THE CIRCUS BAND (score & parts)

The Circus Band by the American composer Charles Ives (1874-1954) is the last in a set of five songs that Ives called Five Street Songs. They were written in the 1890s while the composer was studying at Yale University but it wasn’t until 1922 that Ives self-published the song in his book of 114 Songs. With Ives’ approval (and under his supervision), Ives’ copyist, George F. Roberts, put together an orchestral version in the 1930s.

The Circus Band is certainly one of Ives’ most famous songs and certainly stands up there with the best of fellow American, Sousa’s marches. Ives’ music and lyrics convey the excitement and thrill he remembered as a young boy when the circus came to town, parading by with a marching band. Whilst it is a mainly tonal ‘quickstep time’ march, it is peppered with Ives’ characteristic tonal twists and unexpected rhythmic quirks. Humour abounds: even the band’s ‘wrong notes’ feature!

The song’s lyrics convey the excitement, which begin like this:

All summer long, we boys dreamed ’bout big circus joys!
Down Main Street, comes the band, Oh! “Ain’t it a grand and a glorious noise!”

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