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| | El Capitan
The best known of Sousa's operettas is "El Capitan". First performed in 1896, the operetta was a success, and Sousa then rewrote the men's chorus section in the second act, and created the march we now know as "El Capitan". Don't worry though - this isn't choir music. "El Capitan" march is Sousa at the height of his creative career, and this Frederick Fennell edited rendition is sure to occupy an esteemed place in your band library.
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Browse All Band Music Composed By John Philip Sousa.
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Estimated Performance Time:
Technical Notes: Sousa's Band had no permanent home. With all those shining rails reaching out to everywhere it really didn't need one; trains moved it where the bookings beckoned. Residence at the Pavilion in Willow Grove Park, Philadelphia, or at Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn probably came as close to a "home" for the Band as Sousa wanted anyhow. The months-long engagements obviously provided that all-important creative adrenalin needed by his kind of composing conductor.
Sousa's 1895 contract at Manhattan Beach, for instance, began on June 15 and ended on September 1st. During these eleven weeks he composed the operetta "EL CAPITAN", signing page 320 of the piano score on August 20, just four days before packing trunks and heading south for the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta. This was where he was to introduce his newest march sensation "King Cotton", composed at that same stand at Manhattan Beach.
"El Capitan" opened in Boston with great success on April 13 the following year and Sousa lost little time in preparing the band version of its march, signing that score eighteen days later. The band edition which The John Church Company published within three weeks is now approaching its first century of life. In this time the band that sits in the image of Sousa's has been in metamorphosis, solidifying its instrumentation through superior manufacture, widening the scope and excellence of its pedagogy, and attracting unprecedented activity from composers who view it at last as a serous medium of musical art.
The printed page for this new edition of "El Capitan" also is part of this modulation within the band's repertory extending the borders in all directions and opening the functional confines of those dimensions and combinations once prescribed for marching. This large quarto-size edition offers Sousa's music greater clarity of content and affords the performance a broader realm of the traditional symbols of expression not easily incorporated into its original format.
There is an enduring quality in this music. While those who listen today may also be a public in metamorphosis, the simple truth and compelling pleasure of Sousa's music is there for those who wish to hear it.
The string bass part is listed as a 3-string contrabass part in the score. The B Flat contrabass clarinet is listed as a "Double B Flat Contrabass Clarinet" in the score. The timpani part is listed as "Kettle Drums" in the score. The condensed score consists of Treble and Bass Clef lines and beneath are the kettle drums, snare drum & field drum, cymbals, and bass drum parts.
Composer(s): John Philip Sousa
Editor(s): Frederick Fennell |
Instrumentation:
| 1 | - | Condensed Score | | 5 | - | 1st Flute / Piccolo | | 4 | - | 2nd Flute | | 1 | - | 1st Oboe | | 1 | - | 2nd Oboe | | 1 | - | 1st Bassoon | | 1 | - | 2nd Bassoon | | 1 | - | E Flat Soprano Clarinet | | 4 | - | 1st B Flat Clarinet | | 4 | - | 2nd B Flat Clarinet | | 4 | - | 3rd B Flat Clarinet | | 2 | - | E Flat Alto Clarinet | | 2 | - | B Flat Bass Clarinet | | 1 | - | B Flat Contra-Bass Clarinet | | 2 | - | 1st E Flat Alto Saxophone | | 2 | - | 2nd E Flat Alto Saxophone | | 2 | - | B Flat Tenor Saxophone | | 2 | - | E Flat Baritone Saxophone | | 1 | - | B Flat Bass Saxophone | | 3 | - | 1st B Flat Cornet | | 3 | - | 2nd B Flat Cornet | | 3 | - | 3rd B Flat Cornet | | 3 | - | 4th B Flat Cornet | | 1 | - | 1st Horn In F | | 1 | - | 2nd Horn In F | | 1 | - | 3rd Horn In F | | 1 | - | 4th Horn In F | | 2 | - | 1st Trombone | | 2 | - | 2nd Trombone | | 2 | - | 3rd Trombone | | 2 | - | Baritone T.C. | | 2 | - | Euphonium B.C. | | 5 | - | Tuba | | 3 | - | String Bass | | 2 | - | Snare Drum / Field Drum | | 1 | - | Bass Drum | | 1 | - | Cymbals | | 1 | - | Timpani |
Publisher: "El Capitan" was published by The John Church Company.
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