“The Quilting Party” (1889)

 

“The Quilting Party,” or “Aunt Dinah’s Quilting Party,” was a popular song in the United States in the late 1880s. Sousa capitalized on its popularity by using it as the trio of this march. The first section includes a musical quote of “When a Wooer Goes a-Wooing” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Yeomen of the Guard.

Paul E. Bierley, The Works of John Philip Sousa (Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1984), 43. Used by permission.

Sousa Scholar Jonathan Elkus further notes that “The Quilting Party,” like so much of Sousa’s concert music but unlike most of his marches, tells a story. A young man goes to Aunt Dinah’s quilting party to woo Nellie, his lady friend. He dances with her there and afterward sees her home.