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Is there a definitive edition of Sousa's famous marches in full score, such as the 'Liberty Bell', 'Stars and Stripes Forever', and 'Washington Post'? All the scores I could find appeared be arrangements by others. Any help would be appreciated.

Sousa and other march scores have always seemed very elusive. I wonder if full scores were actually published, or just parts and 'conductors scores'.

Sousa actually wrote full scores for a fair number of his marches, even back when he was directing the U.S. Marine Band. None were published that way in his lifetime as far as I know. Since the instrumentation of modern concert bands has changed somewhat since Sousa's time, most of the scores one encounters today from band publishers like Barnhouse and Ludwig are actually transcriptions - with parts added for instruments or with substitutions for some now-obsolete instruments.

A fair number of the manuscript scores (and parts) are still in existence at both Library of Congress and the University of Illinois.

As a member of the German Military Music Association I could give you an anwer to your question. In our large archives, we have got 4 different forms of "scores":

1. the full score --> every single instrument has it's own part in the score --> this is very, very seldom. Only a very few composers used this form. I think mostly in the second part of the 20th century

2. the piano score --> this is mostly an arrangement for piano solo, which is used by a hobby-musician at home

3. the piano-conductors score --> in this form, there are different parts for the different instrument classes (e. g. one part for the high woodwinds and brass, one part for the low woodwinds and brass, sometimes percussion)

4. a single instrument part --> the main melody is written in the first clarinet, first trumpet or first bugle part. If the instrument doesn't play the melody, it is written in small notes.

Could be that some Sousa marches are arranged in a full score. They are not under copyright and every publisher can publish the works. Maybe a small publisher has written the full score. But it is hardly probable, that Sousa did this.

IMSLP has a few manuscript full scores for Sousa, it turns out. The March from the operetta El Capitan for example: http://imslp.org/wiki/El_Capitan_%28Sou ... _Philip%29.

Sousa was a little unusual for a composer of band music since he wrote out full scores for a large number of his works. None were actually published that way, however, since the format used by publishers at the time was always a condensed score with a set of parts, sometimes just a set of parts with a 1st Cornet/Conductor part.

[quote="Carolus"] sometimes just a set of parts with a 1st Cornet/Conductor part.[/quote]

That was my suggestion Susa did.

Of course some Composers wrote even full scores, e. g. Beethoven with his marches "2 Marches for Military Band, WoO 18-19", which are uploadet at IMSLP as well. The german military bands are playing this march very often today. But the orchestration is different.