"The Gladiator" is a march by
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 dis ...
, 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 ''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'' i ...
''. 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.
Museum of Learning, Discovery Media
/ref> 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'', ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', ''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 autob ...
'' and '' Hands Across the Sea'' have achieved greater popularity, the ''Gladiator'' is still regarded as John Philip Sousa's first success.
Recorded versions
* The Band of H.M. Coldstream Guards, cond. by Capt. J. Causley Windram. Recorded in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
on January 11, 1942. It was released by EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
on the 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 Russ ...
label as catalog number B 9275.
See also
* 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 ...
References
External links
Sousa archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gladiator March, The
1886 compositions
Sousa marches
Songs written by John Philip Sousa