"On the Mall" is a famous

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

composed by American bandmaster

Edwin Franko Goldman Edwin Franko Goldman (January 1, 1878 – February 21, 1956) was an American composer and conductor. One of the most significant American band composers of the early 20th century, Goldman composed over 150 works, but is best known for his marches. ...

(1878–1956). It vies with Goldman's " Chimes of Liberty" as his two most popular compositions. "On the Mall" still in 2013, as indicated by Jack Kopstein, remains a featured march and continues to be performed and recorded by bands throughout America and around the world.

Publication history

The score of "On the Mall" was first published in 1923 by Carl Fischer LLC. A version edited by Edward S. Lisk is frequently used. Goldman wrote a number of marches whose titles begin with words ''On the'', with the first being "On the Green" in 1920.

Meaning of title

The phrase "On the Mall" refers to the

Mall Mall commonly refers to a: * Shopping mall * Strip mall * Pedestrian street * Esplanade Mall or MALL may also refer to: Places Shopping complexes * The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria * The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India * M ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where Goldman's Band frequently performed. Goldman composed "On the Mall" possibly as early as 1922, but published the march in 1923 to honor

Elkan Naumburg Elkan Naumburg (1835–1924) was a New York City merchant, banker, philanthropist and musicologist, best remembered for his sponsorship of the arts in Manhattan. From the last quarter of the nineteenth century, he used his wealth to promote p ...

, who funded the construction of the new

Naumburg Bandshell The Central Park Mall is a pedestrian esplanade in Central Park, in Manhattan, New York City. The mall, leading to Bethesda Fountain, provides the only purely formal feature in the naturalistic original plan of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calve ...

. "On the Mall" premiered there on September 29, 1923 with Franz Kaltenborn as conductor and Naumburg in attendance.

Singing, whistling, lyricizing

In a technique identified with Goldman, the trio (third strain) is predominantly sung by the band members and then repeated, after a breakstrain, with whistling. A great believer in public participation as Goldman toured with his band in countless venues, he encouraged audiences likewise in "On the Mall" to sing along and then whistle with the band. Audience clapping in sync with the score is also common. The concluding strain of the march can be sung with lyrics written by Goldman's wife Adelaide Maibrunn Goldman. To reinforce the physical setting and the title, renditions have been known to substitute the words ''On the Mall'' in lieu of some of the lyrics.

Notes

External links

* * (performed at the Naumburg Bandshell) 1923 compositions American marches American patriotic songs Central Park {{NewYork-stub