Roland Forrest Seitz (1867–1946) was an American composer, bandmaster, and music publisher. For his many march compositions he earned the sobriquet “The Parade Music Prince”.

Early life and education

He was born Roland Forrest Seitz on June 14, 1867, on a farm in Shrewsbury Township near Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of eight children of William and Magdalena Zeigler. Despite an early interest in music, Roland started work as a printer's apprentice at the weekly ''Glen Rock Item''. He joined the family band performing on the flute; and then the Glen Rock Band performing first on the euphonium and then the cornet. In 1894 at age 27, Seitz enrolled in the Dana Musical Institute in Warren, Ohio. (Dana is now part of Youngstown State University). Roland graduated from Dana in 1898.

Career

Seitz returned to Glen Rock to teach wind and percussion as well as perform in the town band and soon became their conductor. By 1901, under Seitz, the band was selected to perform at the

Pan-American Exposition The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood A ...

in Buffalo, New York. Beginning with ''New York Journal'' published in 1897, Seitz composed nearly fifty marches. One of these marches, ''Grandioso'' (1901), is often featured in parades. ''Grandioso'' incorporates a theme from the fourteenth of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

’s Hungarian Rhapsodies. Additional well-known marches include ''Brooke’s Chicago Marine Band'' (1901), ''Brooke’s Triumphal'' (1904), ''Salutation'' (1914), and ''University of Pennsylvania Band'' (1900). On November 21, 1930, John Philip Sousa conducted the University of Pennsylvania Band at the student quadrangle in Seitz's march for the band. Afterwards, Sousa said: "That is one of the best band marches, aside from my own productions, I have ever conducted". Seitz also opened a music publishing business in Glen Rock. His catalog included compositions by many famous march composers including

W. Paris Chambers William Paris Chambers (November 1, 1854 – November 13, 1913) was an American composer, cornet soloist, and bandmaster of the late 19th century. Life and career William Paris Chambers was born in Newport, Pennsylvania but spent most of his ea ...

Harold Josiah Crosby Harold Josiah Crosby (February 11, 1886 – January 18, 1920) was a composer and arranger of band and orchestra music best known for his marches. Crosby was born in Dexter, Maine and studied at Colby College, the University of Maine, and the New Eng ...

, Charles E. Duble, Frank H. Losey, George Rosenkrans, and

Charles Sanglea Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

. In 1908, Seitz became the first to publish seventeen-year-old

Karl L. King Karl L. King (February 21, 1891 – February 19, 1971) was a United States march music bandmaster and composer. He is best known as the composer of "Barnum and Bailey's Favorite". The most expensive painting in Iowa, the "Karl L. King Portrait ...

’s compositions. Roland’s company was purchased by Southern Music in 1964. Seitz married Mattie A. in 1902. They had two children, Charlotte J. (1904-1999) and Nevin H. Seitz (1906-2003). Roland Seitz retired to live with his daughter Charlotte J. Zelley in Union City, New Jersey in 1944. He died age 79 from a heart attack there on December 29, 1946. "Grandioso" (or "March Grandioso") is played by both the University of Texas "Showband of the Southwest" and the Texas Tech "Goin' Band from Raiderland" at every home football game of both teams. The song is also played by "The Pride of All Nebraska" Cornhusker Marching Band at home football games in the pregame show.

References

*Gupta, Kushol. The University of Pennsylvania Band. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2006. (Page 17 includes the cover image for the University of Pennsylvania Band March score). *Rehrig, William H. The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. Waterville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1991 & 1996. *“Roland F. Seitz Composer, Publisher of Band Music is Dead in New Jersey”, New York Times, December 31, 1946. *Taylor, Herbert H. Popular American Composers. Woodside, NY: J. O. Taylor, 1902. (Page 22 is a photograph of the composer. The book is fully digitized on the we

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Seitz, Roland F. American male composers American composers American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) People from York County, Pennsylvania 1867 births 1946 deaths