"The Rajah" march and two step
publishing history
1902 sheet music for piano published by H. A. Weymann & Son
1902 band arrangement recorded by Sousa's Band conducted by Arthur Pryor
_____-in which the 4th strain was replaced by a repetition of the 3rd strain
1915 H. A. Weymann & Son sold 14 "Marie Louka" piano pieces including "The Rajah" to Volkwein Bros.
1915 sheet music for piano published by Volkwein Bros. (except for the cover identical to the 1902 edition)
1942 Volkwein Bros. included "The Rajah" in Left Foot, Right Foot March Album for Piano
Although the term rajah is usually associated with India, the cover art of the 1902 edition of "The Rajah" was red
and white with five-pointed stars, one with a crescent as on the Turkish Ottoman Empire flag shown below.
In 1902, Johann C. Schmid was living in Philadelphia and probably knew that there was a Shriner temple in Reading
Pennsylvania named Rajah Temple. This postcard image of that Rajah Temple shows what it looked like in 1902.
On eBay I found one of these postcards with a 1907 postmark. Why the Shriners should in 1917 move from this
location to another in Reading they don't explain. The United States declared war on Germany in 1917, and the
Ottoman Empire was allied with Germany. The second Rajah Temple in Reading was destroyed by fire in 1921
and rebuilt in 1922 as the Ottoman Empire was collapsing. Here is a vintage fez hat for a member of Rajah
Temple Shriners. In 1925, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the first president of the Republic of Turkiye, banned the
wearing of fez hats in Turkiye because of their connection to the former Ottoman Empire.
Shriners International was originally named Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
The color of fez hats for Rajah Temple members is now the familiar Shriners International maroon.
Schmid dedicated both his 1902 march "The Rajah" and his 1904 song "Daisies" to "my friend Mr.
Frank L. Hagner." What would "The Rajah" mean to Hagner? Was he a Rajah Temple Shriner?
This 1942 edition in Left Foot, Right Foot March Album for Piano did not include the dedication to Mr. Frank L. Hagner.
Although the 4th strain is not enclosed in repeat brackets, the p-f at its beginning indicates a soft playing followed by a
loud playing. The 1902 and 1915 editions had this same odd way of indicating that the 4th strain should be played twice.
|