"The Liberty Bell" (1893) is an American military march composed by John Philip Sousa.

History

"The Liberty Bell", at the time a new composition as yet untitled, was written for Sousa's unfinished

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"The Devil's Deputy" before financing for the show fell through. Shortly afterwards, while attending the

Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Sousa and his band manager George Hinton watched the spectacle "America", in which a backdrop depicting the

Liberty Bell The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independence ...

was lowered. Hinton suggested "The Liberty Bell" for the title of Sousa's unnamed march. Coincidentally, Sousa received a letter from his wife saying their son had marched in a parade in honor of the Liberty Bell. Sousa agreed, and he sold "The Liberty Bell" sheet music to the

John Church Company The John Church Company Building is a historic commercial building in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Designed by one of Cincinnati's most prominent architects, it was home to one of the country's leading vendors of sheet music and musi ...

for publication; the new march was an immediate success. The march is played as part of an exhibit in the

Liberty Bell Center The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independence ...

. The United States Marine Band has played "The Liberty Bell" march at five of the last seven presidential inaugurations: the 1993 inauguration of President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

,''Bill Clinton Presidential Inauguration 1993 (Part 1 of 3)''
see 6:21–9:10, on

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the 2005 inauguration of President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, the 2009 and 2013 inaugurations of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, and the 2017 inauguration of President

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. The ship's bell from the ''

SS John Philip Sousa SS ''John Philip Sousa'' was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Philip Sousa, an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. Constr ...

'', a World War II Liberty ship, is housed at the Marine Barracks and is used by The President's Own in select performances of the march. "The Liberty Bell" is also the official march of the

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Public Affairs Branch.

Composition

The march follows the standard form of AABBCDCDC. The trio (sections C and D) uses tubular bells to symbolize the Liberty Bell ringing. The bells usually begin during the first breakstrain (section D), but some bands use them at the first trio (section C).

Instrumentation

This is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, bass drum, snare drum, and strings.

Use in ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''

The march is best known today with being associated with the British TV comedy program ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...

'' (1969–1974), which used the version performed by the Band of the Grenadier Guards and published in 1893 as a signature tune to avoid copyright fees.Archived a
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and th
Wayback Machine
Terry Gilliam, the only American member of the troupe, advocated using the theme. He has said the piece was chosen because the troupe thought it would not be associated with the program's content, and that the first bell strike and subsequent melody would give the impression of getting "straight down to business." The Monty Python mode of presenting the tune was with a single strike of the bell, lifted from the third section and increased in volume, followed by a strain of each of the first two sections, followed by the famous stomping foot animation and a noticeably flatulent "splat" sound reminiscent of a whoopee cushion (the first 13 episodes used a "

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"). At the end of the film ''

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl ''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' is a 1982 British concert comedy film directed by Terry Hughes (with the film segments by Ian MacNaughton) and starring the Monty Python comedy troupe (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric ...

'', the entire march was played over the closing credits.

References

External links

The Liberty Bell (audio file)
– In

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format; from th
John Philip Sousa website
maintained by David Lovrien, hosted by the

Dallas Wind Symphony The Dallas Winds (also known as the Dallas Wind Symphony or DWS) is a professional concert band based in Dallas, Texas. The Dallas Winds was founded in 1985 by Kim Campbell and Southern Methodist University music professor Howard Dunn. It was or ...

The ''Monty Python'' versionarchived
– In MP2 format; from th
same website

An 1896 Recording (Probably the first)
played by the Edison Grand Concert Band, from the

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