High School Cadets, a march written in…
1890 CE
In 1888, Sousa had composed The March Past of the National Fencibles, in honor of a renowned militia drill team affiliated with the National Guard of the District of Columbia.
In 1890, the rival drill team of the Washington High School (subsequently Washington Central) asks Sousa, a native of the District, to compose a march for them, and he obliges with The High School Cadets March, now generally known simply as High School Cadets.
High School Cadets will quickly become one of Sousa's most popular marches.
Just four years after its composition, the Nebraska State Journal will list it as one of the composer's "most notable" marches, along with Washington Post March, Liberty Bell March, and several others.
It will be recorded by Sousa's Grand Concert Band around 1899 and will be frequently recorded ever since.
The march is published in 1890 by Philadelphia music publisher Harry Coleman in arrangements for band, for piano solo and for several other small instrumental ensembles.
Subsequently the copyright will be picked up by Carl Fischer Music of New York, which continues today to list the march in its catalog, both in the original form and in a modern arrangement.