El Capitan (arr Fennell)

From Wind Repertory Project
John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa (ed. Frederick Fennell)


Subtitle: March from the Operetta


General Info

Year: 1896 / 1989
Duration: c. 2:15
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: John Church distributed by Theodore Presser Co.
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $75.00   |   Score Only (print) - $6.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo/Flute I
Flute II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Field Drum
  • Snare Drum


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

One of the perennial Sousa favorites, this march has enjoyed exceptional popularity with bands since it first appeared. It was extracted from the most successful of the Sousa operettas, El Capitan. El Capitan of the operetta was the comical and cowardly Don Medigua, the early 17th-century viceroy of Peru. Some of the themes appear in more than one act, and the closing theme of the march is the same rousing theme which ends the operetta.

This was the march played by the Sousa Band, augmented by over a hundred men and all at Sousa's personal expense, as they led Admiral Dewey's victory parade in New York on September 30, 1899. It was a matter of sentiment with Sousa, because the same march had been played by the band on Dewey's warship Olympia as it sailed out of Mirs Bay on the way to attack Manila during the Spanish-American War.

- Program Note from John Philip Sousa: A Descriptive Catalog of His Works


Commercial Discography


State Ratings

  • Indiana: ISSMA SENIOR BAND GROUP I
  • Kansas: III


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Sacramento (Calif.) State University Virtual Concert Band (Matthew Morse, conductor) – 2 December 2020
  • Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Mark Scatterday, conductor) – 1 November 2019
  • Gold Coast Wind Ensemble (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) (Michael Doty, conductor) – 19 January 2019


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Bierley, P. (1973). John Philip Sousa: A Descriptive Catalog of His Works. University of Illinois Press; Urbana, pp. 37.
  • Sousa, J.; Fennell, F. (1989). El Capitan: March from the Operetta [score]. John Church Co.; Bryn Mawr, Penn.