Sousa, JP :: Semper Fidelis

Musicians Publications presents John Phillip Sousa's Semper Fidelis arranged for woodwind quintet by Bill Holcombe Jr.

It is unfortunate that President Chester A. Arthur, the man responsible for this march, did not live to hear it. In a conversation with Sousa, then leader of the U.S. Marine Band, he expressed his displeasure at the official use of the song Hail to the Chief. When Sousa stated that it was actually an old Scottish boating song, the President suggested that he compose more appropriate music. Sousa responded with two pieces, not just one. First he composed Presidential Polonaise (1886). Then, two years after Arthur s death, he wrote Semper Fidelis. The march takes its title from the motto of the U.S. Marine Corps: Semper Fidelis is Latin for always faithful. The march s trio is an extension of an earlier Sousa composition, With Steady Step, one of eight brief trumpet and drum pieces he wrote for The Trumpet and Drum (1886). It was dedicated to those who inspired it the officers and men of the U.S. Marine Corps. In Sousa s own words: I wrote Semper Fidelis one night while in tears, after my comrades of the Marine Corps had sung their famous hymn at Quantico. Semper Fidelis subsequently gained recognition as the official march of the U.S. Marine Corps. Sousa regarded it as his best march, musically speaking. It became one of his most popular marches, and he once stated that it was the favorite march of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany before World War I, of course. It was played by the Sousa Band in many foreign countries and always received acclaim as a well-known composition. Few knew that it had been sold outright to the publisher for the unbelievably low sum of $35. -The President s Own United States Marine Band, 2016

This woodwind quintet is intermediate-advanced in difficulty and 2:40 in duration.