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L' Infanta

William Gregory's famous banjo march from 1893. L' Infanta was the name given to the heir to the Portuguese throne.

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Comment by Trapdoor2 on December 27, 2020 at 0:47: Here's the soundfile produced from the Stewart Journal arrangement.

Somewhat different than FVEs recording. Funny about the tremolo section, FVE is playing it...if I apply a single stroke trem to it (which I did), it is exactly like FVE's version. A single stroke (thru the note's stem) divides it into 8th notes. Rat-tat-tat-Tat-tat-tat. He avoids the original's triple-grace-notes and just does his own thing. Same for other sections as well. Different, that's all.L%27INFANTA%20MARCH.mp3

Comment by Joel Hooks on December 27, 2020 at 4:57: Yeah, I've wasted plenty of time trying to play those triplets as written.

Okay, try these for FVE...

L%27Infanta%20March_FVE_1st%20Bjo.jpg

L%27Infanta%20March_FVE_pg_2.jpg

I have been playing those triplet things as noted in that arrangement. Also notice that the tremolo is replaced with eighth notes.

Just for fun here it is for guitar...

%22L%27Infanta%22%20March.pdf

In the guitar arrangement the tremolo is also absent.

FVE clearly plays the bass solo trio.

In the Victor recording (my favorite as I like the banjo intro better than the orchestra) he is playing distinct 8th notes in place of the tremolo.

While first published in the "Journal" it was also offered in sheet music format. Strangely it is unnumbered. Sometime around the end of 1892 SSS stopped using the numbering system for his banjo music.

Comment by Richard William Ineson on December 27, 2020 at 10:28: I have looked at my copy of the Bickford banjo trio arrangement of L'Infanta and it is the same as the one posted by Joel except that it has the Clifford Essex address, 8, New Compton Street, at the bottom of each page. The Cammeyer arrangement has the bass solo played on the third string. Cammeyer moved to 3, Swallow Street (formerly the residence of Herbert J.Ellis) in 1903, I don't know when he moved to number 6, Swallow Street but he seemed to stick at that address into the 1930s when he moved to Poland Street.

Comment by Joel Hooks on December 27, 2020 at 18:27: Hi Richard, so the Cammeyer version is Bickford's arrangement?

Any chance you might be able to share the rest of the score with us just for fun?

Comment by Richard William Ineson on December 27, 2020 at 19:11: No, I just said that my Bickford arrangement is the same as your Bickord arrangement except that my Ms. pages of the Bickford arrangement, have the Compton Street address of the CE Company, printed at the foot of each page. I've no idea where Cammeyer got his arrangement of L'Infanta from, I just learned it from that arrangement because at the time (c1965) it was the only arrangement of the tune which I had access to. I'm still happy with that arrangement and have no desire to make it even harder to play by using the fourth string for the bass solo, when the 3rd string versions is far more accessible , to the average player, and and sounds better, in my opinion. I will share the complete Cammeyer version with pleasure.

Comment by Trapdoor2 on December 28, 2020 at 18:03: I find it enlightening to see the various versions, thank you one and all!

It is neat to see the guitar version too...and curiously, it matches the key of the A Notation banjo score. Usually, I find that guitar parts tend to be reflecting the transposed-to-actual-pitch key. Perhaps this is because of the chicken/egg problem in that the banjo part was the original composition and the guitar followed? I don't think I have a single guitar part that is in "A Notation" like this one (which means nothing as there is a world of music I don't have).

In the interest of completeness, I would like to see the trio score (1st, 2nd and 3rd banjos). I study these to help me better understand how orchestral arrangements were made/handled in the period.

I'm also hoping that Ian is planning on loading this mishmash of arrangements to the Library. Dog knows, he has too much time on his hands as it is. ;-)

Comment by Joel Hooks on December 28, 2020 at 18:29: The Cammeyer arrangement seems to be the most playable.