Description
The Viceroy of Peru disguises himself as a bandit called El Capitan to get out of trouble: that comic operetta supplied the tunes from which Sousa assembled this march of the same name. The operetta was first staged in 1896 and became the most successful of his stage works.
With 1,600 notes in about 1 minute 39 seconds, more than sixteen per second, it is the densest of the Sousa marches collected here. It is in C major, and the contrast between its bold main theme and lighter passages is the main attraction; as usual in a march, the key changes at the trio. The range is wide, from F1 up to A6, so a 61-key keyboard runs out of bass.
Notes crowd into less than two minutes in this advanced piece, and the left-hand leaps have to line up exactly with the right-hand chords without the tempo slipping. For accompaniment that jumps from the bass into the middle register, use the hand colours to see the size of each leap. Isolate the hard spots with the A-B loop and, once the leaps are secure at a slower speed, move gradually back towards full tempo.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) was an American composer and bandleader known as 'The March King.' He composed numerous marches, including 'The Stars and Stripes Forever,' and played a major role in developing the American concert band tradition. This site includes ten of his works, such as 'The Liberty Bell March.'
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