THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL SERENADE WRITTEN BY FAMOUS BANDMASTER KARL L. KING, THE SUCCESSOR TO JOHN PHILIP SOUSA. HE WROTE AROUND 400 MARCHES, BUT ALSO WROTE A FEW WALTZES, OVERTURES AND THIS SERENADE. HIS MOST FAMOUS COMPOSITION IS 'BARNUM AND BAILEY'S".
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Story behind the song
This is performed by the University of Michigan Symphonic Band in 1970, directed by William Revelli.
Karl L. King knew how to strike up the band.
King reached fame as a composer of band music. Many call him the successor to John Philip Sousa.
His 400 or so marches, waltzes, overtures and serenades are still played around the world.
King, an Ohio native, started playing the baritone horn in circus bands as a boy. He published his first composition at age 17, and by 1917 was director of the Barnum & Bailey Circus band.
Wanting to settle down, he moved to Fort Dodge in 1920 to direct the municipal band. He also started his own music-publishing company. His wife, Ruth, ran an adjoining company that sold musical instruments. She had earlier played the calliope for the Barnum & Bailey Circus.
"Barnum & Bailey's Favorite" is a popular march and King's best-known composition. He also wrote "A Night in June," "Enchanted Nights Waltz" (for a high trapeze act), "Broadway One-Step" (for clowns), "The Big Cage" and "The Golden Dragon Overture."
His composition "In Old Portugal," a piece he wrote for famed aerialist Lillian Leitzal, was being played when she fell to her death on a Friday the 13th in 1931.
He wrote "Hawkeye Glory" for the University of Iowa and marches for Drake University, Purdue University and the universities of Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan.
He also wrote "Hawkeye Fair" for the Iowa State Fair. For 10 days every year, from 1921 to 1959, he led the band at the fair.