Transit of Venus March
Encyclopedia
The Transit of Venus March is a march
scored for military brass band
written by John Philip Sousa
in 1883 to celebrate the 1882 Transit of Venus
and published by the J.W. Pepper Company. The work was erroneously thought to be lost for over 100 years when a piano transcriptionThe front cover is pictured at the top-left of this page; the full sheet music can be found on Wikisource. published in 1896 was found by a Library of Congress
employee in 2003. Copies of the original Pepper publication, however, do survive.
, who had died in 1878. Henry, who had developed the first electric motor, was also the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington, D.C.
A Freemason, Sousa was fascinated by what the group considered mystical qualities in otherwise natural phenomena. According to Sten Odenwald of the NASA IMAGE Science Center, this played a significant role in the selection of the time and date of the performance, April 19, 1883, at 4:00 P.M. Dr. Odenwald points out that Venus
and Mars
, invisible to the participants, were setting in the west. At the same time, the moon
, Uranus
, and Virgo
were rising in the east, Saturn
had crossed the meridian, and Jupiter
was directly overhead. According to Masonic lore, Venus was associated with the element copper
, and Joseph Henry had used large quantities of copper wire to build his electric motors.
, Library of Congress employee Loras Schissel found copies of the old sheet music for the Transit of Venus March "languishing in the library's files".The reason for its presence there, and its going unnoticed for so long, is unclear. The piece was resurrected in time for the 2004 Transit of Venus
. The piece had been performed on compilation albums, amongst other things, before then, although the 2004 transit was when it was brought into the mainstream public attention.
The Library of Congress joined with NASA
to celebrate the 2004 transit with this song.
March (music)
A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...
scored for military brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
written by John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
in 1883 to celebrate the 1882 Transit of Venus
Transit of Venus
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, becoming visible against the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun...
and published by the J.W. Pepper Company. The work was erroneously thought to be lost for over 100 years when a piano transcriptionThe front cover is pictured at the top-left of this page; the full sheet music can be found on Wikisource. published in 1896 was found by a Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
employee in 2003. Copies of the original Pepper publication, however, do survive.
Background
One year after the 1882 Transit of Venus, Sousa was commissioned to compose a processional for the unveiling of a bronze statue of American physicist Joseph HenryJoseph Henry
Joseph Henry was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as a founding member of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution. During his lifetime, he was highly regarded...
, who had died in 1878. Henry, who had developed the first electric motor, was also the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in Washington, D.C.
A Freemason, Sousa was fascinated by what the group considered mystical qualities in otherwise natural phenomena. According to Sten Odenwald of the NASA IMAGE Science Center, this played a significant role in the selection of the time and date of the performance, April 19, 1883, at 4:00 P.M. Dr. Odenwald points out that Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
and Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, invisible to the participants, were setting in the west. At the same time, the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, Uranus
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...
, and Virgo
Virgo (constellation)
Virgo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for virgin, and its symbol is . Lying between Leo to the west and Libra to the east, it is the second largest constellation in the sky...
were rising in the east, Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
had crossed the meridian, and Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
was directly overhead. According to Masonic lore, Venus was associated with the element copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, and Joseph Henry had used large quantities of copper wire to build his electric motors.
2003 resurrection
The Transit of Venus March never caught on during Sousa's lifetime. It went unplayed for many years, after Sousa's manuscript copies of the music were destroyed in a flood. As reported in The Washington PostThe Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Library of Congress employee Loras Schissel found copies of the old sheet music for the Transit of Venus March "languishing in the library's files".The reason for its presence there, and its going unnoticed for so long, is unclear. The piece was resurrected in time for the 2004 Transit of Venus
Transit of Venus, 2004
The most recent transit of Venus when observed from Earth took place on June 8, 2004. The event received significant attention, since it was the first Venus transit to take place after the invention of broadcast media...
. The piece had been performed on compilation albums, amongst other things, before then, although the 2004 transit was when it was brought into the mainstream public attention.
The Library of Congress joined with NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
to celebrate the 2004 transit with this song.
External links
- Audio recording of the march (performed 2003 by the Virginia Grand Military Band)
- Video recording of the 2004 transit of venus, accompanied by the Sousa march, produced by John WalkerJohn Walker (programmer)John Walker is a computer programmer and a co-founder of the computer-aided design software company Autodesk, and a co-author of early versions of AutoCAD, a product Autodesk originally acquired from programmer Michael Riddle...