"Hands Across the Sea"

"Hands Across the Sea" being performed by the United States Navy Band.

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"Hands Across the Sea"

"Hands Across the Sea" being performed by a U.S. Naval Academy band in 1977.

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"Hands Across the Sea" is an American military march composed by John Philip Sousa in 1899.^[1]

The march was written in 1899. When the march premiered the same year at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, the audience insisted that it be repeated three times.^[2] The march is "addressed to no particular nation, but to all of America's friends abroad."^[3]

In 1901, John Philip Sousa heard the Virginia Tech Regimental Band (The Highty-Tighties) playing "The Thunderer" at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Sousa was so impressed that he dedicated a performance of his latest march, "Hands Across the Sea", to the band.^[4]

Sousa prefaced the sheet music's score with a quotation from the English diplomat John Hookham Frere: "A sudden thought strikes me; let us swear eternal friendship."^[5][6] The march was composed in the wake of the Spanish–American War and is idealistic, in addition to patriotic, in nature.^[5]

"Hands Across the Sea" remains one of Sousa's more popular marches and is still performed widely by bands.^[3]

One reviewer describes the march this way: "Hands Across the Sea opens with a jaunty, carefree theme, the wind sonorities light and generally in their middle and upper ranges. An equally attractive march appears midway through, its manner initially mellow and nonchalant. It gradually turns more animated and colorful, the piccolo dancing merrily above suave wind sonorities. The work closes with this spirited theme playing proudly, the brass flamboyant, the cymbals crashing, and the whole brimming with festivity and vivid color. For band music enthusiasts and Sousa mavens, this three-minute gem will have great appeal."^[5]

• List of marches by John Philip Sousa

• Hands Across The Sea (audio file) – In MIDI format; from the John Philip Sousa website maintained by David Lovrien, hosted by the Dallas Wind Symphony

v t e John Philip Sousa
List of compositions List of marches List of operettas
Marches	"Anchor and Star" "The Black Horse Troop" "Boy Scouts of America" "Columbia's Pride" "The Dauntless Battalion" "The Fairest of the Fair" "The Gallant Seventh" "The Gladiator March" "Hands Across the Sea" "The High School Cadets" "Imperial Edward" "The Invincible Eagle" "Kansas Wildcats" "King Cotton" "The Liberty Bell" "Manhattan Beach" "The Minnesota March" "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" "The Royal Welch Fusiliers" "Semper Fidelis" "The Stars and Stripes Forever" "The Thunderer" "Transit of Venus March" "U.S. Field Artillery March" "The Washington Post"
Operettas	Chris and the Wonderful Lamp Désirée El Capitan The Charlatan
Adaptations	"The Army Goes Rolling Along" Stars and Stripes Stars and Stripes Forever
Other	John Philip Sousa House John Philip Sousa Baton
Honoraria	Armed Forces March Competition John Philip Sousa Bridge John Philip Sousa Foundation John Philip Sousa Junior High School (Bronx) John Philip Sousa Junior High School
Category

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	Germany
Other	MusicBrainz work