierley Integrity Press 1984 |
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