PORT JERVIS — Want to meet a famous German composer whose songs to Port Jervians are registered in the Library of Congress? Want to hear a 150-year-old march dedicated in 1873 to Port Jervis Fire Department’s ninth chief engineer? You can.
Mark your calendar for a special presentation during Broome Street Band’s first 2023 Summer Concert in the Park at Ulster Place (Drew Church if raining) to take place on Monday evening, June 26, 7-8 p.m.
Seth Riehl, 22-year member of Broome Street Band and co-director of Broome Street Wind Ensemble, has been an elementary band and general music teacher for Port Jervis School District for the past 23 years.
Riehl learned about The Fireman’s Grand March from a student’s parents (a parent with ties to the Broome Street Band) and was intrigued.
The composer of the march, German-born Joseph Kaspar (Caspar) Raff, wrote and dedicated this march to Austrian-born Port Jervis Chief Engineer Leopold Fuerth. He included a full color lithograph of Fuerth (in PJFD’s mid-1800s Chief gear) on its cover.
An original of this music is contained in Minisink Valley Historical Society’s library archive room and was researched as part of an ongoing fire department related project.
Having marched in the Port Jervis Fireman’s Parade for more than 20 years himself, Riehl said he has always seen the pride firefighters take in their jobs and the enthusiasm and support the local community gives them. He is also aware of the popularity marching bands gained in the 1870s, as Civil War soldiers/musicians returned home and began forming parade ensembles.
“I thought it would be a neat thing, since Broome Street Band has such a close connection to the Port Jervis Fire Department (especially Howard Wheat Engine Company #4), that we could play a piece of music dedicated to a Port Jervis fire chief from early in the department’s history,” Riehl said. “I thought it was especially auspicious that the piece was 150 years old.”
Playing it turned out to be a project, however. While another famed Port Jervis musician, Evan Mack, had kindly played a quick rendition of the music for his hometown researchers to hear, once Riehl was provided a copy of the music he realized the march had been written as a piano solo and would have to be revised for band performance. He asked one of the Broome Street Band members if he would be willing to arrange the piece for the band, and he did.
“Bruce Dedrick is a former educator, director, and band leader in his own right and has a lot of experience arranging music for band wind ensemble,” Riehle said. “He was also interested in the history of the piece and agreed to arrange the music. It was arranged by the beginning of May, and the band started rehearsing it for their summer concert series in Farnum Park.”
For those who may be wondering about the 1800s connections to a Port Jervis chief, it was really just historical timing. Port Jervis Fire Department was officially established and its first chief engineer elected in 1858, the same year Port Jervis was incorporated as a village. Chief Engineer Fuerth, who had emigrated from Austria to the United States at 15 and found his way to Port Jervis, became the ninth person elected to lead the Village of Port Jervis Fire Department, which he did from 1870-1873.
In Fuerth’s final year as PJFD chief, The Fireman’s March (Op. 17) was published by German-born composer Raff, who resided at that time in Owego, NY.
Local research has not yet established a relationship between the two in their homelands, but Raff’s Owego Cornet Band had performed in Port’s opera house and famed Orange Square in the 1800s, while Fuerth was a chief there.
