The versatile "March King", John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), also composed over a dozen operettas.   Although Sousa's march from El Capitan (see the October 1998 Cylinder of the Month) is perhaps the most well-known selection from one of his operas, this month's wax cylinder of the tarantella ("The Dancing Girl") from Sousa's 1897 three-act comic operetta The Bride Elect is also well-remembered.

The Columbia Encyclopedia defines a tarantella as a "Neapolitan folk dance that first appeared in Taranto, Italy, in the 17th century.   It had rapid 6/8 meter with an increasing tempo and was thought to cure the bite of the tarantula, which supposedly caused the disease tarantism."

To hear Tarantella from The Bride Elect   — For help playing these sounds, click here.

To learn more:

• Read the history of the tarantella dance from Wikipedia.
• Read more about John Philip Sousa and his Bride Elect operetta courtesy of the United States Marine Band website.

To hear other examples of wax cylinders, see the

• Cylinders of the Month Archive
• Cylinder Music Shop   (Supports the preservation work of Tinfoil.com)