Program Notes

Manhattan Beach March

John Philip Sousa, composer

During John Philip Sousa’s lifetime, Manhattan Beach was a highly fashionable New York summer resort. In 1893, Sousa and his band began a long-term engagement there. Manhattan Beach March was composed during that first summer and has since become a staple of bands all over the world. The Sousa Band performed this march in an unconventional way by playing the trio and last section of the march as a short descriptive piece. In this interpretation, soft clarinet arpeggios suggest the rolling ocean waves as one strolls along the beach. A band is heard in the distance. It grows louder and then fades away as the stroller continues along the beach.

—WGM

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