California Brass Bands and Their Music

• In the spring of 1851, the Columbia Brass Band along with 6,000 to 8,000 men escorted the first woman they had seen in months into their gaily decorated town.
• In 1855, August Wetterman, a transplanted Swedish bandmaster, was hired to lead the band of the Lee and Marshall Circus which toured the mining camps twice that year.
• Wetterman formed the famous Sacramento Union Brass Band in 1856. It was engaged to accompany the city militia to San Francisco for the funeral of James King of William who had been shot by James F. Casey.
• In 1857, the Columbia Brass Band led the May Day procession to Cole's Ranch near Sonora, and later, the Sonora (German)Brass Band under the direction of Prof. Schmitz, performed a concert with the Sonora Glee Club. Following the concert a ball began at 6:00 p.m. and continued until four o'clock in the morning. Still today the tradition persists in Sonora of band concerts in the plaza under giant shade trees.
• The Independent City Guards Quick Step was "dedicated to the Sacramento Union Brass Band, and played by them on the occasion of the visit of the Guards to San Francisco, Sept. 27, 1858."
• In November of 1858, Faxon's Sonora Band and the Columbia Brass Band led a procession in celebration of the opening of the flood gates of the new high flume ("A Grand Water Celebration"). The latter played for the ceremonies at the end of the procession.
• The Sacramento Union Brass Band performed in San Francisco in 1858 for the laying of the Atlantic Cable when Queen Victoria sent the first message over the cable to President James Buchanan.
• In 1863 The Tuolomne Courier mentions the Columbia Cornet Band's performing Mozart, Beethoven, and Rossini "with great fidelity".
• In 1864 the German Cornet Band of Columbia performed a concert for the benefit of the Episcopal Church.
• The Copperopolis Brass Band played at the May Day Festivals in Jamestown and Sonora in 1866.
• In 1868 the Sonora Brass Band combined with the Sonora String Band to form an "orchestra" for a concert to benefit the City Cemetery. They performed music by Gounod, Gungl' and Bellini.
• Willis' Band performed Gungl's Rail Road Galop in Sacramento at the Mechanics' Industrial Fair in 1869 in honor of the recent completion of the transcontinental railroad.
• In 1870 the Washington Cornet Band, the Independent Band, and the Sonora Silver Cornet Band played for the Tuolomne Engine Company No. l's sixth annual ball at Jarvis' Grove.
• The Soulsbyville Silver Cornet Band played a benefit concert in 1878 to help raise money for the church's new pipe organ.
• In 1879 the Washington Cornet Band and the Silver Cornet Band led a procession of Fourth of July celebrants in Sonora.
• In 1887 the director of San Francisco's Italian Musical Institute, Domenico Speranza, composed and published the March of the Green Mountain Mine for "the Young Italians of the Green Mountain Band" of Crescent Mills. The cover of the sheet music includes a portrait of bandmaster Antonio Arrighini and the names of the Italian instrumentalists.
• In 1888 the newly-formed Young Men's Club Brass Band [of Sonora] advertised the formation of a stock company with bond offerings at one dollar per share to be redeemed at ten percent interest, per annum, in two years.
• In 1890 The Columbia Cornet Band (also know as "The Ice Cream Band") made a pilgrimage to Yo-semite. They were the second band to visit the valley. While there, they played for dances and concerts.