Category Archives: music history

Navy Hymn

The song alternately known as the “Navy Hymn,” “For Those in Peril on the Sea” or “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” dates back to 1860. During the 19th century, hymnbooks typically included sections of hymns devoted to the subject of divine protection for travelers, particularly for naval travel. This hymn has likely been the mostContinue reading “Navy Hymn”

El Degüello / El Dagüello

What music should be associated with the Alamo? There are at least two pieces that are known as El Degüello (alternatively spelled El Dagüello or simply the “Americanized” Deguello). The first is a bugle call traditionally thought to have been played by the Mexican Army and the second is a hauntingly beautiful melody that appearsContinue reading “El Degüello / El Dagüello”

Frank W. Meacham

Frank White Meacham was born in Buffalo, New York in 1856 to John Horace Meacham and Mary Emma Page Meacham. He was the middle child of at least five siblings. In the 1865 census, John Horace’s profession was listed as broker and in the 1875 census when Frank was 19, John Horace’s profession was listedContinue reading “Frank W. Meacham”

Josef Franz Wagner

Wagner was the composer of a well known march called “Under the Double Eagle” in 1893. It has been so often performed by United States bands over the years that it could easily be mistaken to be an American patriotic work. What was the double eagle? J. F. Wagner was Austrian and the double eagleContinue reading “Josef Franz Wagner”

Roland F. Seitz

Roland Forrest Seitz was born in 1867 in Pennsylvania to William and Magdalena Zeigler Seitz. His paternal grandparents had come to America from Germany just over 100 years earlier. Roland was the youngest of eight children. His father died when Roland was only three, and as a youth, Roland began working as an apprentice printerContinue reading “Roland F. Seitz”

Charles E. Duble

Charles Edward Duble was a trombonist and composer born on September 13, 1884 in Jeffersonville, Indiana. During his performing career of over twenty years, he played with a number of circus, vaudeville and minstrel bands including the Sun Brothers Circus, John Robinson’s Big Ten Shows, Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth and the RinglingContinue reading “Charles E. Duble”

Karl King – In His Own Words

(Posted with Permission) By Karl L. King (Extracted from a December 19, 1966 Interview with Karl King by Dr. Karl M. Holvik) Full interview posted in the June & October 1982 Circus Fanfares, available to Members at MYWJU.ORG This article published in the July-August 2020 Circus Fanfare Early Years I think I first became interestedContinue reading “Karl King – In His Own Words”