Robert Browne Hall

Robert Browne Hall (30 June 1858 Bowdoinham, Maine – 8 June 1907), usually known as R. B. Hall, was a leading composer of marches and other music for American Wind bands. A principal American composer of marching music, he was born in Bowdoinham, Maine and seldom left his native state during his lifetime, dying in Portland. His music though has traveled around the world. He is particularly popular in the United Kingdom, so much so that many lovers of brass band music there mistakenly imagine that Hall is an English composer. His celebrated march, "Tenth Regiment March", written in 1895 and dedicated to the Tenth Regiment Band in Albany, New York, is a well-known staple of brass band concerts and competitions all over the UK, under the title "Death or Glory".

Hall was famous during his lifetime as a particularly fine player on the cornet and served for a time as conductor of the Bangor Band. As soloist, conductor, composer and teacher, Hall is still remembered in Maine. The last Saturday in June every year is officially Robert Browne Hall Day in the State of Maine.

Having suffered a stroke in 1902 from which he never recovered, he died in poverty in Portland as a result of nephritis five years later and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Richmond, Maine. His widow sold the manuscripts of many compositions. Unscrupulous publishers assembled and realized from fragments works they passed off as genuine Hall compositions.

Birth and Death Data: Born June 30, 1858 (Bowdoinham), Died June 8, 1907 (Portland)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1901 - 1940

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 26-31 of 31 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
OKeh S-7578 10-in. Sept. 1920 The new colonial march Conway's Band Band composer  
Edison 2400 10-in. 8/11/1913 Officer of the day National Promenade Band Band composer  
Edison 5258 10-in. 1/3/1917 The new colonial march New York Military Band Band composer  
Edison 6781 10-in. 5/8/1919 Tenth Regiment march Conway's Band Band composer  
Edison 11664 10-in. 4/24/1927 The officer of the day march C. Sharpe-Minor Organ solo composer  
Edison 11832 10-in. 8/2/1927 Independentia march New York Military Band Band composer  
(Results 26-31 of 31 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Hall, Robert Browne," accessed April 25, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/109298.

Hall, Robert Browne. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved April 25, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/109298.

"Hall, Robert Browne." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 25 April 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/109298

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