As the nation celebrates 250 years, the United States Marine Band continues its series of performances honoring the legacy of the United States with a concert titled “Be Glad Then, America.” Conducted by Assistant Director Captain Jose D. Toranzo, the performance will feature a lineup comprised of works by influential American composers including John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland, Morton Gould, William Schuman and more. The concert will take place at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 29 at Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center on the campus of Northern Virginia Community College Alexandria. It is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. 

Pioneers of American Sound

The all-American program begins with a march by “The March King” himself, John Philip Sousa. His “George Washington Bicentennial” serves as an homage to the first President of the United States. While Sousa helped define the sound of American patriotism, a generation of composers followed his lead and continued the tradition.

Program

While Sousa represented the earlier American band tradition, Copland helped create the modern American sound. For his Old American Songs, Set One, he drew inspiration from American folk songs, ballads, minstrel songs and Shaker hymns. This Sunday, the band will perform the set featuring baritone vocalist Master Gunnery Sgt. Kevin Bennear singing “The Boatman’s Dance,” “The Dodger,” “Long Time Ago,” “Simple Gifts” and “I Bought Me a Cat.”

“Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs, Set One is a cornerstone of the baritone repertoire and a distinctly American contribution to classical music,” Bennear said. “I first learned about this piece from my teacher Peter Lightfoot at West Virginia University, who was a real father figure to me and a big part of why I became a singer. He introduced me to these songs and taught me the nuances of performing them with sincerity and honesty.”

He continued:

“Copland was often called the ‘Dean of American composers.’ He had this incredible ability to capture the landscape and spirit of the American people, and you hear that in these songs. They’re simple, direct and deeply expressive—whether it’s the humor and cleverness of ‘The Dodger’ or the tune and message of ‘Simple Gifts.’ ‘Simple Gifts’ is one of the most beautiful melodies in Old American Songs, and one of the most famous early American tunes. It’s universally loved—a combination of this beautiful music with a message. Our lives are so complicated, and this song tells us ‘tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free. It offers a musical expression and message of simplicity and peace and beauty. Performing these songs, especially as we celebrate America’s musical heritage, feels like carrying on the tradition of playing America’s music and sharing it with audiences who may be hearing it for the first time.”

A colleague of Copland and a mentee of the “Dean,” William Schuman’s New England Triptych (after the music of William Billings) captures the melodies and themes of Billings in a fusion of styles and musical language resulting in the iconic movements “Be Glad Then, America,” “When Jesus Wept” and “Chester.” Although “Chester” was originally composed as a church hymn, it was quickly adopted by the Continental Army as a popular marching song and became one of the preeminent patriotic songs of the colonial era.

A contemporary of both Copland and Schuman, Morton Gould was one of the most versatile and widely recognized American composers of the 20th century whose career bridged concert music, radio, film, Broadway, ballet and television. He composed his Symphony for Band, West Point in 1952 for the United States Military Academy Band in honor of the Academy’s sesquicentennial celebration. Gould described the first movement, Epitaphs, as a memorial to the soldiers of West Point and all who have suffered loss through war and human conflict. The second movement, Marches, evokes the sound of the academy with march-like ideas and fife and drum corps sounds.

Present-Day Composers

While the program includes musical stalwarts who have helped to create the distinctly American classical sound, the Marine Band will also perform works by present-day composers: Joel Puckett’s Pacific Carnival Fanfare will highlight the band’s brilliant brass and driving percussion. McGuffy’s Reed by Brad Ellis will feature oboe soloist Gunnery Sgt. Trevor Mowry and piano soloist Master Gunnery Sgt. Russell Wilson.

“Brad Ellis is an absolute gem of a composer and person,” said Mowry. “If you’ve watched any films or TV in the last 30 years you’ve undoubtedly heard him play—you’ve probably even seen him on screen!”

“The title of the composition is a play on ‘McGuffy’s Readers,’ a series of educational books that were prevalent in the 19th and 20th centuries,” Mowry explained. “The intersection of higher education and the reed-centric soloist were the main sources of inspiration for the title. What I love about this piece is that the solo oboe gets to dabble in some genres not traditionally associated with the instrument. In the opening section the gently lilting melodies have a hint of the blues to them, and that character is reinforced by the occasional interjections of the solo piano. In the middle of the work a full-blown swing band kicks in, and it’s incredibly fun to join in on something that doesn’t usually involve oboes. It’s almost as though the lead trumpet or saxophone had to drop out at the last minute, and the only person they could find to fill in was an unwitting oboist!”

“The next portion of music is my favorite of the piece: the opening melody is presented in a new tempo over a really satisfying groove in the piano and bongos. This dissipates into a brief cadenza for the solo oboe before a recap of the opening material brings the work to a close. The piece’s mix of genres and guileless exuberance make it a joy to play, and there’s nothing else quite like it in the repertoire for solo oboe. Brad Ellis has a wealth of musical knowledge on a remarkably wide array of musical genres. I think the huge scope of musical influences that Brad can so impressively evoke is a big part of what makes McGuffy’s Reed such a special piece.”

When asked how this piece fits into a program celebrating the nation’s semiquincentennial, Mowry said “this piece is uniquely American in so many ways; McGuffy’s Reed is heavily influenced by blues, jazz, big band and other American genres of music. The work’s title and origins are inescapably linked to education, and then of course there’s the composer himself—a consummate artist who has contributed heavily to film and television, two media formats that are an indelible part of American culture.”

Old and new, the distinctly American sound conveyed in these compositions will be explored through the performance featuring composers unified through an influence and appreciation of American classical music.