I am offering over 100 John Philip Sousa, Cornet, Trombone and Brass Ensemble Records and records by Sousa's Band from 1903 to 1930.
 

Click on this link to see more NATIONAL ANTHEMS and War Related Records!

Click on this link to see more Sousa and Brass Band Records

Sousa's famous Patriotic Marches in one of early recordings by SOUSA's BAND

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.”


Hands across the sea Take 12

John Philip Sousa (composer) 

Sousa's Band (Musical group) 


=====
Semper fidelis march Take 9

John Philip Sousa (composer) 

Sousa's Band (Musical group) 

10/21/1908 Camden, New Jersey 9 Master Victor 16190 10-in. 

Hands Across is first published Take 9 (1909), Semper is the last acoustic take 12 (1923) Victor Batwing 10" 78 rpm record

Condition:E- / EXCELLENT faint greying on Semper plays EXCEPTIONALLY Quiet
A GREAT COPY






“Semper Fidelis” (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 wrote 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 Corps had sung their famous hymn at Quantico.”

For the first performance, Sousa demonstrated his flair for theatrics:
“We were marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, and had turned the corner at the Treasury Building. On the reviewing stand were President Harrison, many members of the diplomatic corps, a large part of the House and Senate, and an immense number of invited guests besides. I had so timed our playing of the march that the ‘trumpet’ theme would be heard for the first time, just as we got to the front of the reviewing stand. Suddenly ten extra trumpets were shot in the air, and the ‘theme’ was pealed out in unison. Nothing like it had ever been heard there before – when the great throng on the stand had recovered its surprise, it rose in a body and led by the President himself, showed its pleasure in a mighty swell of applause. It was a proud moment for us all.”

“Semper Fidelis” subsequently gained recognition as the official march of the U.S. Marine Corps. 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.

March, “Hands Across the Sea" (1899) When played for the first time by Sousa’s Band in Philadelphia’s Academy of Music on April 21, 1899, “many feet were beating a tattoo.” The band was obliged to repeat it three times. “Hands Across the Sea” was off to a good start, and it has since remained a standard in band literature. The march was addressed to no particular nation, but to all of America’s friends abroad. It has been suggested that Sousa was inspired by an incident in the Spanish-American War, in which Captain Chichester of the British Navy came to the support of Admiral Dewey at Manila Bay. A second (and more likely) source is a line by Frere, which was printed on the front cover of the sheet music: “A sudden thought strikes me—let us swear an eternal friendship.” The line by Frere apparently appeared in a play which Sousa read. In answering questions sent to him while serving in the navy, he gave this account in the Great Lakes Recruit of March, 1918: After the Spanish war there was some feeling in Europe anent our republic regarding this war. Some of the nations...thought we were not justified while others gave us credit for the honesty of our purpose. One night I was reading an old play and I came across this line, “A sudden thought strikes me,—let us swear an eternal friendship.” That almost immediately suggested the title “Hands Across the Sea” for that composition and within a few weeks that now famous march became a living fact.