Annotation:Nahant March
X:1 T:Nahant March M:C L:1/8 R:March B:Elias Howe – Second Part of the Musician’s Companion (1843, p. 21) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G g2 f>e d>d e>e|dd ^cc d2z2|D2 G/F/G/A/ B2B2|B/A/B/c/ B/A/G/F/ G>G B>d| g4 g>B d>g|b4 b>b a>g|fgag f2e2|d2 d>d d2z2!fine!:| |:d2d2 d>d d2|=f4 A>AA>A|B2 B>A G>BA>G |F2 D>D D2 d>c| B>AG>A A>GF>A|G>FG>A B>cd>c|Bg/f/ e/d/c/B/ Af/e/ d/c/B/A/|G2 G>G G2z2:| |:c>Bc>d e4|e>Bc>e g4|(3fed (3d^cd (3BAB (3GAB|(3ced (3cge d2z2| c>Bc>d e4|f>ef>g a4|(3gfe (3dcB (3AGF (3GAB|(3cGe (3cge z2!D.C.!:|]
NAHANT MARCH. March. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCAA. A march of unknown provenance published by C. Bradley in Boston in 1831 on a single sheet (set in the key of 'C'), "as played by the Boston Bands," with the composition credited to J.H. Walch[1]. The composer may have been Johann Heinrich Walch, a German composer, although there are no records indicating he ever visited the United States. It may be that the title "Nahant March" (named for an island town in Massachusetts in Nahant Bay, near Boston) supplanted the original (perhaps German?) title. Fr. John Quinn finds the tune entered twice in the large c. 1883 music manuscript collection of musician biography:Stephen Grier (c. 1824-1894) of Newpark, Bohey, Gortletteragh, south Co. Leitrim; it can be found in Book 10, No. 90, as “Grand March by Walch”, and Book 6, No. 3, “Grand March by Welch.”
"Nahant March" was entered into the music manuscript copybook of flute player H. Canfield (probably of Hartford, Ct.), dated 1821, the year entries started. There is a musically different "Nahant March" printed in 1884, composed by W.H. Thomas, also printed in Boston.
