The Gladiator March
   HOME
*





The Gladiator March
"The Gladiator" is a march by John Philip Sousa, written in 1886 while Sousa was leader of the US Marine Band. The Gladiator was written as a tribute to Charles B. Towle, a journalist at the '' Boston Traveler''. The journalist introduced him to the Knights Templar. Speculation has long surrounded the title for the piece, but one hypothesis is that the title referred to Towle himself, a gladiator of sorts who used a pen instead of a sword. Another plausible hypothesis is that the piece may have been written about an article Towle wrote for the Boston Traveler. Sousa had not written many marches before that, and none of them received great popularity. The Gladiator, however, sold over a million copies - a record for the time and was soon performed frequently. It follows normal march style, IAABBCCDCDC, and is played at the normal pace of most marches: 120-128 beats per minute. Although marches such as ''Semper Fidelis ''Semper fidelis'' () is a Latin phrase that means "a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Julius Fučík (composer)
Julius Ernest Wilhelm Fučík (; 18 July 1872 – 25 September 1916) was a Czech composer and conductor of military bands. He became a prolific composer, with over 400 marches, polkas, and waltzes to his name. As most of his works were for military bands, he is sometimes known as the "Bohemian Sousa". Today his marches are still played as patriotic music in the Czech Republic. His worldwide reputation rests primarily on two works: "The Florentiner March", popular throughout much of Europe, and the "Entrance of the Gladiators" (''Vjezd gladiátorů''), which is widely recognized, often under the title "Thunder and Blazes", as one of the most popular theme tunes for circus clowns. Fučík was the brother of opera singer and bass player Karel Fučík and uncle of the journalist Julius Fučík, who was executed by the Nazis. Biography Fučík was born in Prague, Bohemia, on 18 July 1872 when Prague was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a student, he learned to play the bas ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to distinguish him from his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford. Among his best-known marches are "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (National March of the United States of America), "Semper Fidelis" (official march of the United States Marine Corps), " The Liberty Bell", "The Thunderer", and "The Washington Post". Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert. His father enlisted him in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868. He left the band in 1875, and over the next five years, he performed as a violinist and learned to conduct. In 1880 he rejoined the Marine Band, and he served there for 12 years as director, after which he was hired to conduct a ban ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Boston Traveler
The ''Boston Evening Traveller'' (1845–1967) was a newspaper published in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a daily newspaper, with weekly and semi-weekly editions under a variety of ''Traveller'' titles. It was absorbed by the ''Boston Herald'' in 1912, and ceased publication in 1967. History Founding The ''Boston Evening Traveller'' was launched on April 1, 1845 by Reverend George Punchard and Deacon Ferdinand Andrews. The pair served as co-editors and used the paper to advocate for the temperance movement. In June 1845, Roland Worthington, a former member of the business department of the ''Boston Daily Advertiser'', joined the paper as publisher. Worthington years During Worthington's tenure as publisher, the ''Evening Traveller'' became the first Boston paper to employ newspaper hawkers to sell papers in the streets rather than rely solely on subscriptions; and was the first paper in Boston to use headline posters to advertise papers. Compared to other papers in Boston in t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Semper Fidelis (march)
"Semper Fidelis", written in 1888 by John Philip Sousa (The March King), is regarded as the official march of the United States Marine Corps. This piece was one of two composed in response to a request from United States President Chester Arthur for a new piece to be associated with the United States President. The words Semper Fidelis are Latin for "Always Faithful." The piece was created for a wind band in addition to a percussion section. There is a very prominent drum solo in the middle of the piece which includes a skillful dynamic change. It features staccato notes and sharp tonguing. History There does not exist an original general order documenting the proclamation of ''Semper Fidelis'' as the official march of the Marines. According to accounts summarized in the CD liner notes, Sousa is regarded by historians as honest and on many occasions noted that the march was named the official march of the Marine Corps. However, a flood destroyed many Marine Corps records, even ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

The Washington Post March
"The Washington Post" (often called "The Washington Post March") is a march composed by John Philip Sousa in 1889. Since then, it has remained as one of his most popular marches throughout the United States and many other countries. History In 1888, the recent purchasers of ''The Washington Post'' newspaper— Frank Hatton, a former Postmaster General, and Beriah Wilkins, a former Democratic congressman from Ohio—requested that Sousa, the leader of the United States Marine Band, compose a march for the newspaper's essay contest awards ceremony, in conjunction with a campaign to promote the newspaper under new ownership. Sousa obliged; "The Washington Post" was introduced at a ceremony on June 15, 1889, "with President Benjamin Harrison in attendance" before "a huge crowd on the grounds of the Smithsonian Museum." It quickly became quite popular in both the United States and Europe as the standard musical accompaniment to the two-step, a late 19th-century dance craze. This ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Stars And Stripes Forever
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is a patriotic American march written and composed by John Philip Sousa in 1896. By a 1987 act of the U.S. Congress, it is the official National March of the United States of America. History In his 1928 autobiography, ''Marching Along'', Sousa wrote that he composed the march on Christmas Day, 1896. He was on board an ocean liner on his way home from a vacation with his wife in Europe and had just learned of the recent death of David Blakely, the manager of the Sousa Band. He composed the march in his head and committed the notes to paper on arrival in the United States. It was first performed at Willow Grove Park, just outside Philadelphia, on May 14, 1897, and was immediately greeted with enthusiasm. Following an Act of Congress in 1987, it was officially adopted as the national march of the United States of America. Historically, in show business and particularly in theater and the circus, this piece is called "the Disaster March". In the ea ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Hands Across The Sea (march)
"Hands Across the Sea" is an American military march composed by John Philip Sousa in 1899. History The march was written in 1899. When the march premiered the same year at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, the audience insisted that it be repeated three times. The march is "addressed to no particular nation, but to all of America's friends abroad."Paul E. Bierley, The Works of John Philip Sousa' (1984), p. 60. In 1901, John Philip Sousa heard the Virginia Tech Regimental Band (The Highty-Tighties) playing "The Thunderer" at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Sousa was so impressed that he dedicated a performance of his latest march, "Hands Across the Sea", to the band. Sousa prefaced the sheet music's score with a quotation from the English diplomat John Hookham Frere: "A sudden thought strikes me; let us swear eternal friendship."All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music' (Blackbeat, 2005: eds. Chris Woodstra, Gerald Brenn ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Band Of The Coldstream Guards
The Band of the Coldstream Guards is one of the oldest and best known bands in the British Army, having been officially formed on 16 May 1785 under the command of Major C F Eley. History The band of the Coldstream Guards was officially formed under the direction of Music Major C.F. Eley on 16 May 1785. The band received its first British bandmaster in 1835, Charles Godfrey. On 18 June 1944 over one hundred twenty people were killed at Wellington Barracks when a German flying bomb hit the chapel. The director of the band was amongst the dead, prompting the appointment of Captain Douglas Alexander Pope. In 1985, during the band's two hundredth anniversary year, the Coldstream Guards kicked off the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium, performing "a fanfare composed by the Director of Music Lt Col Richard Ridings". Two especially unusual performances took place in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States. On September 12, 2001, Queen Elizabeth II b ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

His Master's Voice
His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russell Terrier dog named Nipper listening to a wind-up disc gramophone and tilting his head. In the original, unmodified 1898 painting, the dog was listening to a cylinder phonograph. The painting was also famously used as the trademark and logo of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later known as RCA Victor. In the 1970s, an award was created which is a copy of the statue of the dog and gramophone, ''His Master's Voice'', cloaked in bronze, and was presented by the record company (EMI) to artists, music producers and composers in recognition of selling more than 1,000,000 recordings. The painting The trademark image comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud titled ''His Master's Voice''. It was acquired from the artist in ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


List Of Marches By John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He composed 136 marches from 1873 until his death in 1932. He derived few of his marches from his other musical compositions such as melodies and operettas. "The Stars and Stripes Forever" is considered Sousa's most famous composition. A British journalist named Sousa "The March King", in comparison to "The Waltz King" — Johann Strauss II. However, not all of Sousa's marches had the same level of public appeal. Some of his early marches are lesser known and rarely performed. He composed marches for several American universities, including the universities of Minnesota, Illinois (now known as University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Nebraska, Kansas, Marquette, and the Pennsylvania Military College (now known as Widener University). He served as leader of the Marine Band from 1880 to 1892, and performed at the inaugural balls of President James A. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

1886 Compositions
Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is published in New York and London. * January 16 – A resolution is passed in the German Parliament to condemn the Prussian deportations, the politically motivated mass expulsion of ethnic Poles and Jews from Prussia, initiated by Otto von Bismarck. * January 18 – Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. * January 29 – Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen (built in 1885). * February 6– 9 – Seattle riot of 1886: Anti-Chinese sentiments result in riots in Seattle, Washington. * February 8 – The West End Riots following a popular meeting in Trafalgar Square, London. * Februa ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]