Robert Browne Hall usually known as R. B. Hall, was a leading composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 of marches and other music for 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...

s. A principal American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer of marching music, he was born in Bowdoinham

Bowdoinham, Maine

Bowdoinham is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,612 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area. The town is located on the west side of Merrymeeting Bay.-History:Fort Richmond was...

, Maine and seldom left his native state during his lifetime, dying in Portland

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

. His music though has traveled around the world. He is particularly popular in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, so much so that many lovers of brass band music there mistakenly imagine that Hall is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 composer. His celebrated march "Death or Glory", written in 1895 and dedicated to the Tenth Regiment Band in Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, is a well-known staple of brass band concerts and competitions all over the UK.

Hall was famous during his lifetime as a particularly fine player on the cornet

Cornet

The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...

 and served for a time as conductor of the Bangor Band. As soloist, conductor, composer and teacher, Hall is still remembered in the Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

. 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

Nephritis

Nephritis is inflammation of the nephrons in the kidneys. The word "nephritis" was imported from Latin, which took it from Greek: νεφρίτιδα. The word comes from the Greek νεφρός - nephro- meaning "of the kidney" and -itis meaning "inflammation"....

 five years later and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Richmond, Maine

Richmond, Maine

Richmond is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,298 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area....

. His widow sold the manuscripts of many compositions. Unscrupulous publishers assembled and realized from fragments works they passed off as genuine Hall compositions. He left over a hundred marches and other compositions, including such classics as:

• Officer of the Day March
• Independentia March
• New Colonial March
• Tenth Regiment March (Death or Glory)
• Gardes du Corps March
• Albanian March
• American Cadet March
• Charge of the Battalion
• Colonel Fitch March
• Colonel Philbrook March
• The Commander March
• Commonwealth March
• Dunlap Commandery March
• Fort Popham March
• Greeting to Bangor March
• Hamlin Rifles March
• Marche Funebre
• Norembega March
• S.I.B.A. March
• Second Regiment P.M. March
• Veni, Vidi, Vici March
• W.M.B. March

In popular culture

The trio from Hall's New Colonial March provides the music for Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

's official fight song

Fight song

A fight song is primarily an American and Canadian sports term, referring to a song associated with a team. In both professional and amateur sports, fight songs are a popular way for fans to cheer for their team...

, Come Join the Band

Come Join the Band

Come Join The Band is the official fight song of Stanford University. The lyrics were written in 1907 by screenwriter and playwright Aurania Ellerbeck Rouverol, then a student at Stanford, and are set to the trio from Robert Browne Hall's New Colonial March. Although Come Join the Band remains...

.

External links

• R.B. Hall entry on Mt. Ararat High School, Topsham ME website
• R.B. Hall and the Community Bands of Maine, Gordon W. Bowie
  Gordon W. Bowie
  Gordon W. Bowie, bass trombonist, composer and conductor, is director of the in Montgomery County, Maryland. He is bass trombonist for the Virginia Grand Military Band, Legacy Brass and other DC area ensembles. In addition, for the 1999-2000 school year he served as band and orchestra director for...
  
  , Dissertation, University of Maine
  University of Maine
  The University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...
  
  , 1993.
• R. B. Hall Day - official annual Maine commemoration
• R. B. Hall on the National Jukebox