CCCXLIV. SOUSA, John Philip: Hail to the Spirit of Liberty

CCCXLIV. SOUSA, John Philip (1854-1932)

Hail to the Spirit of Liberty (1900)
"The Presidents Own" U.S. Marine Band
Lt. Col. Jason K. Fettig, cond.
(3:31)

I love Sousa.

In order to take a closer look at his compositional and especially orchestration techniques, I reduced the first two pages of this score:

to this:

The French Horns are the only instruments providing the backbeats on 2 and 4, and they are felt more than heard (the strong beats are provided by the powerful combo of baritone sax, trombone and tuba) ...

And here's page three -- with a bizarre half-note melody! Note that here he slightly fortifies the backbeats with two cornets ...