The Washington Post (march)

"The Washington Post" 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 countries abroad.

History

In 1889 owners of The Washington Post newspaper requested that John Philip Sousa, the leader of the United States Marine Corps Band, compose a march for the newspaper's essay contest awards ceremony. Sousa obliged; "The Washington Post March" was introduced at the ceremony on June 15, 1889, and it became quite popular.^[1] It led to a British journalist dubbing Sousa "The March King." Sousa is honored in The Washington Post building for his contribution to the newspaper and his country.

The composition is now in the public domain in the US, as its copyright has expired.^[2]

Composition

This recognizable march is written in standard form: IAABBCCDCDC. Written in 6/8 meter, it is suited as an accompaniment to the two-step, a new dance introduced in its time.

The first strain of the march (above) is famous and familiar to many. The march is played in a stately march tempo (110-120 beats/m; rarely over).

March enthusiasts have argued that the trio sections's mellow and moving phrases are amongst Sousa's most musical. Six sudden eighth notes move the melody along, and its unusually calm breakstrain is a simple adaptation of the trio melody. It then moves on to the first trio repeat, where the low brass begins an even more mellow countermelody.

The introduction is a clear example of octave doubling.^[3]

Dance

The "two step" became so strongly identified with Sousa's song that it was often called "The Washington Post".^[4]

Recordings

Although many recordings of this march have been made over the years, the original recording of the march played by the United States Marine Band, conducted by Sousa's concertmaster,^[5] was made on phonograph cylinder for the fledging Columbia Records company in Washington, D.C., in 1890, catalogue Columbia Cylinder Military #8. It has been reissued in the compact disc era in 1999 by the Legacy Records division of Sony for March King: John Philip Sousa Conducts His Own Marches, and as the earliest track of its 26-disc compendium of the history of the Columbia label, Sony Music 100 Years: Soundtrack For A Century. In 1893, this march was recorded on North American Phonograph Company cylinder #613 by Foh's 23rd Regiment Band of New York. This acoustical recording, unlike many others, has audible, clear, well recorded drums.^[6]

References

1. ^ Washington Post Company History (1875 to 1899)
2. ^ However, almost all sound recordings of the march are under copyright. Sound recordings fixed on or after February 15, 1972 are protected by federal copyright law, with certain very narrow exceptions. Recordings fixed before that date are under state copyright laws, many of which have no fixed duration, and federal law will not preempt state law for those recordings until 2067. ("Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States, 1 January 2010". Cornell Law School. http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm. Retrieved 2010-03-30. ) The sound file accompanying this article, however, is in the public domain in the U.S. because as a recording by the United States Marine Band, it is a work of the United States government not subject to copyright.
3. ^ Benward & Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, p.133, Vol. I. Seventh Edition. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
4. ^ James Haskins and Kathleen Benson, Scott Joplin: the Man Who Made Ragtime pp 74, Doubleday and Company, 1978. ISBN 0-385-11155-X
5. ^ Sousa himself wanted nothing to do with phonograph cylinders, or as he said, "canned music".
6. ^ Collected Works of the 23rd Regiment Band at archive.org

External links

• The Washington Post MIDI